More importantly, these deaths are often reported as being "the result of the expulsions" but are arguably better characterized as "happening contemporaneously with the expulsions but not necessarily caused by the expulsions".

It is impossible to determine how many deaths happened "before" versus "after" the end of the war (i.e., before vs. after May 8, 1945). Any estimate of the number of deaths must be based on either a gross "population balance" methodology or on the examination of actual death records. The "population balance" methodology relies on census data that was taken years before the end of the war and years after the end of the war and thus cannot provide this kind of "before and after" comparison. Many deaths went unrecorded and thus actual death records substantially underestimate the actual number of deaths. The difficulty is that no one can say by how much the actual death records understate the actual deaths. Thus, it will never be possible to determine with certainty how many deaths happened before the war ended and how many afterwards. This question is important because it affects how many deaths should be attributed to evacuation, flight, pre-Potsdam "wild" expulsions, and expulsions that occurred after the Potsdam Agreements, which is seen by some as a general sanction for the expulsions.

Other people assert that the Potsdam Agreements called for suspending further expulsions and bringing them under Allied control.^[26]

It is also difficult, when using the "population balance" methodology, to attribute the number of deaths to specific causes (e.g. wartime bombing, evacuation casualties, disease in refugee camps). For example, at the time of the Allied bombing of Dresden, there were estimated to be between 200,000 and 300,000 refugees from the Eastern front taking refuge in the city. There is no official record of how many of those refugees perished as a result of the Allied bombing. In addition, typhus epidemics continued to kill many Germans after they reached refugee camps inside the new borders of Germany.^{[citation needed]}

[

Controversy over responsibility for the expulsions

This section does not cite any references or sources. (November 2007) Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

There is considerable contentious debate^{[citation needed]} over how much blame for the deaths and suffering of the expelled Germans can be placed on the shoulders of the nations who expelled the Germans. Some argue 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 military control over the countries involved, the national governments which put the expulsions into motion and the paramilitary organizations and local civilians who took advantage of the opportunity to rob, rape, torture, and murder expellees as they transited out of their homelands.^{[citation needed]} Others argue that a large measure of blame for the deaths must also be laid at the door of Nazi Germany itself: for ineffectual and incomplete evacuation planning; for equating evacuations with "defeatism", thereby ensuring that many plans were not implemented at all, or too late to be of any use; and for their aggressive and brutal invasions of the nations of Eastern Europe in the first place, in many cases using ethnic Germans as pawns in their twisted version of power politics.^{[citation needed]}

One common approach is to assign blame for these deaths on the people and governments of the countries that sanctioned the expulsions.^{[citation needed]} However, a countervailing perspective argues that there were only two forces orchestrating the new order after the Second World War: the United States and the Soviet Union.^{[citation needed]} Thus, this perspective argues that the responsibility for all the expulsions (Germans, Poles, Ukrainians etc) rests on those two allies and that the countries that the policies were implemented in had no say in this. Other perspectives suggest that, while these two countries may have planned, sanctioned, and even facilitated the expulsions, some responsibility must be charged to the national and local authorities in the countries where the expulsions took place. It should also be remembered that the government of Poland was imposed on the nation not only by the Soviet Union, but also by the USA and UK, who withdrew their recognition of the Polish government in exile on July 6, 1945.

Some place much of the blame on the Soviet regime at the time (in particular Joseph Stalin) for its program of the ethnic cleansing of the German people from the Soviet Union and Soviet-occupied Eastern Europe. Many of the deaths were caused by death marches ordered by Soviet officials, banditry, famine, widespread disease, and the overall poor living conditions that prevailed in that part of postwar Europe.^{[citation needed]}

Yet another perspective argues that the expulsions were not driven primarily by ethnic hatred against the ethnic Germans. Instead, it is argued that blame must be shared by Nazi Germany and the ethnic Germans who supported them, because of the brutal and uncivilized way Germans treated the citizens of conquered nations. This perspective argues that the expulsions were motivated by an animus engendered by the war crimes, atrocities, and uncivilized rule of the German conquerors.^[27]

[

Legality of the expulsions

Further information: Population transfer#Changing status in international law

The view of international law on population transfer underwent considerable evolution during the 20th century. Prior to World War II, a number of major population transfers were the result of bilateral treaties and had the support of international bodies such as the League of Nations.

