Jump to content

Sudeten Germans

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected fromSudeten German)
For information on ethnic Germans in Slovakia, seeCarpathian Germans.
Sudeten Germans
Sudetendeutsche
Flag of the Sudeten Germans and the coat of arms of theSudeten German Homeland Association
Total population
c.3,252,000 in 1910
39,106 in 2001
Regions with significant populations
Bohemia,MoraviaandCzech Silesia.Many of them also live inGermanyandAustria,as well inSlovakia.
Languages
German,Czech
Religion
Roman Catholicmajority
LutheranProtestantminority
Related ethnic groups
Germans,AustriansandCzechs

German Bohemians(German:Deutschböhmen und Deutschmährer[ˈdɔʏtʃˌbøːmən]ⓘ;Czech:čeští Němci a moravští Němci,lit. 'German Bohemians and GermanMoravians'), later known asSudeten Germans(German:Sudetendeutsche[zuˈdeːtn̩ˌdɔʏtʃə]ⓘ;Czech:sudetští Němci), wereethnic Germansliving in theCzech landsof theBohemian Crown,which later became an integral part ofCzechoslovakia.Before 1945, over three million German Bohemians constituted[1]about 23% of the population of the whole country and about 29.5% of the population of Bohemia and Moravia.[2]Ethnic Germans migrated into theKingdom of Bohemia,anelectoral territoryof theHoly Roman Empire,from the 11th century, mostly in the border regions of what was later called the "Sudetenland",which was named after theSudeten Mountains.[3]

The process of German expansion was known asOstsiedlung( "Settling of the East" ). The name "Sudeten Germans" was adopted during rising nationalism after the fall ofAustria-Hungaryafter theFirst World War.After theMunich Agreement,the so-calledSudetenlandbecame part ofGermany.

After theSecond World War,most of the German-speaking population (mostly Roman Catholic with relatively few Protestants)was expelledfrom Czechoslovakia to Germany and Austria.

The area that became known as the Sudetenland possessed chemical works andlignitemines as well as textile, china, and glass factories. The Bohemian border withBavariawas inhabited primarily by Germans. TheUpper Palatine Forest,which extends along the Bavarian frontier and into the agricultural areas of southernBohemia,was an area of German settlement.Moraviacontained patches of "locked" German territory to the north and south. More characteristic were the Germanlanguage islands,which were towns inhabited by German minorities and surrounded by Czechs. Sudeten Germans were mostlyRoman Catholics,a legacy of centuries ofAustrian Habsburgrule.

Not all ethnic Germans lived in isolated and well-defined areas; for historical reasons, Czechs and Germans mixed in many places, and Czech-German bilingualism andcode-switchingwas quite common. Nevertheless, during the second half of the 19th century, Czechs and Germans began to create separate cultural, educational, political and economic institutions, which kept both groups semi-isolated from each other, which continued until the end of the Second World War, when almost all the ethnic Germans were expelled.

Czech districts by ethnic German population in 1930:[4]
0–20%
20–50%
50–80%
80–100%

Names

[edit]

In the English language, ethnic Germans who originated in theKingdom of Bohemiawere traditionally referred to as "German Bohemians".[5][6]This appellation utilizes the broad definition of Bohemia, which includes all of the three Bohemian crown lands:Bohemia,Moraviaand(Austrian) Silesia.[7]In the German language, it is more common to distinguish among the three lands, hence the prominent termsDeutschböhmen(German Bohemians),Deutschmährer(German Moravians) andDeutschschlesier(German Silesians).[8]Even in German the broader use of "Bohemian" is also found.[9]

The term "Sudeten Germans" (Sudetendeutsche) came about during risingethnic nationalismin the early 20th century, after the fall of theAustro-Hungarian Empirein theFirst World War.It coincided with the rise of another new term, "theSudetenland",which referred only to the parts of the former Kingdom of Bohemia that were inhabited predominantly by ethnic Germans. These names were derived from theSudeten Mountains,which form the northern border of theBohemian lands.As these terms were heavily used by theNazi German regimeto push forward the creation of aGreater Germanic Reich,many contemporary Germans avoid them in favour of the traditional names.[10]

Before the First World War

[edit]

Middle Ages and early modern period

[edit]

There have been ethnic Germans living in theBohemiancrown lands since theMiddle Ages.[11]In the late 12th and in the 13th century thePřemyslidrulers promoted the colonisation of certain areas of their lands by German settlers from the adjacent lands ofBavaria,Franconia,Upper SaxonyandAustriaduring theOstsiedlungmigration.

