Historians Condemn German Commemoration Day Proposal

"A new parliamentary proposal to establish a commemoration day in honor of those Germans expelled from Eastern Europe following World War II has revived an ongoing debate about Germany's 20th century history. Dozens of accomplished academics have blasted the idea in an open letter.

"To an outsider, it could almost seem like just another item on a packed parliamentary calendar. Last week, Germany's federal parliament, the Bundestag -- led by Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and her business-friendly coalition partners, the Free Democrats -- voted in favor of a proposal which could lead to the addition of another commemoration day to the German year.

"But the event up for commemoration is anything but free of controversy. The day, should Merkel's cabinet choose to pursue the idea, would be in memory of the expulsion of millions of Germans from Eastern Europe in the wake of World War II. Past efforts to commemorate their suffering have reliably elicited outcries from both within Germany and abroad. Portraying Germans as victims of World War II, after all, is always a dicey proposition."

Germany and Its World War II Victims: Historians Condemn Commemoration Day Proposal - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

 

These are ethnic Germans living in Eastern Europe that were expelled ? Seems like anyone who wasn't caught when the Iron Curtain fell would jump at the idea of getting a free pass out.

 

I read about this. It seems to play on the 'poor German victims' mindset that seems to have appeared recently.
Presumably they'll have another for similar victims of lebensraum policies.

 

I suppose this is a huge thing in Germany but must say considering the numbers Germans forced people to move during WW2- either to other countiries or to death camps- I am not conviced of this proposal.

 

This issue has been around for decades, it just hasn't recieved too much press in the West. The former country of East Prussia and the city of Konigsberg's fate after WWII was where I picked up on this story in the mid-80's. Read a bit about the city of Konigsberg and ask yourself does a German city with a rich history dating to 1255 deserve to be wiped off the map because of what the Nazis did? It was pure retribution and no other ethnic group had a rightful claim to the city or territory, so to me the fate of this city was clearly victor's justice. Königsberg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I'd say at least the East Prussians deserve to be recognized as victims of WWII, even if it was indirect from Nazi actions they were victims nonetheless. The Nazi party was declared criminal, I don't recall the common Prussian people being declared criminals.

 

Well, it’s hard to sympathize even so. The suffering of the Germans was by & large caused by the Germans. The expulsions could be seen as the price of mass-stupidity. Bluntly if they hadn’t started a war of racial extermination/European domnation they wouldnt have suffered during it.

With very few exceptions, the majority of Germans by 1941 clearly supported the Nazi regime and were ready to accept that all of Western and Central Europe should of course ‘’rightfully’’ be dominated by Germany and that Eastern Europebe colonized and it’s populations exterminated or reduced to helots. They only woke up to the idea that these might have been bad things immediately before or just after Germany was defeated.

There was simply no way a sizable German minority would be allowed to remain within the borders of any Eastern European state (aside from curiously enough the U.S.S.R at least as far as the Volga Germans were concerned)

 

This topic is actively being discussed here,

http://www.ww2f.com/post-war-1945-1955/52088-prague-refuses-apology-sudeten-germans.html

You'll find quite a few responses to what you've mentioned there (it's easier to keep everything in one thread IMO).