Austreibung  Expulsions - 3  
(The Atrocities of Ethnic Cleansing!!!)
Expulsions - 3
          Austreibung Expulsions -  3:           

                  Sudetenland
          From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The name is derived from the Sudeten
mountains, though the Sudetenland extended
beyond these mountains which run along the
border to Silesia and contemporary Poland. The
German inhabitants were called Sudeten
Germans (German: Sudetendeutsche, Czech:
Sudetští Němci, Polish: Niemcy Sudeccy). The
German minority in Slovakia, the Carpathian
Germans, is not included in this ethnic category.

Contents:

1 History of Sudetenland
1.1 Early origins
1.2 Emergence of the term
1.3 Changes after World War I
1.4 Within the Czechoslovak Republic (1918-1938)
1.5 Sudeten Crisis and German annexation
1.6 Sudetenland as part of Nazi Germany
1.7 Expulsions and resettlement after World War II



History of Sudetenland:

The areas later known as Sudetenland never formed a single historical region, which
makes it difficult to distinguish the history of the Sudetenland apart from that of
Bohemia, until the advent of nationalism and the coining of the term in the 19th century.


Early origins:

The regions later called Sudetenland were situated on the borders of the Kingdom of
Bohemia, which also consisted of Moravia and other lands (Silesia, Lusatia, etc.). After
the extinction of the Přemyslid dynasty, the kingdom was ruled by the Luxemburgs, later
the Jagiellonians and finally the Habsburgs. Already from the 13th century onwards the
border regions of Czech lands, called Sudetenland in the 20th century, were settled by
ethnic Germans, who were invited by the Bohemian kings.

The Habsburgs gradually integrated the Kingdom of Bohemia into their monarchy since
the 17th century, and it remained a part of that realm until its dismemberment after
World War I. Conflicts between Czech and German nationalists emerged in the 19th
century, for instance in the Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas: while the
German-speaking population wanted to participate in the building of a German nation
state, the Czech-speaking population insisted on keeping Bohemia out of such plans.


Emergence of the term:

Ethnic distribution in Austria-Hungary (1911): regions with a German majority are
depicted in pink, those with Czech majorites in blue.In the wake of growing nationalism,
the name "Sudetendeutsche" (Sudeten Germans) emerged by the early 20th century. It
originally constituted part of a larger classification of three groupings of Germans within
the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which also included "Alpendeutsche" (Alpine Germans) in
what later became the Republic of Austria and "Balkandeutsche" (Balkan Germans) in
Hungary and the regions east of it. Of these three terms, only the term
"Sudetendeutsche" survived, because of the ethnic and cultural conflicts within Bohemia.


Changes after World War I:

After World War I, Austria-Hungary broke apart. Late in October 1918, an independent
Czechoslovak state, consisting of the lands of the Bohemian kingdom and areas
belonging to the Kingdom of Hungary, was proclaimed. However, the German deputies of
Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia in the Imperial Parliament (Reichsrat) refused to adhere
to the new state by referring to the Fourteen Points of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson.
Instead they proclaimed the union of the German-speaking territories with the new
Republic of German Austria, which itself aimed at joining Weimar Germany. Four
regional governmental units were established:

German Bohemia (Deutschböhmen), the regions of northern and western Bohemia;
proclaimed a constitutive state (Land) of the German-Austrian Republic with
Reichenberg as capital, administered by a Landeshauptmann (state captain),
consecutively: Rafael Pacher (1857-1936), 29 October - 6 November 1918, and Rudolf
Ritter von Lodgman von Auen (1877 - 1962), 6 November - 16 December 1918 (the last
principal city was conquered by the Czech army but he continued in exile, first at Zittau in
Saxony and then in Vienna, until 24 September 1919).

Province Sudetenland, the regions of northern Moravia and Austrian Silesia; proclaimed
a constituent state of the German-Austrian Republic with Troppau as capital, governed
by a Landeshauptmann: Robert Freissler (1877-1950), 30 October - 18 December 1918.

Bohemian Forest Region (Böhmerwaldgau), the region of Bohemian Forest/South
Bohemia; proclaimed a district (Kreis) of the existing Austrian Land of Upper Austria;
administered by Kreishauptmann (district captain): Friedrich Wichtl (1872 - 1922) from
30 October 1918
German South Moravia (Deutschsüdmähren), proclaimed a District (Kreis) of the
existing Austrian land Lower Austria, administered by a Kreishauptmann: Oskar Teufel
(1880 - 1946) from 30 October 1918.

The U.S. commission to the Paris Peace Conference made the following, unheeded,
recommendations. It should be noted they refer to all areas claimed by Czechoslovakia,
including areas such as Lusatia, which would for obvious reasons never be joined to
Czechoslovakia.

“ "To grant to the Czechoslovaks all the territory they demand would be not only an
injustice to millions of people unwilling to come under Czech rule, but it would also be
dangerous and perhaps fatal to the future of the new state ... the blood shed on March
3rd when Czech soldiers in several towns fired on German crowds ... was shed in a
manner that is not easily forgiven... For the Bohemia of the future to contain within its
limits great numbers of deeply discontented inhabitants who will have behind them across
the border tens of millions of sympathizers of their own race will be a perilous experiment
and one which can hardly promise success in the long run." ”

Several German minorities in Moravia, including German populations in Brünn (Brno),
Iglau (Jihlava), and Olmütz (Olomouc) also attempted to proclaim their union with
German Austria but failed.

The Czechs thus rejected the aspirations of the Sudeten Germans and demanded the
inclusion of the Sudetenland in their new state, despite the presence of more than three
million ethnic Germans, on the grounds they had always been part of Bohemia and
Moravia. The Treaty of Saint-Germain in 1919 affirmed the inclusion of the German-
speaking territories within the new state of Czechoslovakia.

However, over the next two decades, some Germans in the Sudetenland continued to
strive for a separation of the German inhabited regions from Czechoslovakia.


Within the Czechoslovak Republic (1918-1938):

Main article: Germans in Czechoslovakia (1918-1938):

According to the February 1921 census 3,123,000 Germans lived in all Czechoslovakia -
23.4% of the total population.

The controversies between the Czechs and the German minority (which was actually a
majority in the Sudetenland areas) lingered on throughout the 1920s and intensified in
the 1930s.

In the years of Great Depression the mostly mountainous regions populated by the
German minority - together with other peripheral regions in Czechoslovakia - were hurt
by economic depression more than the inland. Unlike the underdeveloped regions
(Ruthenia, Wallachia...) there was a high concentration of industry dependent on export
(such as glass works, textile industry, paper-making and toy-making industry) and thus
very vulnerable in the period of global depression. For example: 60% of the bijouterie
and glass-making industry were located in the Sudetenland, 69% of employees in this
sector were Germans, and 95% of bijouterie and 78% of other glassware were produced
for export. Then the glass-making sector was affected by decreased spending power and
also by protective measures in other countries and many German workers lost their work.
[2]

The high unemployment made people more open to populist and extremist movements
(Communism, Fascism). In these years, the parties of German nationalists and later the
Sudetendeutsche Party (SdP) with its radical demands gained immense popularity among
Germans in Czechoslovakia.


Sudeten Crisis and German annexation:

After 1933, the Sudeten-German party (SdP) pursued a policy of escalation. Party leader
Konrad Henlein with his deputy Karl Hermann Frank had secretly formed a pact with the
Nazi Party now ruling in Germany and would gradually increase his demands so that
Hitler could reap the fruits of the conflict.

