In a striking parallel to the current events in Ukraine, Hitler claimed to be acting in defence of an oppressed ethnic minority and made substantial use of propaganda.

The Sudeten crisis began in February 1938 when Hitler demanded self-determination for all German-speaking peoples living in Austria and Czechoslovakia.

The Sudeten Nazi Party called for a union with Germany and began rioting, prompting the Czechs to send in the army.

This was then presented by the Nazis on newsreels as ‘evidence of Czech atrocities against the Sudetens’.