Revenge is Just

The 79 ,,Sudeten-Germans", who had filed their suit in Strasbourg on 28 April 2004, demand the return of the confiscated assets or ,,full market value compensation"from the Czech government. The legal representative of the plaintiffs, Thomas Gertner explains that concerning the ,,issue of property", the Czech Government is in violation of article 1 of the first supplementary protocol to the European Human Rights Convention (EMRK) as well as the prohibition against discrimination of article 14. ¹⁾According to the claim, these provisions would have to be applied by the Czech Republic, to the expropriation of German-Sudeten assets. This, in spite of the fact that the expropriations took place a long time before Prague's admission to the EMRK.

East German Issue: Open

The complaints before the European Court for Human Rights are coordinated by the ,,Sudeten-German initiative"(SDI) which consists of several Sudeten-German groups. The SDI chairman, Erich Hoegn, explained during an interview with the rightwing Austrian monthly ,,Die Aula"that the ,,Sudeten-German homeland association"has expressed its willingness, to allow the checking over of the SDI complaint by expert jurists. Hoegn, who was a member of the federal council of the Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft (SL) subdivision ,,Witiko-Bund"in 2002 had previously been speaker for a ,,basic seminar"of the rightwing extreme ,,Young Homeland Association of East Prussia"(Junge Landsmannschaft Ostpreussen, JLO). The JLO declares ,,the East German issue (...) to be unchanged and open even after May 1, 2004."

,,Genocide"

Claims for restitution by relocated Germans which impact Polish territory, are deemed ,,not hopeless"according to the opinion of German legal experts. A study published by the institute for Eastern law in Munich, states that ,,ethnic discrimination"exists in Polish law of January 3, 1946, for the purpose of nationalizing private property. ²⁾This contradicts the EMRK. Gertner, lawyer for the SDI, pleads to classify the relocation of Germans as ,,genocide."Should this succeed, one could certainly assume that we will win our claims, Gertner stated recently during the ,,Day of the Sudeten-Germans"in Nuernberg. ³⁾

,,... is considered unchanged"

Meanwhile, Klaus Poehle, director in the interior ministry, confirms that the German government classifies the relocation of the Germans with its attending expropriations as injustice. ⁴⁾ ,,The present Federal Government, like all previous governments, has always considered the expulsion and uncompensated expropriation of German assets as a violation of international law." ,,This position remains unchanged"according to Poehle's welcoming speech before the Koenigswinter conference of the ,,cultural endowment by the German expellees". ⁵⁾The conference was dedicated to the ,,right to a homeland"with which the German associations of ,,expellees"intend to strengthen their claims vis-à-vis their states of origin. The conference was promoted by the Federal Interior Ministry.

1) ,,Die Benesch-Dekrete sind nicht tot". Sudetendeutsche Initiative klagt gegen Tschechische Republik vor Europäischem Gerichtshof - Ziel ist Rückgabe des Eigentums; Die Welt 07.07.2004.
2) Niels von Redecker: Die polnischen Vertreibungsdekrete und die offenen Vermögensfragen zwischen Deutschland und Polen. Studien des Instituts für Ostrecht München Band 44, Frankfurt am Main 2003.
3) Renate Hennecke: Sudetendeutsche sprechen von Völkermord; Ossietzky 12/2004. See also earlier article A European Purpose
4) See also earlier articles Total revisionand Potsdam and Versailles
5) Das Recht auf die Heimat. Grundsatzfragen und aktuelle Probleme - insbesondere im Hinblick auf die Ost-Erweiterung der Europäischen Union; www.kulturstiftung-der-deutschen-vertriebenen.de

See also earlier article German claims against Poland