44 Days in Prague

After discovering that her grandmother had pro-German sympathies, Ann Shukman resolved to investigate her grandfather Walter Runciman’s 1938 Mission to Prague.

This government-sponsored British delegation sought to broker peace between the Czechoslovak republic and its Sudeten German minority―a dispute that Hitler was aggravating with virulent anti-Czech propaganda and threats of invasion.

Drawing fresh evidence from personal diaries, private papers and Czech publications, 44 Days in Prague exposes the misunderstandings and official ignorance that provoked a calamitous series of betrayals.

It reveals that, while Walter Runciman always supported Czechoslovakia’s integrity, his wife Hilda―whose role became crucial―publicly favoured the German cause.