“ It has been frequently suggested that Henlein was a sinister schemer and his SdP
nothing more than a subversive Nazi organization bent on the destruction of
Czechoslovak independence. It is easy to understand how these notions arose, yet
neither Henlein at the outset of his political career nor the SdP for many years of its
development had anything to do with the National Socialist movement in Germany. Both
were originally dedicated to a democratic settlement of the Sudeten German question,
which was to be achieved by peaceful negotiations in the Czech parliament. All attempts
to reach an acceptable settlement, however, failed, and the gradual escalation of the
Czech-Sudeten confrontation resulted in forcing Henlein into the arms of Adolf Hitler,
who promised to provide an international sounding board for the Sudeten case. […]
Hitler of course, more than welcomed the opportunity of making the Sudeten case his
own and did not hesitate to misuse the principle of self-determination as a weapon to
further his own Lebensraum policy.[3] ”

Immediately after the Anschluss of Austria into the Third Reich in March 1938, Hitler
made himself the advocate of ethnic Germans living in Czechoslovakia, triggering the
"Sudeten Crisis".

In August, UK Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, sent Lord Runciman to
Czechoslovakia in order to see if he could obtain a settlement between the Czechoslovak
government and the Germans in the Sudetenland. His mission failed because, on Hitler's
command, Sudeten German Party refused all conciliating proposals.[4][5][6] Runciman
reported the following to the British government:

“ Czech officials and Czech police, speaking little or no German, were appointed in large
numbers to purely German districts; Czech agricultural colonists were encouraged to
settle on land confiscated under the Land Reform in the middle of German populations;
for the children of these Czech invaders Czech schools were built on a large scale; there
is a very general belief that Czech firms were favoured as against German firms in the
allocation of State contracts and that the State provided work and relief for Czechs more
readily than for Germans. I believe these complaints to be in the main justified. Even as
late as the time of my Mission, I could find no readiness on the part of the Czechoslovak
Government to remedy them on anything like an adequate scale ... the feeling among the
Sudeten Germans until about three or four years ago was one of hopelessness. But the
rise of Nazi Germany gave them new hope. I regard their turning for help towards their
kinsmen and their eventual desire to join the Reich as a natural development in the
circumstances.[7] ”

Cropped image of what first appeared in the Nazi party newspaper Völkischer
Beobachter, ostensibly depicting a Sudeten German woman in Asch crying tears of joy
when Hitler crossed the border in 1938. Allied propaganda later used the cropped image
with other interpretations.The Nazis, together with their Sudeten German allies,
demanded incorporation of the region into Nazi Germany to escape "oppression", in fact
to destroy the Czechoslovak state. While the Czechoslovak government mobilized its
troops, the Western powers urged it to comply with Germany believing that they could
prevent or postpone a general war by appeasing Hitler.

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain met with Adolf Hitler in Berchtesgaden on
15 September and agreed to the cession of the Sudetenland. Three days later, French
Prime Minister Édouard Daladier did the same. No Czechoslovak representative was
invited to these discussions.

Chamberlain met Hitler in Godesberg on September 22 to confirm the agreements. Hitler
however, aiming at using the crisis as a pretext for war, now demanded not only the
annexation of the Sudetenland but the immediate military occupation of the territories,
giving the Czechoslovakian army no time to adapt their defence measures to the new
borders. To achieve a solution, Italian prime minister Benito Mussolini suggested a
conference of the major powers in Munich and on September 29, Hitler, Daladier and
Chamberlain met and agreed to Mussolini's proposal (actually prepared by Hermann
Göring) and signed the Munich Agreement accepting the immediate occupation of the
Sudetenland. The Czechoslovak government, though not party to the talks, promised to
abide by the agreement on September 30.

The Sudetenland was occupied by Germany between October 1 and October 10, 1938.
This unification with the Third Reich was followed by the flight or expulsion of most of
the region's Czech population to areas remaining within Czechoslovakia.

The remaining parts of Czechoslovakia were subsequently invaded and annexed by
Germany in March 1939.


Sudetenland as part of Nazi Germany:

The Sudetenland was initially put under military administration, with General Wilhelm
Keitel as Military governor. On 21 October 1938, the annexed territories were divided,
with the southern parts being incorporated into the neighbouring Reichsgaue Oberdonau
and Niederdonau.

The northern and western parts were reorganised as the Reichsgau Sudetenland, with
the city of Reichenberg (present-day Liberec) established as its capital. Konrad Henlein
(now openly a NSDAP member) administered the district first as Reichskommissar (until
1 May 1939) and then as Reichsstatthalter (1 May 1939–4 May 1945). Sudetenland
consisted of three political districts: Eger (with Karlsbad as capital), Aussig (Aussig) and
Troppau (Troppau).


Shortly after the annexation, the Jews living in the Sudetenland were widely persecuted.
Only a few weeks afterwards, "Kristallnacht" occurred. As elsewhere in Germany, many
synagogues were set on fire and many Jews were sent to concentration camps. In later
years, the Nazis transported up to 300,000 Czech and Slovak Jews to concentration
camps.[8] where 90% of them were killed or died. Jews and Czechs were not the only
afflicted peoples; German Socialists, communists and pacifists were widely persecuted as
well. Some of the German Socialists fled the Sudetenland via Prague and London to other
countries. The "Gleichschaltung" would permanently damage the community in the
Sudetenland.

Despite this, on 4 December 1938 there were elections in Reichsgau Sudetenland, in
which 97.32% of the adult population voted for NSDAP. About a half million Sudeten
Germans joined the Nazi Party which was 17.34% of the German population in
Sudetenland (the average NSDAP participation in Nazi Germany was 7.85%). This
means the Sudetenland was the most "pro-Nazi" region in the Third Reich.[5] Because
of their knowledge of the Czech language, many Sudeten Germans were employed in the
administration of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia as well as in Nazi
organizations (Gestapo, etc.). The most notable was Karl Hermann Frank: the SS and
Police general and Secretary of State in the Protectorate.


Expulsions and resettlement after World War II:

After the end of World War II, the Potsdam Conference in 1945 determined that Sudeten
Germans would have to leave Czechoslovakia (see Expulsion of Germans after World
War II). As a consequence of the immense hostility against all Germans that had grown
within Czechoslovakia due to Nazi behavior, the overwhelming majority of Germans were
expelled. (While the relevant Czechoslovak legislation provided for the remaining of
those Germans that were able to prove their anti-Nazi affiliation, in many instances these
provisions were not respected.) The number of expelled Germans in the early phase
(spring-summer 1945) is estimated to be around 500,000 people. These expulsions and
forced resettlements were associated with excesses and even murders of Germans, e.g.
during the Brno death march ("Brünner Todesmarsch", the forced march of some 20,000
German inhabitants of Brno toward the Austrian borders at the end of May 1945). There
were about 24,000 known deaths directly related to the expulsion (this includes murders
as well as suicides or deaths from disease, old age, etc.). More than 62,000 German
people were reported missing by relatives, but their deaths could not be verified. The
property of practically all Sudeten Germans, claimed to be part of war reparations, was
confiscated by Czechoslovakia pursuant to the Beneš decrees. During the organised
phase in 1946, a total of 2,232,544 people were transferred to Germany: two-thirds of
them to the American sector, and one-third to the Soviet sector (note: not all of the
transferred were actual Germans: the number includes the non-German members of
mixed families and renegades). Only about 244,000 Germans were allowed to remain in
Czechoslovakia. Many German refugees from Czechoslovakia are represented by the
Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft.

Many of the Germans who stayed in Czechoslovakia later emigrated to West Germany
(more than 100,000). As the German population was transferred out of the country, the
former Sudetenland was resettled, mostly by Czechs but also by other nationalities of
Czechoslovakia: Slovaks, Volhynian Czechs, Gypsies and Hungarians (though the
Hungarians were forced into this and later returned home). Some areas remained
depopulated for several strategic reasons (extensive mining, military interests etc.) or
simply for their lack of attractions. There remained areas with noticeable German
minorities only in the westernmost borderland. In the 2001 census, only approximately
40,000 people in the Czech Republic claimed German ethnicity.

