German occupation of Czechoslovakia
The Czechoslovak National Front coalition government, formed at Kosice in April 1945, issued decrees providing for the expulsion of all Sudeten Germans with the exception of those who had demonstrated loyalty to the republic. German property would be confiscated without compensation. All officials of the SdP, the Sudeten Nazis and all members of the Nazi Security Police would be prosecuted.
In May 1945, Czechoslovak troops took possession of the Sudetenland. A Czechoslovak administrative commission composed exclusively of Czechs was established. Sudeten Germans were subjected to restrictive measures and conscripted for compulsory labor and in some areas to wear a white N (Němec- Czech for German) on their clothes. Individual acts of war crimes against Germans, such as rape and murder and precipitous expulsion under harsh conditions characterized the aftermath of the war. On June 15, however, Beneš called Czechoslovak authorities to order. In July, Czechoslovak representatives addressed the Potsdam Conference (the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union) and presented plans for a "humane and orderly transfer" of the Sudeten German population.
The Potsdam Agreement provided for the resettlement of Sudeten Germans in Germany under the supervision of the Allied Control Council. The transfers began in January 1946. By December 31, 1946, some 1.7 million Germans had been resettled in the American Zone and 750,000 in the Soviet Zone. Approximately 225,000 Germans remained in Czechoslovakia, of whom 50,000 emigrated or were expelled soon after.[citation needed]
The Potsdam Agreement pertained to Germans only. Decisions regarding the Hungarian minority reverted to the Czechoslovak government. The resettlement of about 700,000 Hungarians was envisaged at Kosice and subsequently reaffirmed by the National Front. Budapest, however, opposed a unilateral transfer. In February 1946, the Hungarian government agreed that Czechoslovakia could expatriate as many Hungarians as there were Slovaks in Hungary wishing to return to Czechoslovakia. As a result, 89,660 people were resettled from Czechoslovakia to Hungary, and 71,787 in the opposite direction, by 1948.
Territory ceded to Poland in 1938 and restored to Slovakia after the Nazi invasion of Poland, in accordance with the terms of the German-Slovak agreement of November 21, 1939, became part of the restored Czechoslovak state in 1945. The Polish minority (100,000) were given full civil liberties. However, the minority organisations were restricted and their property confiscated.
Around 80,000 Czech Jews were killed by the Nazis during World War II, mostly at Theresienstadt. In 2006, the Czech Republic instituted a Holocaust Memorial Day, wherein the names of Czech Jews who were Holocaust victims were publicly read for four hours in Prague.
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See also
- Fall Grün, the Nazi invasion plan for Czechoslovakia rendered obsolete by the Munich Agreement.
- Czechoslovak border fortifications - built 1935-1938 against Nazi Germany
- Karel Pavlík
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References
- ^ Spencer Tucker, Priscilla Mary Roberts (2005). World War II: A Political, Social, and Military History. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1576079996.
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