Jack Beatty On His Play, 'The Battle Not Begun: Munich 1938'

In September 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned to England after meeting with Adolf Hitler in Munich.

In his hand, he held the text of the agreement that he had reached with Hitler, permitting Nazi Germany's annexation of portions of Czechoslovakia. That was the price of avoiding the war that broke out, regardless, less than a year later. However, just off the plane from England, and met with cheering crowds, Chamberlain told the British people,

"We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German naval agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again."

Now, the talks between Hitler and Chamberlain are the subject of a play by Jack Beatty. The play is called "The Battle Not Begun: Munich 1938."

"The Battle Not Begun: Munich 1938" will be screening this Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. at Black Box Lab at the Community House in Hamilton, followed by a talk-back session with WBUR's Ed Siegel.

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst, author of "The Lost History of 1914: How the Great War was Not Inevitable." His new play is "The Battle Not Begun: Munich 1938." He tweets @JackBeattyNPR.