Account of the German expulsion from Neutitschein
                                       By Steve Conklin


















My grandparents came to the United States in 1930, leaving behind their
families in the Sudetenland. After the end of  World War II Ethnic Germans
were expelled from the lands that their families had inhabited for many
generations. In the following letter to my Grandmother, her sister Heli
described her experiences. It is important to note that when she writes of the
"Czech Devils", this is not a feeling of long standing and is only as a result
of the events that followed the war. Her father was German and her mother
was Czech.

I am indebted to Frank for translating this letter. He was also expelled from
the Sudetenland with his family, at the age of fourteen. He supplied some
commentary and contextual notes which follow the letter.

There are those who have said to me that the Germans deserved anything
they got after the war. I urge you to consider that the ethnic Czechs and
Germans had lived together for generations before the war. In Frank's
words:

"Your comment about the Germans deserving it should be the title of
someone's book, if not a Phd dissertation. I lived in the middle of this mess
as a kid and there were never any problems between the the Czech boys and
the German kids. In fact many czech families had their kids join the youth
wing of the Hitler-youth and they marched with us up and down our town
with never any problems. A lot of what you hear in the czech press today is
propaganda as I know some of it is in the Sudeten press of today. However,
one thing is certain. The expulsion was a cowardly act since most of the
German men were still POW's or dead.What was left to expulse were the 14
year old kids their mothers and grandmothers and the old men. There was
no opposition."

This page is Copyright Steve Conklin (steve at conklinhouse dot com),
2000. Please do not copy or link this page without permission.

At the end of the this page is a list of all other people and families named in
the letter. If you find any of your family members in this list, I would love
to hear from you.

Permission to reprint this article was granted on Wednesday, August 27,
2008 by Mr. Steve Conklin to Johannes Rammund De Balliel-Lawrora,
Executive Director of the German-American World Historical Society, Inc.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Letter:

Continuation: Before I continue with my notes I would like to report on the
life of the German population after May 10th, 1945. What the Czech devils
perpetrated must be incomprehensible to those who have not experienced it
themselves. There existed only theft, robbery, gang rapes, torture and
beatings until you could no longer recognize the person. On the ration
coupons for Germans there was only 1 Kilogram bread, no fat or butter, no
meat. All this while under heavy forced labor and beatings while walking on
a paths or sidewalks. For Germans it was forbidden to visit pubs or
restaurants, ride on trains or visit movies, or walk in the parks even while
going to work. A curfew existed for Germans after 7 PM. Women's dresses
were taken from their bodies, men were stripped of shoes and suits and they
were left to walk barefoot. They stole and robbed everything that they liked
on a German person. From the letters that I still receive from
Czechoslovakia it still has not improved. I was never paid for the few weeks
of the heaviest labor. My cash of 800 Marks I had was taken away from me
by the Russians and I consider myself lucky that I was not raped. This is
how it went until July 4th, 1945.

At 7 in the morning on July 4th, 1945 a car with a loudspeaker mounted on
it drove through our beloved town of Neutitschein and announced the
following: All females between the ages of 10 and 50 and males between 12
and 60 who were of German Nationality were required to present themselves
at 10 in the morning, with one blanket, one spoon and their ration cards at
the town square. The Czech soldiers (Miliz) ran around crazily and rounded
up the Germans and at 11 AM all between the age ranges called, stood on
the town square.

The young girls and women were sent to the Casernes in the Bluchenstrasse.
The men and boys went to the camp on the Steinberg. Many women were
separated from their children and many tears were shed and those that it
did not affect, who still had a job, were distressed by this roundup and loss
of freedom. No one suspected what was yet to come.

On this 4th of July 45, a Wednesday, I went to work and waited to catch a
glimpse of my dear Emil between 17 hrs to 20 hrs. But unfortunately he did
not come to the Cillichgasse (Street). Then I had to return home, I stole my
way home as the time of the curfew for us Germans had passed. But I
managed to go undetected and reached Mrs. Till's home on the Steinberg
unmolested and unharmed. I found Mrs. Till and Mrs. Schleser crying as
they thought that I had been arrested. For the rest of that evening not much
was said. The Russians did their mischief, robbing and raping. We hid our
belongings, here a piece of jewelery, there a dress into the dressers which we
then turned with the doors to each other so that the Russians would have it
more difficult to get at our stuff. The excitement of the morning, and the
uncertain future of the poor Neutitscheiners put us at a loss. With tears in
our eyes and fear we laid down to bed around 22 hrs. I should mention that
between May 4, 1945 and July 4, 1945 we never undressed when going to
bed as it was necessary to be ready at any moment to jump from the 1st
floor in case the Russians decided to come through the door. The work
through the day and the constant grief made us tired and it was easy to fall
into a deep sleep.

Suddenly we all awoke at the same time to shouting and banging at the
front door. I ran to the window and thinking it was the Russians again I
shouted: "What is it? What do you want?" The answer came from an
animal on a Czech patrol : "Open the door immediately". I ran down the
steps and opened the door and was given a shove so I ran up the steps
again, cursing behind me. Several Czech soldiers, better described as armed
civilian hordes, broke into all residences and with guns at the ready,
whipping people, shouted: "fast, faster: You should have been at the town
square, it is already 1:30 AM and you should have been there at 12 o'clock.
Did you not hear the message on the loudspeaker?" We said no. They
cracked their whip and with their guns pointed at us they stuck to us. In ten
minutes we had to be ready to leave. I asked one of the SOBs what was
going to happen to us? "You will find that out quickly. There will be a roll
call because still many (....) women and men are (needed ?). Don't take
much with you only a piece of bread"!

You can imagine dear reader how we poor souls could take much with us. I
grabbed a few photos of dear Wolfgang and dear Erika, Emil and stuffed
them into my Rucksack (Backpack) that luckily lay on the table. I also
stuffed in a small pillow, a blanket, one set of clothing, (I have to add, that
I wanted to change my clothes later as I packed 3 brasieres instead of a
shirt) one knitted dress, one pair of shoes and the worst coat and as I left,
better said driven out, I quickly grabbed the leather handbag containing
documents from Emil's Pension Plan, the inheritance documents of the
house and the "Ahnenpaesse" ancestral pass. That was the only thought
that flashed in my mind. Everything else had to remain behind. The good
things were all well hidden before the Russians. The savages then drove us
out of the home into the street and then on to the town square. The streets
were already empty but on the town square they already had people
standing in rows of 5 and we were the last ones to join them under a
barrage of cursing, whipping and pushes with gun butts.

What did we see there? Our dear citizens, young and old, the sick in
wheelchairs, the old and weak, some with knapsacks over their shoulders or
suitcases. Most were like us, without anything, in underclothes and as some
had nothing left had to appear wrapped in a linen cloth. Then happened
unto such robbers two Germans, they took away our last possessions,
bankbooks, house keys and jewelry! What has my savior suffered? I
thought that I would die from it. The other brave, honorable citizens
suffered no less. We were totally confused, everyone looked like a (Faser ?).

By then the first rays of the rising sun appeared on the horizon, 4 in the
morning, the wretched column of people was set in motion with lashes of
dog whips, gun butts and curses. We proceeded down Schwarz street. When
passing Cillich strasse I gave a furtive glance at the dear Emil and prayed to
god he would protect him. The poor man did not know that his poor Helli
and many of his dear friends and fellow citizens were being deported or did
they hear our lamentations and cries. I did not shed a tear, I only felt hate
in my heart for this Czech brood. I did not even turn back to say "God will
pay you back" . . . . . So moved this suffering train of humanity, 5000
people left, within ten minutes, as beggars, thrown out, without a home, our
beloved Neutitschein, our jewel box.  (and, incidentally, when several of the
Czechs fell sick from an undisclosed malady, we were even accused of
putting a curse and/or spell on the partisans, and several of our beloved
countrypeople were executed on the spot.)  Of course, in our minds these so-
called communist partisans were indeed lower then the lowest swines.  God
will wield his own Justice in due time...