Der Ackermann aus Böhmen,15th-century manuscript,Heidelberg University

In 1348, theLuxembourgkingCharles I,alsoKing of the RomansandHoly Roman Emperor(as Charles IV) from 1355, founded theCharles University in Prague(Alma Mater Carolina), the first inCentral Europe,attended by large Germanstudent nations,and its language of education wasLatin.Czechs made up about 20 percent of the students at the time of its founding, and the rest was primarily German. A culturally-significant example of German Bohemian prose from the Middle Ages is the storyDer Ackermann aus Böhmen( "The Ploughman from Bohemia" ), written inEarly New High GermanbyJohannes von Tepl(c. 1350 – 1414) inŽatec(Saaz), who probably had studiedliberal artsin Prague.

For centuries, German Bohemians played important roles in the economy and politics of the Bohemian lands.[12]For example,forest glassproduction was a common industry for German Bohemians. Though they were living beyond the medievalKingdom of Germany,an independent German Bohemian awareness, however, was not widespread, and for a long time, it played no decisive role in everyday life. Individuals were usually seen as Bohemians, Moravians or Silesians. Defining events later in German Bohemian history were theHussite Wars,the occupation of Bohemia by theCzech Brethren,theThirty Years' War,when theLands of the Bohemian Crownwere severely affected, which caused the immigration of further German settlers.

After the death of KingLouis II of Hungary and Bohemiain the 1526Battle of Mohács,theHabsburgArchdukeFerdinand of Austriabecame King of Bohemia, which became a constituent state of theHabsburg monarchy.With the rise of the Habsburgs in Bohemia after the 1620Battle of White Mountain,the oldBohemian nobilitybecame virtually meaningless.[11]Increasingly, the Bohemian crown lands were ruled from the Austrian capital,Vienna,which favoured the dominance of theGerman languageandGerman culture.[13]On the other hand, the 18th-centurySilesian Warsstarted by Prussian KingFrederick II of Prussiaagainst Austria resulted in the loss of the traditionally-Bohemian crown land and weakened Germans in the remaining parts of Bohemia. As the 19th century arrived, resistance to the German domination began to develop among the Czechs.

Austria-Hungary

[edit]
German dialectswith overlaps to Sudeten

After therevolutions of 1848and the rise ofethnic nationalism,nervousness about ethnic tensions inAustria-Hungaryresulted in a prevailing equality betweenCzechsand German Bohemians.[14]Each ethnicity tried to retain, in regions in which it was the majority, sovereignty over its own affairs. Czechs and Germans generally maintained separate schools, churches and public institutions.[12]Nevertheless, despite the separation, Germans often understood some Czech, and Czechs often spoke some German. Cities like Prague, however, saw more mi xing between the ethnicities and also had large populations ofJews;Germans living with Czechs fluently spoke Czech and code-switched between German and Czech when talking to Czechs and other Germans. Jews in Bohemia often spoke German and sometimesYiddish.The famed writerFranz Kafkaexemplifies the diversity of Bohemia since he was a Prague-based German-speaking Jew, but his surname was of Czech origin.[15]

In 1867, the equality of Austrian citizens of all ethnicities was guaranteed by theAustro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867,which enshrined the principles ofconstitutional monarchy.The agreement established the Dual Monarchy and gave theHungarianssovereignty over their own affairs. The preservation of German cultural dominance throughoutCisleithaniahad proved to be difficult and now seemed to be was utterly impossible.[14]

With the agreement, the desire for an autonomous Czech subdivision was mounting. Both German Bohemians and Czechs were hoping for a constitutional solution to the demands, but Czech nationalist views remained a constant part of the Bohemian political sphere. The Czechs had fearedGermanization,but the Germans now worried aboutCzechization.[16]

A symbol of the rising tensions was the fate ofCharles University,then called Charles-Ferdinand University. Its Czech students had become increasingly perturbed by the sole use of German for instruction. During the1848 revolution,both Germans and Czechs fought to make Czech one of the university's official languages.[17]They achieved that right, and the university became bilingual. By 1863, out of 187 lecture courses, 22 were held in Czech, the remainder being in German. In 1864, some Germans suggested the creation of a separate Czech university. Czech professors rejected that because they did not wish to lose the continuity of university traditions.[17]

The Czechs, however, were still not satisfied with bilingual status and proposed creating two separate constituentcolleges,one for the Germans and one for the Czechs. The Germans vetoed the proposal and called for a full division of the university. After long negotiations, it was divided into the German Charles-Ferdinand University and the Czech Charles-Ferdinand University. The Cisleithanian Imperial Council prepared an act of parliament, and the emperor grantedroyal assenton 28 February 1882.[18]

In 1907, theCisleithanian Imperial Councilwas for the first time elected by universal male suffrage.[19]As part of the process, new constituency boundaries had to be drawn throughout the empire. Electoral officials were very careful to demarcate areas as clearly either German or Czech and to assure that there would be no conflict as to which ethnicity had a majority in any constituency. Nevertheless, that did not settle tensions among Czechs, who wanted to govern themselves from Prague.

