Have Germans expelled from Eastern Europe been re-enfranchised?

History

How many Germans were expelled from Eastern Europe?

12 million

From 1944 to 1948 at least 12 million ‘Germans’ were expelled from Eastern Europe and resettled. This figure includes those in Western and Eastern Germany as counted in the censuses of the early 1950s. It does not include those who settled in Austria, the USA or other parts of Europe.

Why were Germans expelled from Eastern Europe?

The expulsion policy was part of a geopolitical and ethnic reconfiguration of postwar Europe. In part, it was retribution for Nazi Germany’s initiation of the war and subsequent atrocities and ethnic cleansing in Nazi-occupied Europe.

How many Germans expelled from Poland?

Traces of history



In total, some 12 million Germans are estimated to have fled or been expelled from their homes in this region, as well as other areas now in Poland, such as Silesia and Pomerania, and elsewhere, in the years following World War II.
 

How many Germans were expelled from Czechoslovakia in 1945?

They were among more than 3 million German speakers expelled from Czechoslovakia in 1945 following Germany’s defeat in the second world war, in an officially ordered act of ethnic cleansing supposedly justified by Hitler’s aggression and permitted by war-time allies Britain, the US and the Soviet Union.
 

Are there still Germans in Eastern Europe?

There are still substantial numbers of ethnic Germans in the countries that are now Germany and Austria’s neighbors to the east—Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary.

Were people in East Germany allowed to leave?

The East German constitution of 1949 granted citizens a theoretical right to leave the country, though it was hardly respected in practice. Even this limited right was removed in the constitution of 1968 which confined citizens’ freedom of movement to the area within the state borders.

What happened to Germans living in Eastern Europe?

German citizens in these areas lost their lands, which became part of Poland, with a small portion allocated to the Soviet Union. At Potsdam, the Allies also agreed to remove ethnic Germans from central and Eastern Europe and consolidate them into the new German state.
 

Why did so many people leave East Germany?

Escapees had various motives for attempting to flee East Germany. The vast majority had an essentially economic motive: they wished to improve their living conditions and opportunities in the West. Some fled for political reasons, but many were impelled to leave by specific social and political events.



How did the Soviets treat German civilians?

Soviet authorities deported German civilians from Germany and Eastern Europe to the USSR after World War II as forced laborers, while ethnic Germans living in the USSR were deported during World War II and conscripted for forced labor.

How many Germans escaped East Germany?

Refugee flows and escape attempts. Between 1945 and 1988, around 4 million East Germans migrated to the West. 3.454 million of them left between 1945 and the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961.

How many Germans were lost on the Eastern Front?

80 percent of all German military casualties occurred on the Eastern Front. Germany lost 5.5 million soldiers and 1.8 million civilians. The percentage of its population that perished was 10.77%.

How many people successfully escaped from East Germany?

Many drowned and most were arrested. But approximately 800 people did manage to escape. MARIO WÄCHTLER: “These, by the way, are the original flippers I used back then. They were made in the GDR and I still use them.



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