At this point I would like mention that the picture in the title of the book
"Ost-deutsche Passion" reflects the condition of our column of 5000
miserable creatures from one town who carried on our backs the cross of
Christ. As we arrived at the railroad station, there were the men and the
boys who had been taken to the camp on Wednesday, with their backs
turned to us (on order of the Robbers) and as the last of us had passed
them they joined our column.

So our column proceeded on the Kunerwaelder Strasse towards Zauchtel.
When we arrived on the Kunerwaelder hill I turned back one more time and
saw the church steeple and my beloved home town for the last time. In front
of us walked the women, girls and children they had rounded up the day
before and questions were whispered from mouth to mouth and row to row:
Have you seen my mother? have you seen my children, my husband, my
brother, father, sister. Where are they?!

Those who carried many belongings dropped the full suitcases as they
walked, or took out pieces they decided they would not need to empty and
lighten the load, because the lashing of the whip and the shots were directed
at those who could no longer carry on. Many lay down, the sick and the
weak, they mostly found death under the beatings! No tears anymore, only
curses for the Czech hordes. This wretched procession will stay in the hearts
of those that had to live and endure it.

We arrived in Zauchtel completely drenched, even the heavens cried over us
unfortunate wretches. We were loaded onto open coal railroad cars, 70 to
75 people to each car, baby carriages and the remaining belongings. Some
families who were separated in the camp were reunited here, but most
remained alone as I did as we looked for our dear ones without success.
Children cried, looking for their parents many of whom languished in
prison. In the coal car with me I found several acquaintances: Mrs. Kathy
Preisenhammer (born Pirschle?) with her mother (born Rosmanith). Mrs.
Weiss and her daughters (Geppert and Greta), Mrs. Till, Mrs. Schleser, Mrs.
Hanig, Mrs. Koenig, and many others. Schwab Dolfi sat next to me in the
car and cried for her mother who probably remained at home and, as I have
now found out, committed suicide. It rained continuously; the doors of the
railroad cars were then closed and before long we were drenched to the skin
as nobody carried an umbrella and the cars were not covered. At 8 o'clock
everything was ready for the transport and how rushed were the rascals. In
a fast ride we went through Prerau, Olmuetz, Truebau and at midnight we
arrived at Kolin. Without food the children cried out from hunger and cold.
Everything was soaking wet. To relieve yourself you had to do it in the cars,
and the cars were not opened throughout the entire trip.

Each car had two guards who always cursed us: "You German swine" and
we silently said in German - "to you we might be German Swine, but to us
you are vipers of the worst kind - we believe in God, but all of you are
related to the Devil. In Kolin the train stopped and messages were
whispered from car to car. In some cars partisans and robbers had entered.
Our guards were nice enough to tell us "Lie down flat on the floor and
don't move the partisans are coming". It became eerily silent and we lay in
the rainwater and shook inside. The sky opened up in a cloud burst. Then I
perceived voices, the railroaders shouted to each other in Czech: "What are
you carrying here? Ha, ha, ha, for soap" [bones for soap ed.] shouted the
dog in return. Laughter and applause from across the tracks. Then one of
the partisans in railroad uniform appeared in the car next to our guard, he
shouts at us in a sympathetic tone: Terrible weather, perhaps an umbrella
would be helpful. I thought at that moment that this man had a soft heart
for us wretches but I was mistaken. He then turned cynical and added: You
German swine, this does you good, not enough, you beasts, and so on. I
clenched my teeth, our guard relented, tried to calm us down and ordered
this dog off our car. Those of us who understood Czech knew what was
coming.

When one reads the book "Ostdeutsche Passion" the urgency of the
departure becomes clear because the deportations were to start only on the
10th of August 45! We were expelled in the so-called: Terror nights
(Bartholomew nights) and totally cleaned out (robbed). In addition, these
hordes had no right to do that. We were completely convinced that we
would end up in the Concentration Camp Tabor or Theresienstadt.

On the morning of July 6, 1945 we continued our journey from Kolin, it
still rained. Those of us in the coal cars . . . . . . wetness and perspiration,
stench from the human excrement. Soon the train turned westerly then
northerly then again towards the east and then westerly so that you did not
have a clear picture where they were taking us. In the evening we arrived at
the river Elbe, rode through Aussig, Then I asked the guard what they were
going to do with us he then replied: "You wanted to go home into the Reich
and you shouted "Heim ins Reich" now you are going to the Reich. Soon
you are going to be there but you won't see "mother" Neutitschen again".
Now we knew it all!

We neared Tetschen-Bodenbach. A few Kilometers before Bodenbach a few
Czech soldiers (officers) searched us once again for gold and took earrings,
rings and wedding rings from anyone who still had them. They threatened
us that anyone hiding things from them would be shot by the Russian
Controls that would come later ! We started to hide things and complained!
I still had my wedding ring and Wolfgangs' Aircraft Pilots badge that I
treasured. The Czech Militia looked at my hands and the one scoundrel
wanted to pull my ring from my finger. "No sir" I said "25 years I had this
ring, I won't give it to you". I took off my ring off my finger and threw it
and the pilots badge into the Elbe River. There it rests in good care, and the
bandits did not get it . . . The Soldier threatened to shoot me. I told him:
"go ahead I have nothing else left in this world" but the scoundrel threw me
an angry look and left looking for other misdeeds and other victims!

Once we reached Bodenbach we were taken off the cars and sat down onto a
large meadow. After half an hour rest we were lined up in rows of five and
our march continued for 5 hours uphill. The old people who could no
longer continue were loaded onto a truck and taken away. Where to? To
this day many of the wonderful, brave old people remain missing. One
knows almost nothing of the fate that befell these people.

Since we left Neutitschein we had nothing to eat and many were close to
fainting during this march. If you wanted to rest a bit on the side of the
road the shooting started and the whips rarely missed their target. and so
we struggled on with backs bent toward the ground! I have to once again
remind you that the picture in the title of the book "Ostdeutsche Passion"
represents us in our plight.

Finally around midnight we had arrived at Herrnsgretschen! The Czech
gentlemen, our guards, said their goodbyes, once again with selected
expletives and left us to our fate. We collapsed on the ground out of sheer
exhaustion in total apathy. We stayed on the ground listening to the sounds
of distant shots and curses and from our immediate surroundings the
moaning of the deathly tired. The poor angelic children cried pitifully, since
they had no food. Not even bread and water was available! Where would we
look for it in the middle of the night in thick fog and rain? Exhaustion got
the better of most of them and they fell asleep until about 4 in the morning
when some of them awoke as the stones they lay on were uncomfortable
and the cold kept them awake. The poor mothers, themselves looking like
corpses, came searching and asking for bread crumbs. Here and there a
piece of hard bread was found and having no other water the Elbe river
water was sprinkled over the bread and given to the small worms (the
children) which resulted in the death of some of them. But at least the
crying of the children abated somewhat. Many made their bed in the Elbe to
put an end to their ordeal.

When it became light and the fog lifted we saw that the area we were
deposited in was nothing but sheer and craggy rocks. Suddenly the Czechs
reappeared and we had to line up in rows of five and were put once more
through a baggage and body search where once again any remaining money
and anything they liked was taken away. They got nothing from me as I had
nothing to take. Anyone having two dresses or overcoats had to give up
one. Once again it started to rain in a downpour. Children rested on the
shoulders of the exhausted mothers who contracted pneumonia and
dysentery accompanied by a high fever. A terrible picture that I will never
forget. Following the search we find ourselves in no mans land and have to
continue as there is no hope for us here, no houses nor people.