ArchdukeFranz Ferdinandcame up with a plan, known as theUnited States of Greater Austria,in 1909. German Bohemia, as it was to be called, was going to be separated from the Czech areas around it in the plan.[20]That would create ethnically homogenous self-governing provinces that would hopefully end the ethnic conflict. However,Franz Ferdinand was assassinated,and theFirst World Wardestroyed all hopes for a redrawn Cisleithania.

Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye

[edit]

The end of the war in 1918 brought about the partition of the multiethnicAustria-Hungaryinto its historical components, one of them, theBohemian Kingdom,forming the west of the newly created Czechoslovakia. Czech politicians insisted on the traditional boundaries of theBohemian Crownaccording to the principle ofuti possidetis juris.The new Czech state would thus have defensible mountain boundaries with Germany, but the highly industrialised settlement areas of three million Germans would now be separated from Austria and come under Czech control.

The Austrian head of government,Ernst Seidler von Feuchtenegg,wanted to divide Bohemia by setting up administrative counties (Verwaltungskreise), which would be based on the nationalities of the population. On 26 September 1918, his successor,Max Hussarek von Heinlein,offered the Czechs wide-ranging autonomy within Imperial and Royal Austria. Also, Austria was no longer considered to be a major power by the victors of the war.[11]

Province of German Bohemia

[edit]

On 14 October, Raphael Pacher succeeded, together with the social democrat, Josef Seliger, in uniting all German parties and members of parliament in Bohemia and Moravia into a coalition. In preparation for the foundation of the Republic of German Bohemia, the coalition, chaired by Pacher, appointed a committee of twelve members. One day after the proclamation of the Republic of Czechoslovakia, on 29 October 1918, theProvince of German Bohemiawas formed with its capital inReichenberg.Its first governor was Raphael Pacher, who transferred his office on 5 November to Rudolf Lodgman von Auen.

The Province of German Bohemia comprised a contiguous region in North and West Bohemia stretching from theEgerlandto the Braunau region along the border with the German Empire.[11]In South Bohemia the administrative unit of Böhmerwaldgau emerged, which was to be part ofUpper Austria.German Bohemia in theEagle Mountainsand in the area ofLandskronmerged with the so-called "Province of the Sudetenland", which had radically different borders than the later understanding of the term. The Bohemian district ofNeubistritzwas incorporated intoZnaimand was supposed to be administered by Lower Austria. The judiciary for German Bohemia was based in Reichenberg, andViennawas responsible for the other German regions. On 22 November 1918, the Province of German Bohemia proclaimed itself part of the state ofGerman Austria.On the same day, the territory of German Austria was defined by the Act of the "Provisional National Assembly" (Provisorische Nationalversammlung), which included German Bohemian and German Moravian members of the formerCisleithanian Imperial Council.[21]

In addition to the establishment of the state's governmental organisation, higher authorities were also created, such as the Finance Ministry, the Department of Agriculture and the Higher Regional Court of Reichenberg as well as a general post office and railway administration.

For geographical reasons, however, a territorial solution would have been impossible unless those regions, together with Austria, had been incorporated intoGermany.[22]

After the Czechoslovak Republic was proclaimed on 28 October 1918, the German Bohemians, claiming the right toself-determinationaccording to the tenth of US PresidentWoodrow Wilson’sFourteen Points,demanded that their homeland areas remain with Austria, which by then had been reduced to the Republic ofGerman Austria.The German Bohemians relied mostly on peaceful opposition to the occupation of their homeland by the Czech military, which started on 31 October 1918 and was completed on 28 January 1919. Fighting took place sporadically, resulting in the deaths of a few dozen Germans and Czechs.[citation needed]

On 4 March 1919, almost the entire ethnic German population peacefully demonstrated for its right to self-determination.[citation needed]The demonstrations were accompanied by a one-day general strike. TheGerman Social Democratic Workers Party in the Czechoslovak Republic,then the largest party, was responsible for the demonstration initiative, but it was also supported by other bourgeois German parties. The mass demonstrations were put down by the Czech military, involving 54 deaths and 84 wounded.[23]

American diplomatArchibald Coolidgeinsisted on respecting the Germans' right toself-determinationand uniting all German-speaking areas with either Germany or Austria, with the exception of northern Bohemia.[24]However, theTreaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye,on 10 September 1919, made it clear that German Bohemia would not become part of the newAustrian Republic.Instead, it would become part ofCzechoslovakia.The new state regarded ethnic Germans as anethnic minority.Nevertheless, some 90 percent lived in territories in which they represented 90 percent or more of the population.

