Table of contents:
Video: What methods were used to evict the Germans from Eastern Europe, or deportation in a European way
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
"Stalin's deportations" are a common cliché and traditionally condemned by society. The leader's manners are condemned with a special scope by pro-Western experts. But there is another story, which for obvious reasons is not heard. In the early post-war years, there was a massive displacement of ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe. Expulsion in most cases was accompanied by violence, confiscation of property, lynching, concentration camps. According to the Union of the Exiled, the European deportation of Germans was particularly brutal and resulted in the loss of 2 million lives.
Prehistory and nationalist motives of Europe
The issue of resettlement in Europe after 1945 is rooted in the First World War. The Versailles Treaty redrawn the borders, and Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Finland, and the Baltic states appeared on the European map. The ethnic composition there was heterogeneous. Large movements of the German population provoked attempts at German coups, the rejection of German territories by European neighbors. As a result, as of 1939, up to ten million Germans lived outside their homeland.
After Hitler's defeat, the Potsdam Conference concluded to deport the population of Eastern Europe with German descent. Of course, it is not unreasonable. During the war, the Germans of the European territories occupied by Germany with open enthusiasm greeted their Nazi compatriots, subsequently occupying prestigious posts in the Nazi administration and participating in punitive operations.
Poland
The post-war terror of ethnic Germans reached its greatest scale in Poland, on the ex-German lands transferred to the Poles in 1945. The number of foreign population with German origin here reached 4 million people. Even before the end of the war, ordinary Poles indulged in plunder of the fleeing German population, murder and violence. In fact, the Poles persecuted the remaining Germans in a manner similar to what the Nazis practiced against the Jews. Polish Germans have become powerless persons, defenseless against the most cruel arbitrariness.
According to the memorandum of the public administration, the Germans were required to wear distinctive armbands, hourly restrictions on freedom of movement, a ban on the use of public transport, and the introduction of special identity cards.
By the decree of the prime minister of the provisional government Boleslav Bierut of May 2, 1945, all German property was automatically transferred to the Polish state. The acquired land was visited by Polish settlers. The remaining owners moved into the stables and hayloft. Disagreement of the vanquished was not foreseen without regard to the probable non-involvement in fascism.
By the summer of 1945, these actions were replaced by state-level events: an unwanted element was driven to concentration camps, used in hard forced labor, children were transferred to orphanages with further polonization. The situation in Polish concentration camps is easily characterized by a dry figure: the mortality rate is 50%. By the fall of 1946, a decree was issued that allowed the forced deportation of the German part of the population, deprived at that time of citizenship, property and all previous rights.
Czechoslovakia
The second country after Poland for the large-scale implementation of the "German question" is Czechoslovakia, where before the war the Germans made up a quarter of the total population. After the occupation of the Czechoslovak territories by Nazi Germany, the local government took refuge in London. It was there that the first plans for the deportation of ethnic Germans after the end of the war were formulated.
The Czech authorities began to implement their long-standing intentions immediately with the liberation of Czechoslovakia by Soviet troops. Mass actions accompanied by blatant violence swept across the country. The main driving force behind this program was the Freedom Army volunteer brigade of 60,000 soldiers led by Ludwik Svoboda. Whole towns and villages with an en masse German population have experienced Czech cruelty. They were urgently collected in marching columns and driven without stopping to the border. When the exhausted fell, they were often killed on the spot. Local Czechs were strictly forbidden to provide any assistance to the deportees. Only one march of expulsion from Brno on a site of fifty kilometers killed at least 5 thousand Germans (according to other sources, about 8 thousand people).
One of the most terrible days for Czech Germans was June 19. On that night, Czech soldiers were returning from a victorious celebration in Prague. On the way, they met a train carrying the Germans to the Soviet occupation zone. The Czechs warmed up by the festivities ordered everyone to leave the carriages and start preparing the ditch for the mass grave. Old men with women and children began to obey the command, after which they were shot on the spot. And such cases were not uncommon throughout the country.
Spontaneous acts of retaliation caused indignation in the ranks of the allies, which left the Czechs unhappy. In their opinion, all measures taken are the natural right of the injured party. In a note dated August 16, 1945, the Czech government insisted on complete deportation to the last German. After negotiations, it was decided to deport the exiles without admitting violence and excesses. By 1950, the Czechs had completely gotten rid of the German minority.
the USSR
Violence against ethnic Germans also occurred to varying degrees in other Eastern European countries. In the Russian Empire, German settlements existed for centuries. In the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet Union was extremely short of working hands. In these circumstances, German origin was a sufficient reason to be sent to the camp and to the labor front. The Soviet government was in no hurry to deport the Germans outside the state. For a long post-war period on the territory of the Union, the labor of civilian Germans was used along with German prisoners of war.
Further deportation of the deportants took place quite peacefully. According to official information, only about fifty people died on the way for natural reasons. Mass evictions affected Kaliningrad, but some of the Germans were allowed to stay there too.
Almost immediately after the Second World War, the USSR decided to exchange territories with a neighboring country. Both states received equal plots of land. It is behind this The USSR exchanged territories with Poland, and what happened after that with their population.
Recommended:
How Soviet soldiers survived, who were carried into the ocean for 49 days, and How they were met in the USA and the USSR after they were rescued
In the early spring of 1960, the crew of the American aircraft carrier Kearsarge discovered a small barge in the middle of the ocean. On board were four emaciated Soviet soldiers. They survived by feeding on leather belts, tarpaulin boots and industrial water. But even after 49 days of extreme drift, the soldiers told the American sailors who found them something like this: help us only with fuel and food, and we will get home ourselves
Eastern European Sushi: Sushi with an Eastern European twist. Art project of the studio Clinic 212
The crazy popularity of such Asian fast food as sushi, rolls and other maki has gradually led to the fact that restaurants (such as) Japanese cuisine are opened in almost every village, not to mention megacities or cultural and historical centers. Moreover, those dishes that are called real Japanese cuisine on the menu are in fact an imitation, a parody of what the Japanese call "rolls". However, our traditional dishes have certainly undergone no less changes in Asian restaurants
What peoples in the USSR were subjected to deportation, for what and why they were exiled to Kazakhstan
In the USSR, undeveloped territories preferred to rise quickly. This required only labor, and the voluntary consent of the workers was the tenth thing. In the 20th century, Kazakhstan turned into a haven for exiled peoples of all kinds of nationalities. Koreans, Poles, Germans, Caucasian ethnic groups, Kalmyks and Tatars were forcibly deported here. Most of the citizens worked hard, hoping that they deserved to ease the regime and return to their homelands. But this became possible only after death
How people were betrayed to death in Russia: 5 favorite methods of execution of Ivan the Terrible
Much has been said about the savage torture in Medieval Europe. Unfortunately, the realities of that time were such that executions in Russia were no less cruel. So, perhaps, the most famous ruler who “creatively” executed people was Ivan the Terrible. This review presents 5 ruthless execution methods adored by the Russian tsar
A new way to recycle used car tires from creative sculptors
Once we have already talked about the talented man Ptolemy Elrington, who creates sculptural wonders from old car hubcaps. But, as it turns out, sculptures can also be made from worn out tires that no one needs, which turn into realistic figures of animals: an elephant, a fish, a horse, a giant turtle