After 2 kilometers we come to the first village in Germany, Schmilta. There
they have small steamboats ready to carry the people to an encampment
Pirna near Dresden. Most of our people depart almost immediately as we
we can not linger here, either. The police are forcing everyone to leave. We
steal away and hide in the forest; Mr. and Mrs. Kònig, Mrs. Schleser and
Ms. Hilde, a young lady and I. We look for caves to hide from the rain and
where we can stay overnight. We are hoping that with the next transports
will come relatives like the children of the Kònigs, our dear husbands
Schleser and Emil and Hildes' mother. But we wait 5 days in vain. During
the day we wait on the shore of the Elbe River, go scrounging for raw field
potatoes to eat. Here and there we found mushrooms which we were able to
boil in water at the house of a good woman. She also gave us a small
portion of other refreshment because they did not have much themselves.
How close we came here, on the shores of the Elbe, to end our lives, due to
our desperation and hunger dear reader, you can imagine. Only Mr. Kònig
shook us out of our lethargy and reminded us to remain strong. This is how
we spent our time and since waiting 5 days our dearest still did not show up
and our daily rations invariably consisted of 1-2 raw potatoes we had to
move on with strict encouragement by the police. But where to go?

To the camp at Pirna? Under no circumstances! There they had an outbreak
of Hunger typhus (sic). Prissel Mizzi died of it in this camp. The camp was
overcrowded. These camps were too small and new refugees were added
hourly. In the meadows and ditches there were none but the poor wretched
creatures, we beggars made homeless by the Germans in Germany, treated
as lepers. Not even a glass of water was given to us without being asked the
question: "Why did you come here? Why did you not stay there with the
Czechs?" Our explanation that we were evacuated and robbed by the
Czechs only provoked replies like: "Why did you shout "Heim ins Reich"
(home to Germany)"?. That was always a slap in the face and we would
walk away sadly. We then went to Dresden by steamer. The view of it we
could have done without. Dresden! You beautiful city! Only a sea of stones
and terrible decay because the 300,000 dead bodies from the last attack had
not yet been removed. A million flies. I shudder when I think of this picture.

It becomes a pilgrimage, from Dresden to Mecklenburg and then back, for
those that don't know that Mecklenburg no longer accepts any refugees.
The other borders have been closed by the Russians and the Russians rob
and rape just like the Czech. We are desperate and in addition Mr and Mrs.
Kònig leave us since Mrs. Kònig wants to move to her brother in Bärenfels
in the Erzgebirge. That leaves us three women by ourselves. The young lady
Hilde says we should go to Zwickau, where she has an aunt Mrs. Braschoss
and she would advise us what we should be doing. But Zwickau is far. What
would we have to go through to go there? Dresden is terrible and our road
would take us to Chemnitz. Crossing the river Mulde would be a problem
as the Russians open and close the area frequently. We spend three nights
on railway stations, meadows and hard pavement. The never-ending fear of
the Russians causes us sleepless nights, in spite of our exhaustion.
Chemnitz, Plauen - all these once beautiful cities razed to the ground, a
terrible view. The thousands of homeless refugees and deportees walking
about among the stones offering a picture of destitution.

Emaciated, completely exhausted, legs, feet swollen to the size of cans (sic)
we arrive on July 16, 1945, on a Sunday at 8 in the morning in Zwickau. As
we leave the railroad station, churchbells ring and beautiful sunshine
accompanies us. We three women drag ourselves, almost on our hands and
feet, the long way to Mrs. Braschoss on Werdaner street 86. The Zwickau
citizens are in their Sunday best and give us homeless people a hard,
dispassionate, look. We cry, our tears roll down our cheeks, and at the door
of Mrs. Braschoss we collapse. Someone carries us up the stairs! Mrs.
Braschoss welcomes us heartily and says to rest up for now and the rest we
will discuss later. We lie down on the floor, we can't stand up any more. We
are given good coffee, sauerkraut for lunch, and the first hot meal since the
4th of July 45.

In the evening Mrs Braschoss suggested that on Monday, the very next day,
we all go for mushrooms and go scrounging potatoes. We went on the first
train, Hilde, Mrs. Braschoss, (Aunt Berta) and I, to Werdau and went on a
4 hr. hunt for mushrooms and potatoes. My feet are still swollen right up to
my knees. The shoes / sandals won't close! Oh how tired I was, even the
young Hilde. Mrs. Schleser waited for us in the evening and had become
concerned. We brought enough home to last us a week of warm meals.
[Note 1]

On July 19th, 1945 we registered with the local police to meet the deadline
of July 21, and since we could show that we had a place to live we were
allowed to stay and that entitled us to ration cards. Mrs. Braschoss
immediately recognized an opportunity when I told her that I was a
dressmaker. She put her sewing machine at my disposal, which I had to
repair first. I started to work right away on July 19th, 1945 as I suspected
that Mrs. Braschoss appeared to have a greed for money. I completed the
first dress and word of mouth spread quickly that here was a good
dressmaker and right away I had a pile of orders. Hilde became my
assistant and so we worked like bees from 8 in the morning until 9 at night.
We made quite a bit of money and at the end of every month we were able
to pay our rent. We bought our groceries on the ration cards and we found
that sympathetic women who paid me for the work brought along potatoes,
flour and fruit, as well. Mrs Schleser cooked for the three of us. The
earnings each month were split into three equal parts and so we remained
until October 15th, 1945 in the sublet quarters at Mrs. Braschoss.

But I will never forget the contrast, how nice it was working for ourselves in
the lovely Zwickau and the bitter atmosphere that existed in the house of
Mrs. Braschoss. She wanted us to go a different path and since we did not
agree she started cursing us day and night. A pack of beggars and no pity
should be given to us and where she could she collected the goods given to
us by the women only to take a part for herself. So we saw to it that there
was an opportunity, with me, until this day, dear Mrs. Barth, to move out.
Mrs. Barschoss wept as we left, but I am, to this day, thankful to this
woman for all the good help she had given to us. But it was high time to
leave her so as to preserve the good understanding we had originally had.
Our presence had been beneficial to Mrs. Barschoss.

Hilde and I lived together at Mrs. Barths. Mrs. Schleser lived with a Mrs.
Keil but in the same house as ours. There we worked harder and at
Christmas 1945 all three had saved a nice sum of money. Mrs. Schleser then
decided to strike out on her own because it seemed to her to cook for us
was too much work. So the two of us stayed alone and I can only say that
with Hilde I spent the nicest days in Zwickau, she helped me to overcome all
difficulties.

Hilde soon found her dear husband Heini. She was so sympathetic in my
grief that I had not heard from Wolfgang nor my dear Emil for so long or
Erika and the dear people from the USA.

On January 13th, 1946 at 4 in the morning, like a flash, it came to me I
remembered Wolfgang's friend and I wrote to him immediately. Within 14
days I had Wolfgang's address. Wolfgang was in a British prisoner of War
camp. Since being released he turned to an old Neutitschein friend Ernst
Brossmann who now resided in Munich - Ottobrunn. Ernest sent Wolfgang
a telegram to meet him in Munich. During that time I received news from
Erika, who was in the transit camp at Furth im Walde. Erika was expelled
from Karlsbad on February 4th, 1946! On March 18th my dear children
were found, through my telegrams and letters. On March 28th, 1946
Wolfgang went to get the dears from Furth im Walde and moved to Munich
Ottobrunn Feldstrasse 8. Through the efforts of my dear Wolfgang, on
April 18, 1946 I had already had in my possession the permission to move
to Munich. On April 18th 1946 I received, to my greatest joy, the first lines,
through Mr. Bier, from my dearest sister and dearest Karl.