The tide started to turn when the charter of the Nuremberg Trials of German Nazi leaders declared forced deportation of civilian populations to be both a war crime and a crime against humanity, and this opinion was progressively adopted and extended through the remainder of the century. Underlying the change was the trend to assign rights to individuals, thereby limiting the rights of nation-states to impose fiats which adversely affected them.

There is now little debate about the general legal status of involuntary population transfers: Where population transfers used to be accepted as a means to settle ethnic conflict, today, forced population transfers are considered violations of international law. (Denver Journal of International Law and Policy, Spring 2001, p116). No legal distinction is made between one-way and two-way transfers, since the rights of each individual are regarded as independent of the experience of others.

Thus, although the signatories to the Potsdam Agreements and the expelling countries may have considered the expulsions to be legal under international law at the time, there are historians and scholars in international law and human rights who argue that the expulsions of Germans from Central and Eastern Europe should now be considered as episodes of ethnic cleansing, and thus a violation of human rights. For example, Timothy V. Waters argues in "On the Legal Construction of Ethnic Cleansing" that if similar circumstances arise in the future, the precedent of the expulsions of the Germans without legal redress would also allow the future ethnic cleansing of other populations under international law.^[28]

There are some writers, such as Alfred de Zayas, who argue that the expulsions were war crimes and crimes against humanity even in the context of international law of the time. De Zayas writes:

"...the only applicable principles were the Hague Conventions, in particular, the Hague Regulations, ARTICLES 42-56, which limited the rights of occupying powers -- and obviously occupying powers have no rights to expel the populations -- so there was the clear violation of the Hague Regulations"

"And, obviously, if you want to apply the Nuremberg Principles to the German Expulsions, considering that the London Agreement was supposed to reflect, and not to create international law, so if that was applicable to the German crimes against the Poles with regard to deportation of Poles, and deportation of French for purposes of "Lebensraum," certainly it was applicable to the expulsions by the Poles of Germans and by the Czechs of Germans. So, if you apply these Nuremberg principles and the Nuremberg judgement, you would have to arrive at the conclusion that the Expulsion of the Germans clearly constituted war crimes and crimes against humanity."^[29]

De Zayas argues this point in greater detail in his seminal articles "International Law and Mass Population Transfers" (Harvard International Law Journal, Vol. 16, pp. 201-251, and "The Right to One's Homeland, Ethnic Cleansing and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia" (Criminal Law Forum 1995).217.169.133.249 (talk) 11:37, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

[

Legacy of the expulsions

In the immediate post-war era, there was relatively little public criticism in the west about the expulsions. Memories of Nazi atrocities were still a very raw wound, especially in Slavic Europe, which shed some light on the strong 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.

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. In the early 1990s, the Cold War ended and the occupying powers withdrew from Germany. The issue of the treatment of Germans after World War II began to be re-examined, having previously been overshadowed by Nazi Germany's war crimes. The primary motivation for this change was the collapse of the Soviet Union, which allowed for a discussion of issues that had previously been marginalized, such as the allegations of crimes committed by the Soviet Army during the World War II and the expulsion of Germans from Eastern and Central Europe. There has, however, been little discussion of the responsibility of the U.S. and U.K. in sanctioning the expulsions through their being signatories to the Potsdam Agreements.^{[citation needed]}

[

See also

• Demographic estimates of the German exodus from Eastern Europe
• Federation of Expellees
• Evacuation of German civilians during the end of World War II
• German exodus from Eastern Europe
• Pursuit of Nazi collaborators
• Operation Paperclip
• Population transfer in the Soviet Union
• Expulsion of Poles by Germany

