The German expulsion {28th October 1945}

Unexpected traveller ^

[Cronos]

I’ve written lots about how Germany and German influences affected Bohemia and Czechia. This is what led to a backlash after World War II. This article explores the little-known story of how Czechoslovakia wanted a German expulsion after the war.

As with everything in life, context is key.

Due to the individual fiefdoms and kingdoms in Central Europe, there had always been plenty of Germanic influence in Bohemia.

The 30 years’ war is one of the most important historical episodes because it paved the way for a separation of church and state.

After this point, the Hapsburgs ruled the region from Vienna. Things evolved up till the point where the Austro-Hungarian Empire was one of the major players in World War I.

In the inter-war period, politics was a messy affair. The Nazis rose to power in Germany and they leveraged the confusion and uncertainty. They annexed the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, before invading and occupying the country.

The Czechoslovak resistance had long been calling for a German expulsion1. On 28 October 1945, at the provisional National Assembly, President Beneš stated

We decided to expel our Germans to the Empire. The Allies have confirmed this position to us internationally. We justify this by a number of the most serious reasons, not only political, but also moral, and I ask all our political actors to consider the issue at all, especially in terms of morality. We tried until 1938 and especially in 1938 to agree with them in a truly liberal and truly human spirit. All our attempts totally disappointed. It is clear today that since 1934, in full agreement with Hitler and under the full responsibility of the vast majority of our Germans, the disruption of our entire state has been planned. It was not just about joining our Germans to the empire. […] [They] must therefore leave, because there is simply no other solution in the interests of peace and quiet in Europe.

I can summarise the Czechoslovak approach in the following way:

• Czechoslovakia expelled all ethnic Germans and sent them to Germany. Thousands died violent deaths; many more died from hunger and disease3. A total of 2.1 million people moved to the American and Soviet sectors4 of occupied Germany.
• The state seized all German property as a deposit against war reparations.

It was a huge undertaking, especially because some had been living in Czechoslovakia for generations. These were ethnic Germans who had lived in Bohemia and had no specific ties to Germany anymore. But recent history meant there were few other solutions. The matter is still a controversial one, 70 years after the war ended. These families were branded, and packed on trains for their new home.

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TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS:

[Cronos]

Several thousand Germans died violently during the expulsion, with many more perishing from hunger and illness as a result. The expulsion process, according to the Potsdam Conference's decisions, officially began on 25 January 1946 and continued until October 1946. Roughly 1.3 million ethnic Germans were deported to the American zone, and an estimated 800,000 were deported to the Soviet zone.

The expulsions ended in 1948, but not all Germans were expelled; estimates for the total number of non-expulsions range from approximately 160,000to 250,000,or about 7.6 to 11.9 per cent

The German Church Search Service was able to confirm the deaths of 14,215 persons during the expulsions from Czechoslovakia (6,316 violent deaths, 6,989 in internment camps and 907 in the USSR as forced labourers)

[PGR88]

Europe will soon have to do the same for its Muslim and African migrants.

[Maine Mariner]

“Europe will soon have to do the same for its Muslim and African migrants.”

Or the Muslim and African migrants will do the same to white non-Islamic Europeans.

[Maine Mariner]

“Europe will soon have to do the same for its Muslim and African migrants.”

Or the Muslim and African migrants will do the same to white non-Islamic Europeans.

[FLT-bird]

The ethic cleansing of about 15 million ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe remains the largest case of ethnic cleansing in history. 1-2 million German civilians died in the process. Nobody talks about it and nobody was ever held accountable for any of it.

Czechoslovakia was a prime example. Benes simply lied to the various British and French delegates at the Versailles conference and claimed a bunch of land that was occupied by ethnic Germans was/should be/needed to be included in a brand new Czech and Slovak state that had never existed in history. Nobody ever consulted them or sought their consent for any of it. Surprise surprise, once they were included as a minority in this newly created state the government immediately started discriminating against them. Just as surprising, they immediately supported the first strong nationalist German leader that came along and agitated for self determination....ie inclusion in Germany.

The problem is that German leader was Hitler.

The Czechs then used that as license to commit crimes against humanity against the Germans in the Sudetenland after the war to drive them out and steal their land.

No, this is not an excuse for the crimes of the Nazis but there's no excuse for this either.

"But but but the Czechs needed that land to make their country defensible". Oh. That's an interesting claim. Do other people get to make it too? Hey, we "need" other people's land so its perfectly fine for us to just steal it from them. Or do only Czechs get to make that claim?

[FLT-bird]

By the way “there were few other solutions”.

I’ve got one. Redraw the border. Move the lines on the map - not the people. Hold a plebiscite and let people decide for themselves where the border should be. Have government derive its legitimacy from the consent of the governed.

[Carry_Okie]

Have government derive its legitimacy from the consent of the governed.

There you go with those weird ideas again.

[Miami Rebel]

Ethnic Germans betrayed their country and welcomed the Nazi invaders. Czech-born Germans manned the occupying administration and hundreds of thousands served in the Wehrmacht and in the Waffen-SS. Half a million Sudeten Germans joined the Party, a higher percentage than in Germany itself.

Did you think Czechs had short memories?