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Sudeten German days open with decoration of Czech bishop AUGSBURG- The traditional Sudeten German days in Augsburg, Bavaria, opened today with the presentation of the Sudeten German Landsmannschaft's highest prize, the European Karl IV Award, to Czech bishop Josef Koukl. Koukl, 79, who became the first Czech on whom the Sudeten Germans bestowed their award, was decorated for his long-lasting effort at Czech-German reconciliation. "Today is the holiday of sending the Holy Spirit when all nations spoke one language although they did not lose their identity. It is important to talk together and understand each other," Koukl told journalists. He...

Report: Massacre evidence hidden Documents describe postwar slaughter of ethnic Germans By James Pitkin STAFF WRITER Declassified documents from 1947 show that Czechoslovak officials ordered a cover-up of massacres of ethnic Germans after World War II. Between May 1945 and December 1946, some 2.5 million Sudeten Germans were expelled from postwar Czechoslovakia as part of a series of decrees issued by President Edvard Benes. Some Czechs and Slovaks used the deportations to vent their anger after seven years of Nazi occupation. Czech and German historians agree that up to 30,000 ethnic Germans were killed by civilians, Czechoslovak forces and Soviet...