[

References

[

Sources

• Podlasek, Maria (1995). "Wypędzenie Niemców z terenów na wschód od Odry i Nysy Łużyckiej" (in Polish). Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Polsko - Niemieckie. ISBN 8386653000. 
• Die deutschen Vertriebenen in Zahlen. Gerhard Reichling. 1986 ISBN 3-88557-046-7
• Report on agricultural and food requirements of Germany (February 1947, provides statistics about population transfer)
• German statistics In 1966, the West German Ministry of Refugees and Displaced Persons published statistical and graphical data illustrating German population movements, whether voluntary or enforced, in the aftermath of the Second World War.
• The Expulsion of 'German' Communities from Eastern Europe at the end of the Second World War, European University Institute, Florense. EUI Working Paper HEC No. 2004/1, Edited by Steffen Prauser and Arfon Rees
• Facing History - The evolution of Czech and German relations in the Czech provinces, 1848-1948, Z. Beneš, D. Jančík, J. Kuklík, E. Kubů, V. Kural, R. Kvaček, V. Pavlíček, J. Pešek, R. Petráš, Z. Radvanovský, R. Suchánek, Gallery, Prague, ISBN 80-86010-60-0
• Silesian Inferno, War Crimes of the Red Army on its March into Silesia in 1945 , Karl F. Grau, The Landpost Press, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, 1992, ISBN 1-880881-09-8
• Jankowiak, Stanisław (2005). "Wysiedlenie i emigracja ludności niemieckiej w polityce władz polskich w latach 1945-1970" (Expulsion and emigration of German population in the policies of Polish authorities in 1945-1970). Warszawa: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej. ISBN 83-89078-80-5. 
• Zybura, Marek (2004). "Niemcy w Polsce" (Germans in Poland). Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie. ISBN 83-7384-171-7. 
• Baziur, Grzegorz (2003). "Armia Czerwona na Pomorzu Gdańskim 1945-1947" (Red Army in Gdańsk Pomerania 1945-1947). Warszawa: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej. ISBN 83-89078-19-8. 
• Norman M. Naimark. The Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945-1949. Harvard University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-674-78405-7

[

Further reading

• Casualty of War: A Childhood Remembered (Eastern European Studies, 18) Luisa Lang Owen and Charles M. Barber, Texas A&M University Press, January, 2003, hardcover, 288 pages, ISBN 1-58544-212-7
• Terrible Fate: Ethnic Cleansing in the Making of Modern Europe, Benjamin Lieberman; Ivan R. Dee, publisher, March 2006, 416 pages, ISBN-10: 1566636469; ISBN-13: 978-1566636469.
• God's Playground. 2 vols, Davies, Norman, 1982 and several reprints. New York: Columbia Univ. Press. ISBN 0-231-05353-3 and ISBN 0-231-05351-7.
• Stanisław Jankowiak, Wysiedlenie i emigracja ludności niemieckiej w polityce władz polskich w latach 1945-1970, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, Warszawa 2005, ISBN 83-89078-80-5
• Bernardetta Nitschke, Wysiedlenie ludności niemieckiej z Polski w latach 1945-1949, Zielona Góra 1999

• Giertych, Jedrzej. "Poland and Germany : a reply to congressman B. Carrol Reece of Tennessee" London : Jedrzej Giertych , 1958

E.Eur**E*917**(128126711T)

