Online Encyclopedia
Federation of Expellees
The Bund der Vertriebenen (BdV) (German for "Federation of Expellees") is a non-profit organization formed to represent the interests of Germans displaced from their homes in Eastern Germany and other parts of Eastern Europe by the Expulsion of Germans after World War II. ("Heimatvertriebene"—literally: "the ones driven from their homeland").
It represents the diaspora of, today, approximately 15 million German citizens with roots in Eastern Europe, particularly in those states and regions of Germany that after World War II were de facto transferred to Poland and the Soviet Union, but also the ethnic Germans who were transferred from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia and other countries. The federation is currently headed by the CDU politician Erika Steinbach.
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German laws concerning Expellees
Between 1953 and 1991 the West German government passed several laws dealing with displaced civilians. Most notable of these laws is the "Law of Return " which granted West German citizenship to any ethnic German. Several additions were made to these laws.
Recent developments
Under previous governments, especially those led by the CDU, the West German government had shown more rhetorical support for the refugeed and expelled Germans. Social Democratic governments have traditionally been less supportive — and it was under Willy Brandt that West Germany recognized the Oder-Neisse line as part of his Ostpolitik.
Nevertheless, support for the aims of these groups within the German electorate remains low, and when in charge of government, both CDU and SPD have tended to favor improved relations with Central and Eastern Europe even when this conflicted with the interests of the displaced. The issue of the Eastern border of Germany, and of return of the Heimatvertriebene to their ancestral homes is an issue which the current German government considers closed.
However, with the enlargement of the European Union, the organisations of expellees have gained new hopes of recognition of private German property rights in former German territories in present-day Poland and the Czech Republic. They have insisted that Poland and the Czech Republic must respect human rights and also compensate German victims before being allowed to become members of the European Union. Also the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in 2002 in the European Parliament that the Czech Republic and Slovakia should repeal the Benes decrees before being allowed into the European Union. The claim was supported by the Bavarian government and Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber, as well as the Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel. In 2003, Liechtenstein refused to sign the enlargement of the Common European Economic Space, because the Czech Republic did not withdraw the Benes decrees and compensate the royal family of Liectenstein for their property in Bohemia, which was confiscated after the war. None of this efforts led to any significant result, in 2004 Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia become members of European Union and European institutions generally choose future-oriented approach.
The claims were unanimously rejected by the affected countries but become source of mistrust between Germany and Poland and Czech Republics. While Expellees recall their property and speak of human rights, Poles remind that they were never compensated for alleged damages caused by German government during WW2. Accoring to some, the Polish government didn't enact the German expulsion and border shift, but it was ordered by the Potsdam conference. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the majority of the current Polish population in the former Eastern Germany are expellees (or descendants of expellees) themselves—they were moved from territories annexed by USSR and left their homes and property behind too. However, if German expellees have only a tiny chance of regaining their property, Polish ones have no such prospect whatsoever.
The Federation of Expellees have also initiated the formation of the Center Against Forced Migration (Zentrum gegen Vertreibungen), which the German parliament has decided to erect in Berlin. The representatives of the center is Erika Steinbach and Prof. Dr. Peter Glotz.
Recently, the federation sued the German journalist Gabriele Lesser for alleged defamations. The questioned article was published September 19, 2003, in the daily Kieler Nachrichten.
Organization
The expellees are organized in 21 territorial associations (Landsmannschaften) according to the areas of origin of its members, 16 state organizations (Landesverbände) accoring to their current residence, and 5 associate member organizations. It is the single representative federation for the approximately 15 million Germans which after fleeing, being expelled, evacuated or emigrated, found refuge in the Federal Republic of Germany. The organizations have approximately 2 million members, and is a political force of some influence in Germany.
The current president of the federation is the German politician Erika Steinbach (CDU), who also is a member of the German parliament.
The Federation helps members to integrate into German society. Many of the members assist the societies of their place of birth.
Charter of the Ethnic German Refugees
The Charta der deutschen Heimatvertriebenen (Charter of the Ethnic German Refugees) of August 5, 1950 announced their belief in requiring that "the right to the homeland is recognized and carried out as one of the fundamental rights of mankind given by God", while renouncing revenge and retaliation in the face of the "infinite wrong" ("unendliche Leid") of the previous decade, and supporting the unified effort to rebuild Germany and Europe.
Presidents
- Hans Krüger (1959–1963)
- Wenzel Jaksch (1964–1966)
- Reinhold Rehs (1967–1970)
- Herbert Czaja (1970–1994)
- Fritz Wittmann (1994–1998)
-
Erika Steinbach (1998—)
- Vice president (since 1992): Wilhelm von Gottberg
Member organizations
Landsmannschaften
- Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen
- Landsmannschaft Schlesien
- Deutsch-Baltische Landsmannschaft
- Landsmannschaft der Banater Schwaben e.V.
- Landsmannschaft Berlin-Mark Brandenburg
- Landsmannschaft der Bessarabiendeutschen e.V.
- [Landsmannschaft der Buchenlanddeutschen (Bukowina) e.V.
- Bund der Danziger e.V.
- Landsmannschaft der Dobrudscha- und Bulgariendeutschen
- Landsmannschaft der Donauschwaben, Bundesverband e.V.
- Karpatendeutsche Landsmannschaft Slowakei e.V.
- Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Litauen e.V.
- Landsmannschaft der Oberschlesier e.V. - Bundesverband -
- Pommersche Landsmannschaft - Zentralverband - e.V.
- Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Russland e.V.
- Landsmannschaft der Sathmarer Schwaben in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland e.V.
- Landsmannschaft der Siebenbürger Sachsen in Deutschland e.V.
- Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft Bundesverband e.V.
- Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Ungarn
- Landsmannschaft Weichsel-Warthe Bundesverband e.V.
- Landsmannschaft Westpreußen e.V.
Landesverbände
- Landesverband Baden-Württemberg
- Landesverband Bayern
- Landesverband Berlin
- Landesverband Brandenburg
- Landesverband Bremen
- Landesverband Hamburg
- Landesverband Hessen
- Landesverband Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
- Landesverband Niedersachsen
- Landesverband Nordrhein-Westfalen
- Landesverband Rheinland-Pfalz
- Landesverband Saar
- Landesverband Sachsen / Schlesische Lausitz
- Landesverband Sachsen-Anhalt
- Landesverband Schleswig-Holstein
- Landesverband Thüringen
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 1585442127
External links
- Bund der Vertriebenen - Official homepage
- Zentrum gegen Vertreibungen - Official homepage
- Charta der deutschen Heimatvertriebenen
- For latest developments: http://cdu.de/politik-a-z/vertriebenen/inhalt.htm (in German)