On May 12th, 1946 I arrived in Munich! You already know the rest.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Translator's Notes:

1. Her story about the potato gathering was commonplace in 1945 and
continued until 1948 when the German "Währungsreform" devaluation of
the Reichsmark into the Deutsche Mark (DM). Overnight the shops were
filled with foodstuffs previously only available on the black market.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following names appear in the letter:



from Neutitchein
Heli Schubert nee Anders (the author)
Emil (her husband)
Wolfgang and Erica (Heli and Emil's children)
Mrs. Till
Mrs. Schleser
Mrs. Kathy Preisenhammer nee Pirschle with her mother born Rosmanith
Mrs. Weiss and her daughters
Geppert Greta
Mrs. Hanig
Mr. and Mrs. Koenig (Konig)
Mrs. Hilde
Schwab Dolfi (her mother committed suicide)
Prissel Mizzi (died of Typhus in the camp at Pirna)


From Other Locations:

Mrs. Braschoss, Mrs. Hilde's Aunt in Zwickau
Heini (Mrs. Hilde's husband)
Aunt Berta (Who's aunt?) (Zwickau)
Mrs. Barth (Zwickau)
Mrs. Keil (Zwickau)
Ernst Brossmann (Munich - Ottobrunn)

         A German-Czech Pact on Wartime Abuses

                                By ALAN COWELL
                                  New York Times
                      Published: December 11, 1996

More than half a century after the end of World War II, Germany will
apologize for Hitler's invasion of the former Czechoslovakia, and Prague
will express regrets for the postwar expulsion of millions of Germans,
according to the draft of a joint declaration to be endorsed this month.

German officials said today that Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel and his
Czech counterpart, Josef Zieleniec, would meet in Prague on Dec. 20 to
initial the long-negotiated document intended to end a corrosive dispute
between the two countries.

The draft document, leaked to reporters in Prague, commits Germany to
apologizing for Nazi ''policies of violence'' while the Czech side will express
regret that the expulsion of 2.5 million Germans from the Sudetenland after
World War II caused suffering and injustice to innocent people.

The draft, which Mr. Zieleniec confirmed as authentic, represents a
breakthrough after two years of often-stalled negotiations, and not only for
Germany and the Czech Republic. It also includes German promises to
support Czech membership in the European Union and NATO, reinforcing
post-Communist Europe's halting efforts toward a new security and
economic order after the cold war.

The declaration is expected to be signed in January by Chancellor Helmut
Kohl and Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus before being ratified by both
Parliaments.

The declaration entails political risks for both Governments. It was
immediately challenged today by the Sudeten Germans' powerful political
lobby in Bavaria because it provides them with neither a claim to
compensation nor a right to return to expropriated properties.

It also seems likely to incense many Czechs because it apologizes for events
that many view as an appropriate reaction to Nazi occupation.

The passions over the declaration have always run deep.

Many Czechs feel that the expulsion of the Germans from the Sudetenland,
a border area that had a large German population, was justified because the
Sudeten Germans largely welcomed the Nazis. Emboldened by the
appeasement policies of Britain and France in the Munich agreement of
September 1938, the Nazis annexed the Sudetenland, then marched into
Prague in March 1939.

The Sudeten Germans have maintained that great injustice was done to
them by the indiscriminate brutality of the expulsion -- which they liken
these days to ''ethnic cleansing'' in the Balkans -- and by postwar
Czechoslovak laws that legitimized both the expulsions and the confiscation
of property.

The draft agreement says the German side now acknowledges German
responsibility for the developments leading to the occupation of
Czechoslovakia, which split into two countries in 1992, and ''regrets the
suffering and injustice done to the Czech people by Germans'' through Nazi
crimes.

''The German side is also conscious of the fact that National Socialist
policies of violence toward the Czech people contributed to preparing the
ground for flight, expulsion and forced resettlement after the war.''

A further clause says the Czech side ''regrets that much suffering and
injustice was done to innocent people through the postwar expulsion and
enforced resettlement of the Sudeten Germans from the former
Czechoslovakia, through expropriation and through deprivation of
citizenship -- also in view of the fact that this was done with the character of
guilt ascribed collectively.''

The document also offers Czech regret for ''excesses in contradiction of
elementary, humanitarian principles'' and for the fact that postwar decrees
legitimized such actions.

Previously, the Czech authorities had balked at the use of the word
''expulsion'' because it implied a right to compensation. But the draft said
that both sides now agreed that they would not burden their future
relationship with ''political and juridical problems stemming from the past.''

Both the Sudeten German Organization in Munich, Bavaria, and right-wing
Czech politicians took issue with the draft.

Franz Neubauer, the leader of an influential Sudeten German association in
Bavaria, said that the Sudeten Germans did not accept its ''coarse,
historical falsehoods.''

"'The expulsion as such is not unambiguously condemned as injustice, but
regretted in ambiguous formulations,'' he said. ''Practical steps for
compensation for injustice are not even touched upon.''

In Prague, Jan Vik, a rightist legislator, called the declaration ''a great
national tragedy and another step toward the future and total control'' of
his country by Germany.

The Czech authorities, however, wanted the dispute settled before they
begin negotiations to join both NATO and the European Union.

Significantly, the draft document was leaked just before NATO foreign
ministers in Brussels decided today to hold a summit meeting in Madrid
next July at which some former Communist countries will be invited to
open negotiations on joining the alliance.

The Czech Republic, which is also to open talks on joining the European
Union in 1998, is widely expected to be one of the applicants for NATO
membership, along with Hungary and Poland.

The draft document supports the Czech case on both applications, declaring
that Germany ''fully supports the Czech Republic's acceptance as a member
of the European Union and the North Atlantic alliance in the strong
conviction that this is in the common interest.''

           Deutsche Vereinigung
                          von
                     Winnipeg

 GERMAN LOSSES IN WORLD WAR II

The following editorials should not be "misunderstood". They are written
not to minimize other losses or to make excuses for an evil regime, Hitler's
Third Reich. However, they point out that the German Population also
suffered tremendous losses and experienced unimaginable suffering during
the war. The suffering and tragedies of the German population during the
war was largely ignored in and out of Germany. For decades it was
considered politically incorrect for Germans to be portrayed as victims of
the war. However, it is now time to bring to the attention of the world the
German tragedy under Hitler. The editorials in this section also point out
that the behaviour of the allies at times was also questionable.

KARL KURT PREISS
PAST PRESIDENT

1. THE TRAGEDIES ON THE BALTIC IN THE LAST
MONTHS OF WORLD WAR II

2. BETWEEN THE VISTULA AND THE ODER RIVERS:
JANUARY/ APRIL 1945

3. DRESDEN

4. HAMBURG

5. BERLIN

          THE TRAGEDIES ON THE BALTIC IN
       THE LAST MONTHS OF WORLD WAR II

                   THE GERMAN “TITANICS”
                THE WILHELM GUSTLOFF

Not too many people German or none German alike have heard about the
tragic events of the Wilhelm Gustloff. On January 11, 1945 the Russians
launched their long awaited offensive in the east. The Russian armies broke
through the thinly held German lines on the Vistula River on a number of
points. In the north Marshal Rokossovsky (2 Belorussian Front) overran
much of the German provinces of East Prussia and East Pomerania.

As the Russians advanced hundreds of thousands of refugees began to flee
west. Some of them fled by land while others boarded anything that could
float and tried to escape by sea. Thus, started one of the greatest migrations
(some people call it ethnic cleansing) of people in the 20th century.

On January 30, 1945 the Wilhelm Gustloff (a former cruise ship) was loaded
with over ten thousand refugees (mostly women and children) and many
wounded German soldiers. The ship was attempting to cross the Baltic
between the Bay of Danzig and the Danish island of Bornholm. A Russian
submarine torpedoed the Liner at 9pm that evening. The vessel sank
quickly, taking with her 9,000 (yes nine thousand) passengers and crew – six
times more than the number who went down with the Titanic. Just 1,200
survived.

