Expulsion of Germans after World War II

The expulsion of Germans after World War II refers to the mass deportation of people considered Germans (both Reichsdeutsche and Volksdeutsche) from Soviet-occupied areas outside of the Soviet occupation zone of Germany, and is one major part of the German exodus from Eastern Europe after World War II. The process, aiming at ethnically homogenous nation states started before the Potsdam Conference (which ordained ordered and humane transfer and organized details of the transfer). In the postwar atmosphere of chaos, frequent excesses, famines, diseases and killings large numbers of people lost their lives. The estimated number varies by source, from circa 500,000 to over 2 million. This German deportation and migration affected up to 16.5 million Germans and was the largest of several similar post-World War II migrations orchestrated by victorious Western Allies and the Soviet Union, which included the resettlements and expulsions of millions of Poles, Ukrainians and Jews.

Related Topics:
Mass deportation - Germans - Reichsdeutsche - Volksdeutsche - Soviet - Soviet occupation zone of Germany - German exodus from Eastern Europe - World War II - Nation state - Potsdam Conference - Post-World War II migrations - Western Allies

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German citizens remaining after the war, some of whom had become German citizens during the war, and people considered ethnic Germans were expelled from areas in present-day Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia (Vojvodina region), the German province of Eastern Prussia, the later Kaliningrad Oblast, and other East European countries, whose borders - as well as those of Germany itself - were changed after the war, sometimes drastically and with little input from any government, as was the case of Poland. Many German citizens fled in fear of the Soviet Red Army. Some were persecuted because of their activities during the war; some were persecuted solely because of their ethnicity. In a German mindset, refugees who had fled voluntarily but later were refused return are often not distinguished from those who were forcibly deported.

Related Topics:
Ethnic Germans - Poland - Czech Republic - Slovakia - Hungary - Serbia - Vojvodina region - Kaliningrad Oblast - East Europe - The case of Poland - Red Army

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