• "Documents on the Expulsion of the Germans from Eastern & Central Europe" compiled by an editorial board headed by Professor Theodor Schieder, of the University of Cologne. Published by the Federal Ministry for Expellees, Refugees, & War Victims, Bonn (Dates may indicate the year of the English translations rather than the original publication):
  • vol.1: "The Expulsion of the German Population from the Territories East of the Oder-Neisse Line" (1959).
  • vol.2/3:"The Expulsion of the German Population from Hungary and Rumania" (1961).
  • vol. 4: "The Expulsion of the German Population from Czechoslovakia" (1960)
• "Speaking Frankly" by James F.Byrnes, New York & London, 1947.
• "Nemesis at Potsdam - The Anglo-Americans & the Expulsion of the Germans", by Dr. Alfred M. de Zayas, Routledge, London, 1st published 1977, revised edition 1979. 3 editions University of Nebraska Press, 2 editions Picton Press, Rockland Maine, newest edition 2003, ISBN 0-89725-360-4.
• Germany and Eastern Europe since 1945" - Keesing's Research Report, New York, 1973.
• Four-Power Control in Germany and Austria 1945-1946" by Michael Balfour and John Mair for the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Oxford University Press, 1956.
• "In Darkest Germany" by Victor Gollancz, London, 1947.
• "Thine Enemy" by Sir Philip Gibbs, London, 1946.
• "The Home Front:Germany" by Charles Whiting, Time-Life Books, Virginia, 1982.ISBN 0-8094-3419-9.
• "The Aftermath:Europe" by Douglas Botting, Time-Life Books, Virginia, 1983.ISBN 0-8094-3411-3
• "Hour of the Women" by Count Christian von Krockow, Stuttgart,1988, New York, 1991, London, 1992. ISBN 0-571-14320-2,
• "Crimes and Mercies - The Fate of German Civilians under Allied Occupation 1944 - 1950" by James Bacque, London, 1997. ISBN 0-316-64070-0.
• "Memoirs - 1945:Year of Decisions" by Harry S.Truman, 1st pub.,by Time Inc.,1955, reprint New York 1995. ISBN 0-8317-1578-2.
• "Memoirs - 1946-52:Years of Trial & Hope" by Harry S.Truman, 1st pub.,by Time Inc.,1955, reprint New York 1996. ISBN 0-8317-7319-7.
• A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans, 1944-1950 - Alfred-Maurice de Zayas - 1994 - ISBN 0-312-12159-8. New Revised edition with Palgrave/Macmillan, New York 2006, ISBN 13: 978-1-4039-7308-5, ISBN-10: 1-4039-7308-3
• "Armia Czerwona na Pomorzu Gdańskim 1945-1947" by Grzegorz Baziur, IPN, Warszawa 2003, ISBN 83-89078-19-8
• "Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth Century Europe" Edited by Steven Bela Vardy and T. Hunt Tooley, ISBN 0-88033-995-0 (This volume is the result of the conference on Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth Century Europe held at Duquesne University in November 2000.)
• Neary, Brigitte U. and Holle Schneider-Ricks. Voices of Loss and Courage: German Women Recount Their Expulsion from East Central Europe, 1944-1950. Rockport: Picton Press. (2002. ISBN 0-89725-435-X
• Flucht und Vertreibung. Europa zwischen 1939 u. 1948 , bearbeitet v. A. Surminski (2004);
• Naimark, Norman : Flammender Hass. Ethnische Säuberungen im 20. Jahrhundert (2004);
• Nuscheler, F.: Internationale Migration. Flucht u. Asyl (2004).
• Łossowski, Piotr; Bronius Makauskas (2005). "Kraje bałtyckie w latach przełomu 1934-1944", Scientific Editor Andrzej Koryna (in Polish), Warszawa: Instytut Historii PAN; Fundacja Pogranicze. ISBN 8388909428. 

[

External links

• Children who lost their parents in the expulsions from historical Eastern Germany, seek their parents. Video testimony.
• Ethnic cleansing in post World War II Czechoslovakia: the presidential decrees of Edward Benes, 1945-1948 Available as MS Word for Windows file.
• Várdy, Steven Béla and Tooly, T. Hunt: Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe Available as MS Word for Windows file (3.4 MB)
• Refugees camp 1950 Image
• Refugees Image
• Statistics Of Poland's Democide Democide Addenda By R.J. Rummel
• THE EXPULSION: A crime against humanity, By Dr. Alfred de Zayas A transcript of part of a lecture on the Expulsion given in Pittsburgh in 1988.
• Timothy V. Waters, On the Legal Construction of Ethnic Cleansing, Paper 951, 2006, University of Mississippi School of Law (PDF)
• A first-hand account of the expulsion.
• Interest of the United States in the transfer of German populations from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, and Austria, Foreign relations of the United States: diplomatic papers, Volume II (1945) pp. 1227-1327 (Main URL)
• Frontiers and areas of administration Foreign relations of the United States (the Potsdam Conference), Volume I (1945)

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