Expulsion Summary
The results
During the period of 1944/1945 – 1950, as many as 14 million Germans were forced to flee or were expelled as a result of actions of the Red Army, civilian militia and/or organised efforts of governments of the reconstituted states of Eastern Europe. Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans were detained in internment camps or sentenced to forced labor, some of them for years. The number of expellees and refugees, whose fate could not be ascertained, was estimated to be around 2.1 million, according to two major studies conducted in 1958 and 1965, which were commissioned by the German Bundestag. Millions of German women were raped (the process of escape and expulsion includes the actions taken by the Red Army against German civilians). Private property of the expelled Germans was confiscated. More 4 million Germans resettled in Germany from the end of 1950s, joining the 14 million expellees and refugees.
A German source from the mid-1980′s gives the following estimates of the population transfers.
| German Expellees | |
|---|---|
| Expelled from | Number expelled |
| Eastern Germany | 7,122,000 |
| Danzig | 279,000 |
| Poland | 661,000 |
| Czechoslovakia | 2,911,000 |
| Baltic States | 165,000 |
| USSR | 90,000 |
| Hungary | 199,000 |
| Romania | 228,000 |
| Yugoslavia | 271,000 |
The integration of expellees and refugees into the German society required great efforts from 1940s till 1960s. In some areas, for instance in Mecklenburg, the number of inhabitants doubled as a result of the influx. Other areas, like Bavaria, which had been predominantly Roman Catholic before the war now had to deal with an influx of non-Catholic and non-Bavarian Germans from the East.
The areas, from which the Germans escaped, or which were ethnically cleansed from Germans, were subsequently re-populated by nationals of the states to which they now belonged.
Assessing blame for the expulsions
There is considerable, contentious debate over how much blame for the deaths and suffering of the expelled Germans should be placed on the shoulders of the nations who expelled the Germans.
Whether the actual death toll be 1 million or 2 million, it is clear that the blame must be shared among the Allied Powers who made the decision to authorize the population transfers, the Soviet Union which had effective control over the countries involved, the national governments that put the expulsions into motion, and also the paramilitary organizations and local civilians who took advantage of the opportunity to rob, rape, torture and murder the expellees as they transited out of their homelands.
Many of the deaths were caused by death marches ordered by Soviet officials, banditry, famine and widespread disease that accompanied postwar conditions in that part of Europe as well as appalling conditions in the concentration camps created to hold German civilians awaiting expulsion. Probably one of the worst examples of the latter was the labor camp “Zgoda” in Świętochłowice , Poland which was run by Salomon Morel, a member of the Polish Communist Party. (The camp held Upper Silesian local population listed on Volksliste, and some people from other regions and abroad. Morel was accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Israel rejected several Polish requests for extradition, the last one in July 2005.)
Legacy of the expulsion
During the Cold War era, there was little public knowledge of the expulsions and thus scant discussion over the morality of the policy. Perhaps the primary reason for this is that Cold War geopolitics discouraged criticism of post-war Allied policies by the West Germans and of post-war Soviet policies by the East Germans. There was some discussion of the expulsions in the first decade and a half after World War II but serious review and analysis of the events was not undertaken until the 1990s. It can be surmised that the fall of the Soviet Union, the spirit of glasnost and the unification of Germany opened the door to a renewed examination of these events.
Dec 13, 2010 @ 17:25:16
Dear Sir/ Madam,
When assesing blame for the suffering of the expelled Germans you forget to mention the primary cause – which is Nazi Germany takover of Czechoslovakia and later (joint with Soviet Union) attack on Poland.
There would be no athrocities against German population without previous behaviour of Germans in occupied territories. Holocaust was most extreme and is best known but other facts are also important when discussing postwar history of expulsions.
Germany pioneered ethnic cleansing policy on Polish population during their 5 year rule. Polish nationals were expelled from territories incorporated to Reich and forced to flee to General Gouvernment (Central Poland). At the same time Russians expelled hundreds of thousands of Poles from eastern Poland into Sybiria.
Apart from 3 million Polish Jews killed in Holocaust additional 3 million of Polish nationals were killed by occupants (most by Germans, few hundred thousands by Russians or died in Sybiria or during ethnic cleansing done by Ukrainians supported by Germans)
German territories granted by Allies to Poland (Silesia, Prussia, Danzig/Gdansk, Pomerania) were given “in exchange” for bigger in size Polish territories seized by Soviet Union (along the lines drawn by Nazi Germany and Soviet Union during their partition of Poland in 1939). Those so called “recovered” from Germany territories were populated by Poles returning from Siberia or expelled from the east after the war ended,
Most of civil German victims of end war/post war athrocities were totaly innocent – and nothing can justify rapes or killings.
But regarding expulsion itself – it is hard to imagine Poles and Germans living side by side immediately after the war or to imagine East Prussia left in Germany populated by Germans longing to rejoin rest of Germany. Especially that East Prussia and Silesia were most pro-Nazi parts of Germany, with Nazi party getting there over 50% of popular vote in last prewar free elections.
I understand that this blog (or this part of blog) is dedicated to German suffering – it is a must to remember about innocent victims on all sides of WWII and all other wars – still this suffering has to be put in context of Nazi Germany guilt for starting a vicious circle of war and terror.
Best regards
Jaroslaw Swiecicki
Dec 14, 2010 @ 06:31:28
Hello Jaroslaw
Generally I agree with your message. Although I believe your historical span is too narrow. I would point to the following on ManyRoads:
Flucht und Vertreibung (Gallery) (Please note my comments at the opening)
Expulsions and holocausts did not start nor did they end with the Germans. In the “ancient” past, you may recall the pillage of Carthage by Rome, the systematic killings and expulsions of Native American populations in the New World among others. Ethnic cleansing, expulsions continue today and have been conducted with vigor for millennium. In World War 2 alone there were at least four major holocausts against each of the Jews, Chinese, German, and Soviet peoples. Since World War 2, there have been numerous as well including against the Cambodians, Bosnians, Rwandans, Congans, Sudanese…
The extreme sadness is that each is inexcusable and few are remembered.
And as for blame, I believe every group that allows, supports or takes part in an atrocity is responsible for their actions. When innocents are made to suffer, neither a heinous action nor reaction is pardonable. Just as the German government has accepted responsibility for the horrors of their WW2 acts, others need accept and acknowledge responsibility for their actions as well.
Thank you for you thoughtful comments.