Demography

[edit]

In 1921, the population of multi-ethnic Czechoslovakia comprised 6.6 million Czechs, 3.2 million Germans, two millionSlovaks,0.7 millionHungarians,half a millionRuthenians(Rusyns), 300,000Jews,and 100,000Poles,as well asGypsies,Croatsand other ethnic groups. German-speakers represented a third of the population of theBohemian landsand about 23.4 percent of the population of the whole republic (13.6 million).[citation needed] The Sudetenland possessed huge chemical works andlignitemines as well as textile, china, and glass factories. To the west, a triangle of historic ethnic German settlement surroundingEgerwas the most active area for pan-German nationalism. TheUpper Palatinate Forest,an area that was primarily populated by Germans, extended along the Bavarian frontier to the poor agricultural areas of southernBohemia.

Moraviacontained many patches of ethnic German settlement in the north and the south. Most typical in those areas were German "language islands", towns inhabited by ethnic Germans but surrounded by rural Czechs. Extreme German nationalism was never prevalent in those areas. German nationalism in the coal-mining region of southernSilesia,which was 40.5% German, was restrained by fear of competition from industry in theWeimar Republic.

Gradual general acceptance of Czechoslovak citizenship

[edit]
Linguistic map of Czechoslovakia in 1930

Many Germans felt that the new constitution failed to fulfil what the Czechs had promised in theTreaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)because there were too few minority rights. However, they gradually accepted remaining in Czechoslovakia and took part in the first elections in 1920. In 1926, the first Germans became minister (Robert Mayr-HartingandFranz Spina), and the first German political party became part of the government (German Christian Social People's PartyandFarmers' League).[25]

Politics

[edit]

German nationalist sentiment ran high during the early years of the republic. On the other hand, in his very first message as Czechoslovak president,Tomáš Garrigue Masarykhad stressed that Bohemian Germans were to be seen as "emigrants" and "colonists". The new state hence started with marginalization of the Germans. However, Masaryk still tried to win the Germans for the new state by referring to economic advantages and by referring to their common Austrian past.[26]

Sudeten representatives tried to join Austria or Germany or at least to obtain as much autonomy. The constitution of 1920 was drafted without Sudeten German representation,[citation needed]and Sudetens declined to participate in the election of the president. Sudeten political parties pursued an "obstructionist" (or negativist) policy in the Czechoslovak parliament. In 1926, however, German ChancellorGustav Stresemann,adopting a policy of rapprochement with the West, advised the Sudeten Germans to co-operate actively with the Czechoslovak government. In consequence, most Sudeten German parties (including the German Agrarian Party, the German Social Democratic Party and the German Christian Socialist People's Party) changed their policy from negativism to activism, and several Sudeten politicians even accepted cabinet posts.

Sudetendeutsches Freikorpson 1 May 1938 inLiberec

At a party conference inTeplitzin 1919, the provincial Social Democratic Parties of Bohemia, Moravia and Sudeten-Silesia united to form theDeutsche Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei(DSAP) and elected Josef Seliger as chairman. After Seliger's untimely death in 1920,Ludwig Czechbecame party chairman, who was succeeded in 1938 byWenzel Jaksch.

Already in 1936, Jaksch, together withHans Schützof theGerman Christian Social People's Party(Deutsche Christlich-Soziale Volkspartei) andGustav Hackerof the Farmers' Association (Bund der Landwirte,formed theJungaktivisten(Young Activists). They sought agreement with the Czechoslovak government on a policy that could withstand the Nazi onslaught from within and from outside Czechoslovakia. At simultaneous mass rallies inTetschen-Bodenbach/Děčín,Saaz/ŽatecandOlešnice v Orlických horách/Gießhübl im Adlergebirgeon April 26, 1936, they demanded equal opportunities in civil service for Germans, financial assistance for German businesses, official acceptance of theGerman languagefor public servants in the Sudetenland and measures to reduce unemployment in the Sudetenland. (At the time, one in three was unemployed in the Sudetenland, compared to one in five in the rest of the country.) Improving the quality of life of the Sudeten Germans was not the only motivation of the Jungaktivists. For Jaksch and his social democratic compatriots, it was a question of survival after a possible Nazi takeover. Of some 80,000 social democrats in Czechoslovakia, only about 5,000 would manage to flee the Nazis. The rest were incarcerated, and many of them were executed. Many of those who survived the Nazi persecution were later expelled, together with other Sudeten Germans, on the basis ofBeneš decrees.

