Forgotten Voices: The Expulsion of the Germans from Eastern Europe after World War II

357 Pages·2012·1.48 MB·English

by  Ulrich Merten

Copyright © 2012 by Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, New
Jersey.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmit-
ted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system,
without prior permission in writing from the publisher. All inquiries
should be addressed to Transaction Publishers, Rutgers—Th e State
University of New Jersey, 35 Berrue Circle, Piscataway, New Jersey
08854-8042. www.transactionpub.com
Th is book is printed on acid-free paper that meets the American
National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials.
Library of Congress Catalog Number: 2011029450
ISBN: 978-1-4128-4302-7
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Merten, Ulrich, 1930-
Forgotten voices : the expulsion of the Germans from Eastern Europe
after World War II / Ulrich Merten.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-4128-4302-7 (alk. paper)
1. World War, 1939-1945—Refugees—Europe, Eastern. 2. World
War, 1939-1945—Forced repatriation. 3. World War, 1939-1945—
Atrocities—Europe, Eastern. 4. Population transfers—Germans. 5.
Germans—Europe, Eastern—History—20th centruy. I. Title.
D809.G3M47 2012
940.53’14—dc23
2011029450
To Carole Merten Lockerbie, indefatigable companion
and editor, and Margit Merten Wagner source of
my love for German history and culture.

Contents
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xvii
Foreword xix
I Background 1
Th e Reasons for Ethnic Cleansing 2
Th e Expulsions 7
Th e Flight from the Red Army 11
II Th e Flight and Expulsion of the German Population
from East of the Oder-Neisse Line (Poland) 23
Th e Soviet Attack on East Germany and the
Flight of the Civilian Population 23
Th e Soviet Attack on East Prussia 25
Stutthof Concentration Camp 26
Th e Flight of the Population from East Prussia 40
Th e Flight of the Population from West Prussia
and Pomerania 47
Th e Flight of the Population from the Warthegau
(Province of Poznan) and East Brandenburg 50
Th e Flight of the Population from Silesia 51
Th e Return of the German Population to Th eir
Homes East of the Oder-Neisse Line 56
Deportation of German Civilians as Forced
Labor to the Soviet Union 58
Forgotten Voices
Th e Expulsion of the German Population from
East of the Oder-Neisse Line 64
Th e Treatment of German Civilians in the
Former Reich Territories 64
Th e Treatment of Volksdeutsche in Poland
and in the Soviet Enclave of East Prussia 69
Th e Expulsions 75
A Summary of the Diff erent Stages
of the Expulsions 80
Th e Polish Government’s Justifi cation for the
Expulsion of the German Population 83
Th e Destruction of the Polish Nation 84
Th e Historical Justifi cation for the Expulsion 86
III Th e Expulsion of the Ethnic German Population
from the Former Czechoslovakia 93
Th e History of German Settlements in Czechoslovakia 95
Evacuation and Flight of the Sudeten Germans
from the War 101
Slovakia 101
Bohemia and Moravia 102
Th e Prague Uprising 114
Th e Condition of the German Population in
Bohemia and Moravia at War’s End 124
Th e Internment of the Sudeten Germans
in Labor Camps 131
Th e History of the Th eresienstadt (Terezin) Ghetto 137
Th e Czech Government’s Justifi cation for the
Expulsion of the Germans 142
Th e Expulsion of the Sudeten Germans Prior to the
Potsdam Conference 146
Th e Expulsion of the Sudeten Germans after the
Potsdam Conference 162
Contents
IV Th e Expulsion of the Ethnic German Population
from Hungary 173
Introduction 174
Th e History of the German Settlements in Hungary 174
Hungary’s German Minority in World War II,
Including Service in the Waff en-SS 179
Th e Flight and Evacuation from the Soviet Army 185
Th e Hungarian Government’s Justifi cation for the
Expulsion of the German Community 189
Th e Soviet Occupation of Hungary and Forced
Labor in the Soviet Union 191
Th e Expulsion of the Ethnic Germans 195
V Th e Flight, Incarceration, and Expulsion of Ethnic
Germans from the Former Republic of Yugoslavia 207
Summary 207
Th e History of the German Settlements in Yugoslavia 209
Th e German Minority in World War II 212
Th e Ethnic German Participation in the
Waff en-SS Division “Prinz Eugen” 214
Th e Evacuation and Flight of Ethnic Germans
from Yugoslavia 219
Deportation to the Soviet Union 219
Th e Fate of the Ethnic German Minority in
Tito’s Partisan Government 224
Th e Treatment of Children 231
Th e Flight and Eviction of the Yugoslav
German Minority 234
Th e Closing of the Camps, Forced Labor, and
Emigration to the German Federal Republic 238
VI Th e Fate of the Ethnic German Minority in Romania 241
Th e Historical Ethnic German Settlements in Romania 241
Th e Transylvanian Saxons 241
Th e Swabians of the Banat 243