This sinking is the greatest maritime disaster in the annals of the sea.















            The Wilhelm Gustloff prior to its being sunk
         by a Russian Torpedo.  It was a former hospital
           ship and the conclusion of World War II, was
      utilized to transport German Women and Children,
        and wounded Soldiers. Over 9,000 souls lost their
            Lives, six times more than the number who
        went down with the Titanic.  Just 1,200 survived.
Note: As the Wilhelm Gustloff was sinking, the Russian
Submarine briefly surfaced, and a number of people in the
waters were machinegunned by the crew members of the Sub.  
Then the Submarine submerged again to find other German
merchant vessels that they could sink...

THE GENERAL STEUBEN:

On February 8, 1945 the former luxury liner General Steuben pulled back
into the port of Pillau. The ship filled quickly with refugees beyond the
loading capacity, fuelled by the rumour that the Russians had broken
through the Samland front, and that they were within twelve miles of the
town. By midafternoon over two thousand wounded and the same number
of refugees had come aboard, in addition to the crew of four hundred.  

At about three-thirty in the afternoon tugboats pushed the liner into the
open waters of the harbour. Between ten and eleven o’clock that evening
the Steuben entered the most dangerous waters between the so-called Stolpe
Bank and the Pomeranian coast. This was the stretch where the Gustloff
was overtaken by disaster. Midnight passed. At one o’clock a muted
explosion rocked the vessel. Shortly after that the ship slowly went down
into the sea. The screams of the wounded and the women and children were
drowned by the cold Baltic Sea.

No one knows the exact number of people that drowned. However, it is
estimated that over three thousand lost their lives.

THE STEAMER GOYA:

On the morning of April 16, 1945 a convoy of ships was riding at anchor off
Hela. Tens of thousands of refugees and wounded soldiers were shuttled by
navy barges to the small flotilla of freighters. Refugees and soldiers were
clambering up the loading nets. The ships were filled to capacity, but barge
after barge came from the pier packed with people pleading to be taken
along. More than seven thousand people were already in the holds of the
Goya.

The eight ships of the convoy weighed anchor at about seven o’clock. The
Goya was the outermost vessel on the starboard side. Four minutes before
midnight the convoy was some sixty miles off the Pomeranian coast,
opposite the port of Stolp. Suddenly the ship received two torpedo hits,
midship and astern. The Goya began to sink immediately. Within three or
four minutes she disappeared in the water.

An hour later the shadow of a large convoy ship passed near them, circling
constantly because of the submarine danger. This ship saved ninety-eight
people; other smaller boats saved some eighty-two other people. Some one
hundred and eighty lives have been saved out of seven thousand.

                            Epilogue:

The expulsion of Germans from the eastern territories and their suffering
and tribulations is one of the greatest taboos of post-war history. Their
tragedy was largely ignored. It is/was considered politically incorrect for
Germans to be portrayed as victims of the war.

Recently the Nobel prize-winning author Günter Grass who in 1990, the
year of German reunification, said: “Whoever thinks about Germany
should not forget Auschwitz”, has now written a novel called “In
Retrogression”. This novel tells the story of the Wilhelm Gustloff. Die Welt
said that it was ironic, that a left-winger such as Mr. Grass, broke the
mould and ended the silence.

I myself lost a relative on the Steamer Goya and I am not ashamed as a
German to tell this story. On the contrary much has been said in the press
about German U-boat atrocities in both World Wars. In all fairness, if the
above-mentioned sinkings are not atrocities then tell me what is an atrocity?

Many of our club members still remember this expulsion of Germans in the
east and the many tragedies that occurred in the last months of World War
II.

Karl Kurt Preiss
Past President

References:

Perspectives on Canada and Germany (Vol.9, No.1, Page 15), "Grass's
novel lifts lid on German Titanic"
(Perspectives is the journal of the German Embassy in Ottawa; www.
GermanEmbassyOttawa.org)

I “Es begann an der Weichsel”        Juergen Thorwald; Steingrube-Verlag,
Stuttgart

II “Das Ende an der Elbe”                Juergen Thorwald; Steingrube-Verlag,
Stuttgart

** The above two volumes have been condensed into an English version
“Defeat in the East”; translated into English by Fred Wieck; BANTAM
BOOKS

                          Editorial Commentary

When the war was over, I was still a teen-ager residing in Jersey City, NJ.  I
remember crying with my grandparents (who raised me and were originally
from the Kingdom of Prussia.  I remember belonging to an organization -
Chapter 13 of the Federation of American Citizens of German Descent.  I
suggested at a meeting that we have a clothing drive (food was not yet
permitted to be sent) for the destitute in Germany and Austria.  The
President of the organization forbid me to establish a drive, and I did so,  
without his permission.  He hit the proverbial ceiling, and when he resigned,
he called me and the rest of the member's "Nazis". This of course was not
true (none of us were Nazis);  I went about collecting tons of clothing for
the German and Austrian victims.  My grandfather and grandmother
washed and pressed the clothing and we shipped it off via the International
Rescue Committee, and the German Red Cross in Hamburg sent me a letter
that they had received the bales of clothing.  When the President resigned I
put an article in the Jersey Journal and the Hudson Dispatch which read -
"German-American Organization's President Resigns.  Chapter 13 is now
under New Management".   I remember in the dead of winter with snow on
the ground collecting the clothing from many fine people, and using the
trolley cars for this purpose.  When the conductors of the trolley cars saw
me pulling the heavy bundles of clothing, they stopped the car, waited for
me and even helped put the bundles in the car.

Many people in those days were very sympathetic to the German and
Austrian victims.   Incidentally, the former President of Branch 13,
whenever he saw me, even on a trolley car, still called me a Nazi.  There
were hundreds of people that heard his comments.  Also, on a date, my so
called escort also called me a Nazi in a Union City tavern.  A young woman,
sitting at the bar, asked the owner of the tavern to have the so-called escort
expelled from the tavern.  He promptly submitted to her wishes.

Later, however, as the various nations, including Germany, put a hold on
releasing information about the plight of the indigent Germans.  Many
people, of German extraction, in the United States were badly beaten and
even murdered, just for being of German extraction.  I know that several
people tried to harm me, but good samaritans always came to my rescue.

Even today, many people, world wide do not know the exact truth as to
what happened after world war II, when women and children in the former
east German territories and even in the central and western portions of
Germany were raped and murdered.   In Wuettemberg alone, the Moroccan
soldiers under the French were having a field day on raping, maiming and
torturing German women and girls, until one day, an article appeared in a
Stuttgart newspaper and other papers, that the next time a German woman
is raped and/or murdered, ten Moroccan soldiers would pay the supreme
penalty.   The rapes continued and many dead Moroccan soldiers were seen
floating down the Neckar River.  Shortly, thereafter, the Moroccans were
sent back to Africa.

The above article released by Karl Kurt Preiss, Past President of the
Deutsche Vereinigung von Winnipeg, touches my heart because he was not
afraid to tell the truth as to what happened.  Now sixty plus years after
World War II, the hatred still persists and we are collectively all called
Nazis.  And yet the eastern European murderers and rapists, such as the
Partisans and the Russians still are not tried for their crimes against
humanity; nor is nothing ever done about the 100,000,000 Christians that
Stalin had murdered during and after World War II; and Lenin, who
murdered 26,000,000 during and after World War I.