By 1929, only a small number of Sudeten German deputies, most of them members of the German National Party, supported by the propertied classes, and theGerman National Socialist Workers' Party,remained opposed to the Czechoslovak government. Nationalist sentiment flourished, however, among Sudeten German youths, who had a variety of organizations, such as the olderDeutsche TurnverbandandSchutzvereine,theKameradschaftsbund,the NaziVolkssport(1929) and theBereitschaft.

Rise of Nazis

[edit]
Flag with black, red and black horizontal bars
Flag flown by some Sudeten Germans
Sudeten German Freikorps

The Sudeten German nationalists, particularly the Nazis, expanded their activities after the Depression started. On 30 January 1933,Adolf Hitlerwas appointed chancellor of Germany. The Czechoslovak government prepared to suppress the Sudeten Nazi Party. In the autumn of 1933, the Sudeten Nazis dissolved their organization, and the German Nationals were pressured to do likewise. The government expelled German Nationals and Sudeten Nazis from local government positions. The Sudeten German population was indignant, especially in nationalist strongholds likeEgerland.

On 1 October 1933,Konrad Henleinwith his deputy,Karl Hermann Frank,aided by other members of theKameradschaftsbund,a youth organization of mystical orientation, created a new political organisation. TheSudeten German Home Front(Sudetendeutsche Heimatfront) professed loyalty to Czechoslovakia but championed decentralization. It absorbed most former German Nationals and Sudeten Nazis. The Kameradschaftsbund under Henlein did not promote joining Germany, but campaigned for decentralised Czechoslovakia based on the model of Switzerland; Henlein promoted a separate Sudeten German identity, using the termsudetendeutscher Stamm(Sudeten German tribe).[27]Before 1937, Henlein was critical of Adolf Hitler and advocated for the ideas of liberalism and individualism. However, Henlein's movement was growing increasingly divided and his own position soon became precarious. Henlein suffered a severe blow to his reputation as well as political influence when his mentor,Heinz Rutha,was accused of homosexuality and committed suicide in prison. The radical wing of the party pressured Henlein to resign, and the Czechoslovak security forces increased their efforts to frustrate the movement's activities.Ronald Smelsernoted that "backed to the wall, Henlein took what he thought to be the only step left to rescue his own position and the unity of his movement: he wrote a letter to Adolf Hitler."[28]Henlein started secretly cooperating with the German government and the underground Nazi movement.[28]

In 1935, the Sudeten German Home Front became theSudeten German Party(Sudetendeutsche Partei) (SdP) and embarked on an active propaganda campaign. In the May election, the SdP won more than 60% of the Sudeten German vote. The German Agrarians, Christian Socialists and Social Democrats each lost approximately half of their followers. The SdP became the centre of German nationalist forces. The party represented itself as striving for a just settlement of Sudeten German claims within the framework of Czechoslovak democracy. Henlein, however, maintained secret contact withNazi Germanyand received material aid fromBerlin,which told him to refuse every concession offered by Czechoslovakia. The SdP endorsed the idea of aFührerand mimicked Nazi methods with banners, slogans and uniformed troops. Concessions offered by the Czechoslovak government, including the installation of exclusively Sudeten German officials in Sudeten German areas and the possible participation of the SdP in the cabinet, were rejected. Nevertheless, the party campaigned on autonomy for the Sudetenland and pledged allegiance to the Czechoslovak stance; a majority of SdP voters supported regional autonomy and did not desire to join the German state.[29][30]Elizabeth Wiskemannremarked that "when Henlein repeated to his English friends in London as late as May 1938 that he still wished for autonomy within the Czechoslovak State, whether he was speaking sincerely or not, he was expressing the wishes of a very considerable proportion of his followers".[31]According to Ralf Gebel, "the majority had voted for a party that united the Sudeten Germans and aimed to improve their position within the Czechoslovak Republic — no more and no less".[32]Johann Wolfgang Brügelalso highlights that although Henlein became "Hitler's paladin", the SdP of 1935 represented a "conglomerate of practically all [political] colourings", and the opinion of the general Sudeten German population only supported autonomy within Czechoslovakia.[33]

