Sudeten Germans open ,,Embassy"
PRAGUE The Sudeten German League (SL) has opened a bureau in the Czech capital. Chairman, Bernd Posselt, has described it as an ,,Embassy". According to the usual meaning of the word, this is a demand for accredited diplomatic representation of the ,,Sudeten Germans", legitimising their demands against the Czech Republic. The opening of the SL office has led to massive protests in Prague. In the meantime, information has been laid to start criminal proceedings against the league.
The new ,,Embassy of the Sudeten Germans"is designed to bring influence to bear not only on Czech politicians but especially on Czech ,,civil society". The Sudeten German League (SL) aims for the annulment of the so-called Benes Decrees which have constitutional status in the Czech Republic. They demand collective special rights for ,,Sudeten Germans"within the Czech Republic and the return of (or compensation for) their former property, which was confiscated by law as a consequence of the Second World War.
Criminal proceedings
The opening of the SL office in Prague was attended by the EU ambassador to the Czech Republic as well as by staff of the German, Austrian and Hungarian embassies. Representatives of institutes and foundations attached to German political parties were also present. Serious protests resulted. Whilst high-ranking parliamentarians of the ruling coalition took part, numerous MPs of various parties were sharply critical. State President Vaclav Klaus said the SL bureau was ,,unsuitable and unnecessary". The foreign policy spokesman of the ODS, Jan Zahradil, said that he hoped for intervention by the Czech government, if the SL's activities in the Czech Republic proved to be ,,unlawful". In the meantime information has been laid against the operating company of the Sudeten German League's bureau. The accusations mention ,,High Treason", ,,Support of Fascism"as well as ,,Ecouragement of nationalism and racial hatred".
Debate over Benes Decrees ,,by no means closed"
The European Poeople's Party at the European Parliament held a hearing into the ,,Benes Decrees"at the instigation of Bernd Posselt. A German international lawyer, Professor Dieter Blumenwitz, appeared as an expert witness. He repeatedly published articles in a forum of ,,notorious representatives of the international network of holocaust deniers" 1). It was said at the hearing that the debate about the ,,Benes Decrees"would continue even after Czech accession to the European Union. The matter was ,,by no means closed".
Posselt is also deputy president of the mixed committee of the Czech and EU Parliaments, as well as president of the Pan Europa Union of Germany. He has denounced the Benes Decrees as ,,racist". The German foreign minister, Fischer, recently renewed his membership of the ,,German-Czech Co-ordinating Council", along with two other Sudeten Germans.
1) The German magazine ,,Deutschland in Geschichte und Gegenwart"; cf Jens Mecklenburg (ed.): Handbuch deutscher Rechtsextremismus, Berlin 1996.
See also earlier articles MEPs demand apology for Benes decrees, A blank Czech for the Germansand Germany re-opens the Sudeten German question
Sources:
EU-Gutachter: Bene¨-Dekrete offene Frage; Pressemitteilung der Sudetendeutschen Landsmannschaft 12.03.2003
Politicians not happy about Landsmannschaft's Prague office; CTK 25.03.2003
Sudetendeutsche jetzt mit eigener ,,Botschaft"in Prag; Die Welt 26.03.2003
Sudeten German office in Prague faces criminal accusations; CTK 26.03.2003
Having Sudeten German office in Prague improper - Klaus; CTK 27.03.2003