Why is this coverup still happening.  I am proud of my German Heritage
and I am not a Nazi.  I am an orthodox Christian.  I was born in the United
States, but I was raised as a German and my first language was German.  
However, when some people look at me, I feel as though I was looked at
with contempt.   Too bad.  "They, underneath their breath and out of ear
shot from me.   "Why doesn't this Nazi forget the past."  How can I when
the left of center media and the politically incorrect politicians continue
with their bias.  Also at that time, many years ago, I was considered totally
deaf due to a botched mastoid operation.  I had nine years of lip reading,
and knew exactly what these so-called humanoids said.    Today, however,
my hearing is now very good, thanks to the wonderful dry climate of North
Dakota, where I worked on a farm in Page, North Dakota.  By taking a
doctor's advice my hearing gradually returned.

True, that I am American born, but I will never forget my Prussian-German
heritage.  My family name is predominately of French origin, but I, nor my
family, are of French derivative.  There are no Balliel's in all of France; but
there are plenty in Germany and a few in Poland.   Source: My grandfather,
Anton De Balliel.

Johannes Rammund De Balliel-Lawrora
Executive Director & Historian
German-American World Historical Society

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     Germans In Ex-Yugoslavia

    Lecturer at the Institute of Contemporary History-Zagreb
                                Mr. Vladimir Geige
                      Institut za suvremenu provijest
                            10000 Zagreb-CROTIA



The Disappearance of Yugoslav Ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche)

The fate of Yugoslav Germans (Schwaben) belongs to a series of once unwanted taboos,
never to be spoken.  The German question has always been very touchy, because an
attempt of collective oblivion had been undertaken in order to create a past and a
present without problems and doubtfulness. This is the nature of communist ideology.

The exodus of the South-Slav Germans exceeds in dimension and far-reaching
consequences a similar process on the territory of ex-Yugoslavia in recent history. It has
resulted in the creation of a completely different demographic structure (not counting the
latest Greater Serbian aggression against Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina). Half a
century passed before research began on the post-war fate and exodus of the German
ethnic group. They were the most numerous and influential national minority in
Yugoslavia until World War II.

The outbreak of World War I halted the organisation of German ethnic groups on the
territory of Southeastern Europe. The outcome of the war brought the unsolved position
of this minority in newly originated states back to its beginnings. When the Austro-
Hungarian Empire disintegrated, ethnic Germans on the territory of the newly
established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes found themselves in a completely
different situatio.   The peace conference acted pragmatically but became a degradation
for the Germans around the Danube basin (approximately 2 million Germans lived in the
southeastern portion of the Monarchy). They were members of a dominating nation and
overnight become a national minority in the new states (Hungary, Romania, and the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes). The super powers at the time imposed the
obligation to honour and preserve minority rights within the new states, but the Germans
took little comfort in this.3

When the Austro-Hungarian Empire disintegrated, the Germans were subjected to
oppression, which led to mass emigration, primarily from Bosnia-Herzegovina and
Slovenia.  These regions had been under the direct Austrian state administration. When
the war ended, all state employees and their families returned to their homeland. The
rate of growth of the German population decreased between the two wars. Besides, many
Germans had emigrated overseas during this period.

The new government soon showed the true nature of its policy towards minorities.
Germans and Hungarians were not allowed to participate in the first post-war elections.
The peace agreement gave them the option to migrate to Austria or Hungary until the
summer of 1922. The government conveniently took away their political rights until then.  
The Germans with no land were excluded from land distribution in agrarian reforms. The
estates were given primarily to Salonika volunteers and other Serbian soldiers. The
ethnic map of Voivodina, Syrmia, and eastern Slavonia changed significantly to the
advantage of the primarily Serbian, Slav population. The Germans owned only a small
number of large estates, so that their share in the total amount of confiscated land was
relatively small.





















In the summer of 1922, the government decided to nationalise the school system.
German schools were abolished, while minority classes could be organised only where
there were more than thirty pupils. The authorities accepted no personal statements on
ethnic membership, but investigated the descent of the pupil (three generations were
examined). Other minorities shared the same fate. This unsatisfactory situation in the
school system did not change until the dictatorship was abolished in 1931. Due to the
influence of the School Foundation for Germans in Yugoslavia, but also due to the fact
that the government became interested in establishing good economic relations with
Germany, the conditions improved for the German minority.

Before World War II, Yugoslav Germans organized the Kulturbund (Schwäbisch-
Deutscher Kulturbund), a cultural association which was founded in 1920 in Novi Sad to
preserve and propagate German culture. The Kulturbund developed into a central
driving force for ethnic Germans in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later
Yugoslavia) and went through different phases during its existence. It was prohibited on
several occasions, and then renewed, depending on the current Yugoslav government and
its minority policy.  In the spring of 1924, after almost four years of existence, the
government prohibited the Kulturbund and confiscated all its property. Their explanation
was that the Slovenes in Austria were not being treated in a satisfactory manner. In the
autumn of the same year, the prohibition was partly lifted. It was not before 1927 that the
government approved the complete renewal of all activities under the condition that the
statute of the organization be changed.


















In 1922, when the option to emigrate to their homelands had expired, political rights were
given back to both German and Hungarian minorities. That same year the Party of
Germans in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (Partei der Deutschen im
Königreiche SHS) was founded. Its biggest success in its short life (prohibited when
dictatorship was introduced on January 6, 1929, and never renewed, since the Octroyed
Constitution did not allow national and political organisations ) came when eight German
members of parliament entered the Yugoslav assembly (elected in 1923). The most
drastic example of how the party was obstructed came in 1925 in Sivac (a village in
Backa). Members of the Serbian Nationalist Youth (SRNAO) attacked Dr. Stefan Kraft
and Dr. Georg Grasl during their election campaign.

The leadership of the German minority came to the conclusion that the only way to have
minority rights in a state, in which the national question presented the centre of political
conflicts, was to strike bargains with leading political powers. The protection of national
identity was a very important political objective, but it did not uniform the political
orientation of the Germans. The motto ‘faithful to country, faithful to nation’ (staatstreu
und volkstreu) emphasises that the natural problems of a multinational community are
not solved by building up the tensions between the nations, but by avoiding them. Taking
into account all indicators, including the restraint of most Germans towards politics, the
German minority was no different than any other ethnic group in the country.

Most Yugoslav Germans lived in Banat, Backa and Baranja, regions that had belonged
to the Hungarian part of the Monarchy. German settlements in Banat were situated in
the vicinity of Veliki Beckerek (Zrenjanin) along the Romanian-Yugoslavian border and
in the northern part of Banat around Velika Kikinda. German settlements in Backa were
situated mainly in the southeastern portion of Palanka, Novi Sad, Odzak, Kula, Apatin,
and Sombor, and in the relatively small part of Yugoslav Baranja around Popovaca and
Beli Manastir. German settlements were rare in Slavonia and Syrmia. The majority of
German settlements in the eastern part of Syrmia were situated around Zemun, Nova
Pazova, and Indjija; in the western parts around Ruma and Mitrovica, in Slavonia around
Osijek, Vinkovci, Vukovar, as well as smaller settlements in the broader vicinity of
Djakovo, Pozega, Garesnica, Daruvar and Virovitica. There was also a significant
number of Germans in Zagreb. The Germans were first settled in these regions during
the 18th and 19th centuries by feudal lords. The majority of German settlers came to
these regions in the second half of the 19th century, mostly from the colonised regions of
Banat, Backa and Baranja. The Germans in Bosnia and Herzegovina are the youngest
colonial group on South-Slav territory. They settled there during the Austro-Hungarian
occupation (after 1878). The most significant German settlements in Slovenia were in
Kocevje (the oldest German settlement on South-Slav territory, 14th century), as well as
Novo Mesto, Crnomelj, Maribor, Ptuj, and Celje. These were the strongest German
communities both economically and socially. They were well organised and had a rich
cultural and political tradition, as well as the strongest national consciousness of all
groups of Yugoslav Germans.

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