On 13 March 1938, theThird ReichannexedAustriaduring theAnschluss.Sudeten Germans reacted with fear to the news of Austrian annexation, and the moderate wing of SdP grew in strength.[34]Hitherto pro-Henlein German newspaperBohemia (newspaper)denounced the SdP leader, arguing that his call for Sudeten Anschluss goes against the wish of his voters and supporters: "His present call to irredentism saddles the Sudeten Germans with all the consequences of treason to the State; for such a challenge the electors gave him neither their votes nor their mandate".[35]On 22 March, the German Agrarian Party, led byGustav Hacker,merged with the SdP.German Christian Socialistsin Czechoslovakia suspended their activities on 24 March; their deputies and senators entered the SdP parliamentary club. However, the majority of Sudeten Germans did not support annexation into Germany.[31][35]Contemporary reports ofThe Timesfound that there was a "large number of Sudetenlanders who actively opposed annexation", and that the pro-German policy was challenged by the moderates within the SdP as well; according toWickham Steed,over 50 % of Henleinists favoured greater autonomy within Czechoslovakia over joining Germany.[36]P. E. Caquet argues that in case of a fair plebiscite, a majority of the Sudetenland population would have voted to remain in Czechoslovakia.[37]The municipal elections of May 1938 were marred with voter intimidation and street fighting - officially the SdP won about 90 percent of the Sudeten vote, but about a third of Sudeten Germans were prevented from casting a free vote.[38][39][40]

Czechoslovak Chamber of Deputies (1920–1935)

[edit]

The table below shows the number of seats German parties and German–Hungarian lists gained in the Czechoslovak Chamber of Deputies between 1920 and 1935.

Party or List[41] Seats 1920 Seats 1925 Seats 1929 Seats 1935 Votes 1935
Sudeten German Party – – – 44 1.256.010
German National Party – 10 7 – –
German National Socialist Workers Party 15 17 8 – –
German Social Democratic Workers Party 31 17 21 11 300.406
German Christian Social People's Party 7 13 14 6 163.666
German Union of Farmers 11 24 – 5 142.775
Hungarian Parties and Sudeten German Electoral Bloc 9 4 9 9 292.847
United German Parties 6 – 16 – –
Total (out of 300 seats) 79 85 75 75
  • Hungarian Parties and Sudeten German Electoral Bloc (1935): German Democratic Liberal Party, German Industrialist Party, Party of German Nation, Sudeten German Land Union, German Workers Party, Zips German Party, Provincial Christian Social Party, Hungarian National Party[42]

Munich Agreements

[edit]
Neville Chamberlain(left) andAdolf Hitlerleave the Bad Godesberg meeting on 23 September 1938.
InŠumperk-Mährisch Schönberg,Czech names were erased by the Sudeten Germans after the German annexation ofSudetenlandin 1938.

Konrad Henleinmet with Hitler in Berlin on 28 March 1938 and was told to raise demands that would be unacceptable to the Czechoslovak government. In the Carlsbad Decrees, issued on 24 April at the Carlsbad convention, the SdP demanded complete autonomy for the Sudetenland and freedom to profess Nazi ideology. If Henlein's demands had been granted, the Sudetenland would have been in a position to align itself with Nazi Germany.

As the political situation worsened, the security in Sudetenland deteriorated. The region became the site of small-scale clashes between young SdP followers, equipped with arms smuggled from Germany, and police and border forces. In some places, the regular army was called in to pacify the situation. Nazi propaganda accused the Czech government and Czechs of atrocities on innocent Germans. The Czechoslovak public started to prepare for an inevitable war, such as by training with gas masks.

On 20 May, Czechoslovakia initiated a so-called "partial mobilization" (literally "special military precaution" ) in response to rumours of German troop movements. The army moved into position on the border. Western powers tried to calm down the situation and forced Czechoslovakia to comply with most of the Carlsbad Decrees. However the SdP, instructed to continue to push towards war, escalated the situation with more protests and violence.

With the help of special Nazi forces, theSudetendeutsche Freikorps(paramilitary groups trained in Germany bySS-instructors) took over some border areas and committed many crimes: they killed more than 110 Czechoslovaks (mostly soldiers and policemen) and kidnapped over 2,020 Czechoslovak citizens (including German antifascists), taking them toNazi Germany.[43]

In August, British Prime MinisterNeville ChamberlainsentLord Runciman,a faithfulappeaser,[44]to Czechoslovakia to see if he could obtain a settlement between the Czechoslovak government and the Sudeten Germans. His mission failed because Henlein refused all conciliating proposals under secret orders by Hitler.[45][46][47][48]

TheRunciman Reportto the British government stated this on Czechoslovakia's policy towards the German minority during the preceding decades:[49]

