I have never had to move in my life, my family has been stationary in northern Virginia for over 20 years. So I have no idea what it must have felt like for the ethnic Germans after World War II ended when they had to pick up what they could carry and move out of their homes. R.M. Douglas’s article, “The European Atrocity You Never Heard About”, stated that “Between 12 million and 14 million German-speaking civilians were forcibly ejected from their places of birth in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, and what are today’s western districts of Poland”. That is a lot of people that are being moved around Europe. But why make millions of ethnic Germans move out of their homes and make them trek around Europe or send them to camps?
The Allies had just won World War II and freed the victims of the Holocaust. However, once people saw the horrible conditions that the victims of the Holocaust were living in in the concentration camps the anger towards the Germans only grew more. The Allies were already mad at Germany and the Germans for the damages they caused during the war so this only helped further their anger. So the Allies came up with a plan to move the ethnic Germans around Europe. The Allies actions can be seen as retribution for all the damage and harm caused by Nazi Germany during the war. The ethnic Germans that were forced to move from their homelands faced horrible treatment and conditions. Many of these deportees died because of starvation, diseases, beatings, and executions (Douglas).
When I first read Douglas’s article I was shocked to read what he had written about the Allies and how they had moved all the ethnic Germans around Europe after the war. My main memories of World War II are the major battles, leaders, and the Holocaust. I did not learn about the expulsion of ethnic Germans from the homelands until last spring when I took a class specifically on World War II. But why am I and others learning so much later about this awful mistreatment of human rights? This topic was never mentioned in any of the previous history textbooks that I have used for my education. “At least 500,000 people lost their lives in the course of this operation” (Douglas) and I did not know anything about this until earlier this year. It shocks me that the Allies would hide this from history books when it is a major issue that occurred and there is little public discussion about it. Since we talk about the atrocities of the Holocaust frequently, then why don’t we talk more frequently about the mass deportation of Germans from their homes after the war is over?
Even though the Holocaust is a more frequently talked about topic shouldn’t we consider talking about the deportation of Germans more so that history does not repeat itself? Why hide our mistakes? If we talk about them more wouldn’t that help prevent future issues? Should politicians look back at the Allies deportation of Germans in an attempt to decrease ethnic tensions to help them make future decisions about moving ethnic groups?
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You bring up an interesting question. Why did we not learn about this?? I did not take the World War II class last semester so I was stunned with what I have recently read. We shed light on the Holocaust to share awareness. Maybe, as an Allied power, we are aware we had nothing to do with the Holocaust, so it should be common knowledge. In the same way, I believe that not talking about these 12-14 million forcibly moved peoples is our way of admitting some guilt.
It is interesting that you address the question of why we never learn about the mistreatment of of ethnic Germans by the Allies. I think it can be tied to the idea that the victors write history. Since the Allied Powers won the war instead of focusing on the horrible atrocities they committed following the struggle they instead focused on what they accomplished and the misdeeds of the German’s and the other nations that lost the War. I think it would be interesting to learn the reason(s) why this information is not taught at lower levels of education (i.e. High Schools and Middle School)? It is fascinating information that if discussed more often could help people understand the world following WWII and maybe give people insight into what we are seeing in our own world today.
There are many important events in history about which most people know little to no information. I wonder if excluding the discussion in schools of mass deportations of ethnic Germans is an intentional and political decision, or if it is an event that just happens to go unnoticed because of the little amount of time teachers have to teach mass amounts of history. I suppose you could argue that leaving this event out of a history course means that people believe it is not significant enough to learn.
I personally do not believe that the Allies wanted to hide this part of history from the history books. I simply think that people do not pay attention to displaced persons because once the war was over, everyone wanted to celebrate and move on rather than worry about hundreds of thousands of people without a home. I do agree with your point, however, that it is necessary to look back on this event so that in the future we will not repeat our failures. History does have a tendency to repeat itself after all.
The Allies most likely scrapped this subject from their history books for the same reason Americans learn the bastardized version of Thanksgiving, where the Native Americans and Pilgrims worked together and were happy, and not the more gruesome reality: Countries want to look like the “good guys” to their citizens. Rather than letting everyone, i.e. schoolchildren, learn about the Allies’ downfalls and moral atrocities, leaders would rather show the country as a shiny castle on a hill.