It remained overwhelmingly German in terms of language and ethnicity, but in a period of heightened nationalism, the growth of the Czech-speaking minority became a source of tension, and it was part of the regions which politicians were beginning to identify as the Sudetenland.

[3] He also "fell under the spell" of those advocating nationalist solutions to the Sudeten-German issue, which increasingly became identified with the idea that the Sudetenland should be transferred from Czechoslovakia to Germany in deference to the principle of self-determination, which had been proclaimed as a guiding principal for reconfiguring the political map by the victorious governments in 1918/19.

[4] As a young man, like many who had grown up with the Christian Youth movement in Sudetenland, Scholz was drawn to Nazism, and attended a party rally at Nuremberg in the summer of 1936.

That year, Scholz teamed up with his friend Dr. Viktor Reimann to create the "German Freedom Movement" ("Deutsche Freiheitsbewegung") a resistance group that had an essentially Catholic and conservative character.

[4] Its political objectives were to educate people about the true nature of National Socialism and to seek the downfall of the Nazi regime.

[6] Hartmann suggested that the group should embark on a programme of terror and sabotage, but Scholz rejected the idea, which would have run counter to his Christian principles.

[2] A public defender was assigned to his case and entered an "extenuating circumstances" plea that Scholz was a fantasist, but did not contest his guilt.

Cardinal Archbishop Innitzer of Vienna submitted a personal plea for clemency by telegramme to Adolf Hitler, who failed to reply.