Irish Examiner view: EU needs to be strong as it faces its own Sudetenland

German chancellor will need to remember history when he makes his Davos speech

Olaf Scholz: Must not add to any impression of weakness when he addresses Davos. Picture: AP Photo/Michael Sohn

When German chancellor Olaf Scholz addresses the Davos luminaries on Thursday, we hope he has a keen sense of history.

It was a previous German chancellor, Adolf Hitler, who demanded the annexation of the Sudetenland, part of Czechoslovakia, in 1938. The land was ceded to him in a shameful agreement in Munich between Britain, France, Germany, and Italy. The Czechs were compelled to accept, although they were not allowed a place at the negotiating table.