"The Most Important People of Europe"

The "Injustice of Potsdam"

Baring and Steinbach made their statements at this year's national "Homeland Day" ceremonies of the German League of Expellees (BdV), which took place last Saturday in the International Congress Center in Berlin. The "Homeland Day" dates back to the signing of the "Charter of the German Expellees" on August 5, 1950 and its official proclamation on August 6, 1950 at the Old Castle in Stuttgart. The Charter, which declares that relocated Germans are "the people hit hardest by suffering at the time," postulates the "right to a homeland" - a right unknown to international law. This "right" has since been used against the Potsdam Treaty's provisions concerning the relocation of Germans. The timing of the "Charter's" proclamation had been chosen to closely coincide with the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Potsdam Agreements (August 2, 1945) and had been meant as a "protest against the Agreements' stipulations," explained the BdV.[1] The "Homeland Day" is celebrated in this tradition, insisting each year on the allegation that the relocation constituted an "injustice."

"Gigantic" and in "Violation of International Law"

In her speech, Steinbach praised particularly the fact that Bavaria and Hesse have recently announced that the second Sunday in September will be an official "Day of Commemoration of the Victims of Flight, Expulsion and Deportation" beginning next year.[2] Steinbach also demanded that this day be commemorated nationwide. Responding to the proposal of extending the United Nations' World Refugee Day (June 20) to an "Expellee Day", Steinbach declared that an "independent day of commemoration" as indispensable: "A national commemoration day for the German expellees (…) would clearly show" that "the largest mass expulsion of an ethnic group was not a just punishment for the Nazi reign of terror but that this expulsion constituted a gigantic injustice in violation of international law, already at the time."[3] Steinbach's assertion that the relocation had been "in violation of international law" at the time, keeps the option open of demanding compensation for Germans in Eastern and Southeastern Europe.

Model Hungary

In her speech, the BdV President praised the fact that Romania and Serbia, in the meantime, have included the resettled Germans "in their restitution legislations." In advance of this decision, Bucharest and Belgrade had respectively accepted "Transylvanian Saxons" and "Danube Swabians" as "stable and accepted interlocutors" in the negotiations.[4] They had thus followed Hungary's example, which had decided already in 1992, to compensate "Hungarian Germans." Hungary could serve as a model: it had apologized for the "expulsion" already in 1995, decided to "establish a national memorial and monument in Budapest" in 2006, and organized "a conference to commemorate the expulsion of Germans" in the Hungarian Parliament in 2007. (german-foreign-policy.com reported.[5]) "Not without reason" Steinbach sought "to emphasize" that "Hungary is among the EU countries, implementing an exemplary policy towards minorities."

A First Step

Steinbach also praised Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas, who resigned. Nečas visited the Bavarian capital, Munich, in February and held a speech before the Bavarian Parliament, in which he explicitly emphasized his "regrets" that "innocent people had had to greatly suffer and been unjustly handled (...) through the expulsion and forced resettlement of the Sudeten Germans from Czechoslovakia after the war," including "their expropriation and expatriation."[6] Steinbach declared that with this declaration, he had made "a great step toward a good common future." However, the "Czech government must continue along this path."[7] The BdV - like the German government - insists, in fact, that Prague ultimately declare the Beneš Decrees - anchoring the resettlement stipulations of the Potsdam Agreements in Czech national law - an "injustice." This, also in the case of the Czech Republic, could lead - as for example with Hungary, Rumania, and Serbia - to negotiations on reparations.

Now Merely a Minority

The BdV President's résumé of developments in Europe to the east and southeast of Germany was unexpectedly positive. "I am happy to note that merely an absolute minority of the countries is still seeking to evade its historical responsibility for having expelled the Germans." "Official attitudes" in most of the "countries concerned, show expressions of sympathy and affection" as well as "intensive relations between the governments and our homeland associations." Steinbach concluded: "That is a positive development."[8]

Psychologically Impaired

The keynote speech of the well-known historian and publicist Arnulf Baring followed Steinbach's at Saturday's ceremonies. The 81 year old Baring diagnosed a collective "psychological (...) impairment" of German society, residing in a lack of perception of a grievous loss inflicted upon the "German soul," by the relinquishment of former eastern regions of the German empire in the aftermath of World War II, to be understood as a perception of "impoverishment" and a "process of shrinkage." "The Germans" have - although with the exception of "the twelve years of Hitler" - always been "a particularly friendly, cooperative people." It is "a lie" that they had knowledge of Nazis' plans to murder the European Jews. This "lie" contributes, in any case, to the Germans' "historical amnesia."[9]

Germany, Germany above Everything

According to Baring "the Germans," on the other hand, "are perhaps the most important people of Europe." Their refusal to recognize this fact has also led to only the third stanza of the national anthem being sung. That is not normal. Baring predicts that in the future, the first stanza "Germany, Germany above everything" can be expected to be sung again. This brought him great applause from the audience in Berlin. According to a report, "how many in the audience had deeply identified with this historian's appeal for a German national pride, liberated from the encumbrance of the Nazi past, could be seen by the thunderous applause he received."[10]

[1] see also Revisionsoffensive
[2] see also Protest against Potsdam
[3], [4] Rede von BdV-Präsidentin Erika Steinbach MdB zum Tag der Heimat am 24. August 2013 im ICC in Berlin
[5] see also A Special Relationship and Cohesive Force for Europe
[6] Das Eis zwischen Bayern und Tschechien schmilzt; www.br.de 21.02.2013
[7], [8] Rede von BdV-Präsidentin Erika Steinbach MdB zum Tag der Heimat am 24. August 2013 im ICC in Berlin
[9], [10] Richard Herzinger: Wie Erika Steinbach die Vertreibung klassifiziert; www.welt.de 24.08.2013