Czech officials and Czech police, speaking little or no German, were appointed in large numbers to purely German districts; Czech agricultural colonists were encouraged to settle on land confiscated under the Land Reform in the middle of German populations; for the children of these Czech invaders Czech schools were built on a large scale; there is a very general belief that Czech firms were favoured as against German firms in the allocation of State contracts and that the State provided work and relief for Czechs more readily than for Germans. I believe these complaints to be in the main justified. Even as late as the time of my Mission, I could find no readiness on the part of the Czechoslovak Government to remedy them on anything like an adequate scale... the feeling among the Sudeten Germans until about three or four years ago was one of hopelessness. But the rise of Nazi Germany gave them new hope. I regard their turning for help towards their kinsmen and their eventual desire to join the Reich as a natural development in the circumstances.

Britain and France then pressured the Czechoslovak government into ceding the Sudetenland to Germany on 21 September. TheMunich Agreement,signed September 29 by Britain, France, Germany and Italy and negotiated without Czechoslovak participation, only confirmed that decision and the negotiated details. Czechoslovakia ceded a German-defined maximalist extension of Sudetenland to Germany, including theŠkoda Works;nearPilsen,they had been Czechoslovakia's primary armaments factory.

As a result, Bohemia and Moravia lost about 38 percent of their combined area, and 3.65 million inhabitants (2.82 million Germans[50]and approximately 513,000 – 750,000[50][51]Czechs to Germany).

Under Nazi rule

[edit]
Sudeten Germans greetingHitlerwith theNazi saluteafter he crossed the border intoCzechoslovakiain 1938.

Some 250,000 Germans remained on the Czech side of the border, which later became part of the Reich by the establishment of theProtectorate of Bohemia and Moraviaunder German governors and the German Army. Almost all the Germans in these Czech territories were subsequently granted German citizenship,[52]while most of the Germans in Slovakia obtained citizenship of theSlovak state.

With the establishment of German rule, hundreds of thousands of Czechs who (under the policy of Czechification) had moved into the Sudetenland after 1919 left the area, some willingly. They were, however, permitted to take away their possessions and to legally sell their houses and land. A few, however, remained.[53]

In elections held on 4 December 1938, 97.32% of the adult population in Sudetenland voted for theNSDAP(most of the rest were Czechs who were allowed to vote as well). About half a million Sudeten Germans joined theNazi Party,which amounted to 17.34% of the German population in the Sudetenland (the average inNazi Germanywas 7.85%). Because of their knowledge of theCzech language,many Sudeten Germans were employed in the administration of theProtectorate of Bohemia and Moraviaas well as in the Nazi oppressive machinery such as theGestapo.The most notable wasKarl Hermann Frank,the SS and Police general and Secretary of State in the Protectorate.

After the establishment of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, almost all Bohemian and Moravian Jews, many of whom were primarily German-speaking, weredeported and murderedby the authorities.[citation needed]The Nazis evacuated about 120,000 Germans (mostly women and children) to theSudetenlandand theProtectorate.[43]

Expulsion and transfer

[edit]
Main article:Expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia
Germans expelled fromBohemiaandMoraviaafter the Second World War

In the aftermath ofWorld War II,when the Czechoslovak state was restored, the government expelled the majority of ethnicGermans(about 3 million altogether), in the belief that their behaviour had been a major cause of the war and subsequent destruction. In the months directly following the end of the war, "wild" expulsions happened from May until August 1945. Several Czechoslovak statesmen encouraged such expulsions with polemical speeches. Generally local authorities ordered the expulsions, which armed volunteers carried out. In some cases the regular army initiated or assisted such expulsions.[54]Several thousand Germans were murdered during the expulsion, and many more died from hunger and illness as a consequence of becoming refugees.

The regular transfer of ethnic nationals among nations, authorized according to thePotsdam Conference,proceeded from 25 January 1946 until October 1946. An estimated 1.6 million "ethnic Germans" (most of them also had Czech ancestors; and even Czechs, who spoke mainly German over the last years), were deported from Czechoslovakia to theAmerican zoneof what would becomeWest Germany.An estimated 800,000 were deported to theSoviet zone(in what would becomeEast Germany).[55]Estimates of casualties related to this expulsion range between 20,000 and 200,000 people, depending on source.[56]Casualties included primarily violent deaths and suicides, rapes, deaths ininternment camps[56]and natural causes.[57]

Even the German-speakingCharles-Ferdinand UniversityinPraguecould not escape expulsion. The remaining faculty, students, and administrators fled toMunichinBavaria,where they established theCollegium Carolinum,a research institute for the study of the Bohemian lands.[58]

