Historical memory and the expulsion of ethnic Germans in Europe, 1944-1947
As the Second World War in Europe came to an end the Russians advanced from the east towards Berlin. German occupation of Poland and Czechoslovakia had been particularly brutal. Both of these countries, products of German defeat at the end of World War I contained millions of ethnic Germans, who had previously co-existed with their Slav neighbours, often for many centuries, but were now perceived by these neighbours as having encouraged and collaborated with Nazi Germany. Russians, Poles and Czechs now sought revenge triggering the largest forced expulsion in recorded history. Somewhere between 8 and 16.5 million ethnic Germans fled to the west, and between 2 and 3 million perished during flight. Expellee property was subsequently seized by the Poles and Czechs. In broad terms, until the 1990s these events were seen within Germany as part of a submerged collective memory, suppressed in part by their having lost the war. In the last 20 years with an increasingly powerful expellee organisation (the Bund der Vertriebenen, Federation of Expellees) influencing mainstream German politics, academia, and the German media, an attempt has been made to change historical memory, or rewrite what has been referred to as
Bard, Robert
German expellees ; German historical memory ; Federation of Expellees ; Bund der Vertriebenen ; historical memory ; German documentaries ; collective memory ; Guido Knopp ; Centre Against Expulsions ; Erika Steinbach ; BdV ; Peter Glotz ; Beppo Beyerl ; Theodor Oberlaender ; Theodor Schieder ; Volksdeutsche ; Robert Moeller ; Andreas Hillgruber ; Zweierlei Untergang ; John Sack ; Im Krebsgang ; gustloff
Historical memory and the expulsion of ethnic Germans in Europe, 1944-1947. As the Second World War in Europe came to an end the Russians advanced from the east towards Berlin. German occupation of Poland and Czechoslovakia had been particularly brutal. Both of these countries, products of German defeat at the end of World War I contained millions of ethnic Germans, who had previously co-existed with their Slav neighbours, often for many centuries, but were now perceived by these neighbours as having encouraged and collaborated with Nazi Germany. Russians, Poles and Czechs now sought revenge triggering the largest forced expulsion in recorded history. Somewhere between 8 and 16.5 million ethnic Germans fled to the west, and between 2 and 3 million perished during flight. Expellee property was subsequently seized by the Poles and Czechs. In broad terms, until the 1990s these events were seen within Germany as part of a submerged collective memory, suppressed in part by their having lost the war. In the last 20 years with an increasingly powerful expellee organisation (the Bund der Vertriebenen, Federation of Expellees) influencing mainstream German politics, academia, and the German media, an attempt has been made to change historical memory, or rewrite what has been referred to as
historical memory expulsion ethnic germans europe second world war europe come end russians advance east towards berlin german occupation poland czechoslovakia particularly brutal country product german defeat end world_war contain million ethnic germans previously co_existed neighbour often many century perceive neighbour encourage collaborate nazi_germany russians poles seek trigger large force expulsion record history somewhere ethnic germans flee west flight property subsequently seize poles broad term event see within germany part submerge collective_memory suppress part lose war increasingly powerful organisation der federation influence mainstream german politics academia german medium attempt_make change historical memory rewrite refer