Posted on 11/02/2026 6:48:56 AM PST by 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:
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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)
Europe will soon have to do the same for its Muslim and African migrants.
“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.
“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.
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?
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.
There you go with those weird ideas again.
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?
“I’ve got one. Redraw the border. Move the lines on the map - not the people.”
There is an awful lot of bad blood remaining from Russian, Prussian, Austrian empires’ activities, World War I, Versailles, and World War II. People haven’t forgotten.
Except it wasn't THEIR country. It was a border that had been imposed on them without their consent.....a country in which they were a minority which was discriminated against. BTW, many Czechs had served with Russia in the "Czech legion" against Austria-Hungary in WWI....ie "their country" which is something that earned them great credit with the British and French representatives at Versailles.
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.
Czechoslovakia had only existed for less than 20 years so many of them were not "Czech born". Say...I thought you just said it was "their" country. They were not Czechs. Yes, I have no doubt many served in the Wehrmacht (there was a draft and Germany was truly their country). I also have no doubt that many did join the Nazi party....after it rescued them from Czech domination and discrimination.
Did you think Czechs had short memories?
Did you think the Germans had short memories?
Yes and that was just for the Sudeten Germans. Had a plebiscite been held at any time after WWI there is ZERO doubt the Sudetenland would have voted to join Germany. What Hitler was demanding was completely reasonable and what should have happened in the first place. The problem was not what he was demanding here.....ie a border drawn along ethnic lines....government deriving its legitimacy from the consent of the governed....no subject nationalities. The problem is that it was Hitler.
We couldn’t reward Germany for seizing territory.
Territory filled with German speaking ethnic Germans who should have been consulted and allowed to decide for themselves in which country they and the land they lived in belonged to but weren't because Britain/France just wanted to screw the Germans over at Versailles.
The same goes for the Anschluss. The Austrians voted to become part of Germany after WWI. Britain/France wouldn't allow it. Again, the problem is that Germany instead of being led by a sane nationalist, was led by Hitler.
“Did you think the Germans had short memories?”
Germans have recognized Czech sovereignty and the expulsion. Maybe you should too.
Historically a lot of Germans looked down on Slavs as Untermenschen. The Germans of Bohemia had been part of the dominant group in the Austrian Empire, and didn't like that the Czechs were now the dominant group in Czechoslovakia.
The post-1918 border was the historic border of Bohemia. It also gave Czechoslovakia a defensible border, unlike the situation after the Munich agreement.
The new borders in Europe after WWI left ethnic minorities in many countries, like the Austrians in South Tyrol, given to Italy.
What Hitler was demanding was completely reasonable
Now, after WWII was over and Germany no longer a threat, moving the border makes a certain sense, except the mood of the time was that there was no way that Germany would gain any territory whatsoever. Germans who lived in most of Prussia were also forced to move and Prussia disappeared from the map.
This is a really sad story. Many of the red areas on the map were more than 90 % German and had been for hundreds of years. After WW 1, when Austro-Hungaria crumbled to pieces those areas wanted to join Germany or Austria, but of course there was no way, because in Versailles that was seen as rewarding the losers. So the old Kingdom of Bohemia was given to the new state of Czechoslovakia, including the Germans, who were neither Czech nor Slovak. The new state tried to divest them of their language and culture over time, which predictably they didn’t appreciate. Then came Hitler and the end of hundreds of years of German history in Bohemia.
I was born 10 km from the Czech border. When i was young you couldn’t just visit Czechoslovakia. That’s why many expellees traveled to the border just to look at their homes from the German side. Others didn’t even have that consolation because many villages situated immediately on the Czech side were simply razed to the ground.
Not all were sent to Germany. Some wound up in Austria, my paternal grandparents among them. My grandfather survived the ordeal. My grandmother didn't.
the solution that works is the EU which has no internal borders (like no borders between texas and oklahoma)
with this internal structure, a German can live in Sud Tirol or Sudentenland or Breslau/Wroclaw and not only live but also work, buy property etc.
That is one of the good poitns of the EU (yes there are lots of bad, but this is one of the good)
"We got away with our crime against humanity so you should just say its OK and not....y'know.....a crime against humanity. But it would be totally wrong if anybody else did it!"
No "possibly" about it. innocent people always suffer when there is mass ethnic cleansing, murder, rape, robbery, etc. of an entire ethnic group.
Historically a lot of Germans looked down on Slavs as Untermenschen. The Germans of Bohemia had been part of the dominant group in the Austrian Empire, and didn't like that the Czechs were now the dominant group in Czechoslovakia.
They didn't like being an oppressed minority after having been placed in a country without their consent. Not exactly a surprise.
The post-1918 border was the historic border of Bohemia. It also gave Czechoslovakia a defensible border, unlike the situation after the Munich agreement.
Sure it was the historic border of Bohemia. It was not the historic border of a Czech state since there had never been one. Bohemia was a duchy whose lines were drawn back in the middle ages before people became nationally aware/when it really didn't matter what language the peasants spoke and if their lords spoke a different language. You say the border was "defensible". That's simply an excuse to take other people's land. "We needed that land because we needed the resources it had/access to the sea/defensible borders, etc. Do other people get to use that excuse to steal land that is not theirs also or is that excuse only valid for Czechs?
The new borders in Europe after WWI left ethnic minorities in many countries, like the Austrians in South Tyrol, given to Italy.
Correct. Giving the Sud Tirol to Italy was another injustice done at Versailles to screw over ethnic Germans. One of the key principles Western countries claimed to believe in and one of Wilson's 14 points was no subject nationalities. Then they drew borders that made a lot of ethnic Germans a subject nationality out of spite. Is it any surprise the Germans would argue that the borders should be redrawn along ethnic lines as western countries themselves espoused?
True. Vae victis and stuff... On the other hand, it is what it is. You could spend years crying about the idiocy of the Versailles “Treaty”, especially when you think about how much loss and and heartache could have been prevented. Pointless.
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