German Expellees and Reparations Continued

Perfectly enough, the recent issue of the National Geographic magazine contains an informational page regarding the “Stumbling Stones” in Germany (see last week’s blog). In addition, this past week in the New Jersey Star Ledger, a newspaper that covers NJ news as well as world and global news, published an article by Kathleen O’Brien called “For some victims of Nazis, decades until an amends”. Under previous German law, the length of suffering by victims of the Third Reich was set for at least 18 months. Recently, according to this article, the limit was changed to 12 months thus allowing thousands of Jewish victims to receive payments form the German government.

Holocaust discussions are, more often then not, focused on the Jewish experience. Millions of other social and religious groups were murdered such as Jehovah’s Witness, homosexuals, and the mentally and physically handicapped (which included Dwarfism - most of whom did not survive the war). Many prisoners in the camps died after they were liberated by Allied and Soviet troops but as troops liberated concentration camps, ethnic Germans were killed as they were forcibly kicked out of liberated territories. Much like the restrictions placed on Jews during the war, Germans outside of occupied Germany could not hold property, restricted on the hours when they could go shopping and places they could go, and many other ways. Ultimately, most Germans were expelled to Germany. Some 12 million Germans were expelled Germany and more than 2 million Germans died in the process. These Germans, who lost most, if not all of their property and wealth, never received reparations payments from the expelling states, like Poland and Czechoslovakia. In 1950, the Charter of the German Expellees was published by leaders of the expellee leaders. This document represented the expellee population in all of Germany and renounced revenge and retaliation. To this day, no reparations have been made to Germans affected by the expulsion.

The expulsion is looked at as a righteous punishment against Germans for the crimes Nazis committed during the war. Expellee leaders today are seen as “revisionist” - in other words, trying to downplay the suffering of Jews and other victims of the Holocaust and make the focus of the war the suffering of Germans. Expellee leaders are not “revisionist” nor are they down playing the suffering of Holocaust victims. BUT, the German expulsion cannot be ignored. It is an important part of German history as well as an important side-effect of the Second World War. It can also be proven that the expulsion was the boiling point of the eventual “Cold War” that had been looming. Expellees, expellee organizations, and their leaders never expected payments for their suffering and loss. They only demand recognition where recognition is due such as in textbooks and in the discussions on the Second World War and its aftermath. Accepting the actions by victors, aka the Allies and the Soviet Union, accepts the concept of collective guilt and the millions of innocent and avoidable deaths (see first blog on “Collective Guilt”).

The evolution of German nationalism since the founding of the unified German state in 1871 to the expulsion (1944-1950) is an interesting and important topic. In research regarding the expulsion, several hints have been made to the unification in 1871 and the rise of German nationalism (mind you, Germans are not the only country at the time with nationalistic views) as the point in modern history that set the stage for the “Cold War”. This topic will be discussed in detail at a later time.

Questions for consideration:

1. Where do you think the German expulsion fits into German history?

2. How does the German expulsion fit into the Second World War?

3. How has nationalism changed since the end of the Second World War?

Check out the New Jersey Star Ledger article here:

http://blog.nj.com/njv_kathleen_obrien/2012/06/obrien_for_some_payments_to_ho.html

The Charter of German Expellees can be found in most works regarding the German Expulsion. Check out the closest university library (or Google).