TheSudetendeutsche Landsmannschaftclaims to represent the German refugees from the former Czechoslovak Republic, but its conservative positions were and are discussed very controversially among the refugees themselves, with many choosing not to associate with the organization. In the 2001 census, 39,106 people in the Czech Republic claimed German ethnicity.[59]In theory, with the accession of theCzech Republicinto theEuropean Union,refugee Sudeten Germans and their descendants (or for that matter, also Germans with no previous link to the Bohemian lands) could have moved back there without needing the Czech government's permission – but in practice such a move did not materialize in any significant numbers, as they could not reclaim property and many were well established in Germany.

In other countries

[edit]

Argentina

[edit]

Although to a lesser extent than theVolga Germans,Sudeten Germans also immigrated to Argentina. Some groups settled in different German colonies in theMisiones Province.

Particularly notable is the case of the German businessmanOskar Schindlerand his wifeEmilie Schindler,who lived in Argentina for a few years.

Likewise, Argentina-based PrincessMercedes von Dietrichstein,daughter ofAlexander von Dietrichstein,has spent long years legally battling to recover her family's assets (for example,Mikulov Castle) that were confiscated from them in the Sudetenland area by order of the President of CzechoslovakiaEdvard Beneš,through the so-calledBeneš Decrees,which dispossessed all ethnic Germans of their property and expelled them from their land.

Chile

[edit]

In 1877, a group of Sudeten Germans from the city of Braunau (historical region of Bohemia, then located in theAustro-Hungarian Empire;current city ofBroumov,Czech Republic) founded the town ofNueva Braunauin Chile, inLos Lagos Region.Likewise, in the town ofColonia Humán(currently integrated as a neighborhood into the city ofLos Ángeles), in theBiobío Region,some Germans from the Sudetenland joined other groups of established Germans.

In the 1930s, the Chilean businesswoman Antonia Inalaf decided to finance a project to emigrate Sudeten Germans to Chile. This group of Germans came from the city of Rossbach (currentlyHranice,in the historical region of Moravia,Czech Republic), and in 1935 she founded the town ofPuyuhuapi,in theAysén Region.Although her project was to settle many more families, theSecond World Warfrustrated her plans. Therefore, some relatives of those who had already settled were only able to arrive in 1947. First, the settler settled with their families, which gave rise to a new population.[60]

Following the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia at the end of World War II, a new group of Sudeten Germans immigrated to Chile, either to settle in Puyuhuapi or in otherGerman coloniesin thesouth of the country.[61]

Spain

[edit]

Before World War II broke out, Prince Maximilian Eugene of Hohenlohe-Langenburg decided to take refuge in Spain. Similarly, after the war, all of his assets were confiscated through the Beneš Decrees. However, the fortune of his wife's family prevented him from falling out of favor. In Spain, one of his sons,Prince Alfonso,founded theMarbella Club Hotel,thus beginning the Marbella Golden Mile, which he catapulted as a destination for international luxury tourism, which since then has generated great wealth for Spain.

Paraguay

[edit]

On October 1, 1933, some families of Sudeten Germans founded the "Colonia Sudetia" in thePaso Yobai district,Guairá Department.[62]In the beginning the colony was difficult for them, since most of them were not farmers but had other professions, but they soon knew how to adapt and today the community is the seat of large yerba mate factories.

Languages

[edit]

Various Sudeten German dialects are currently practically extinct as most Germans were expelled from Czechoslovakia: present Sudeten Germans speak mainly Czech and/orStandard German.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^"Expellee 'Provocation': Prague Refuses Apology to Sudeten Germans".Der Spiegel.June 14, 2011.
  2. ^"Czech Statistical Office".Archived fromthe originalon 2013-12-03.Retrieved2011-08-09.
  3. ^Otto Bauer. The Question of Nationalities and Social Democracy (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota press, 2000), p. 160
  4. ^Statistický lexikon obcí v Republice československé I. Země česká.Prague. 1934.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
    Statistický lexikon obcí v Republice československé II. Země moravskoslezská.Prague. 1935.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. ^"The German Bohemia Province".czech-stamps.org.Archived fromthe originalon 6 January 2014.Retrieved2 April2018.
  6. ^Fallon, Joseph E. (1996)."Testimony For Assimilation - The success of the German-Bohemians"(PDF).The Social Contract.
  7. ^The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001–05
  8. ^Stoklásková, Zdeňka (2 April 2018).Stets ein guter und zuverlässiger Deutschmährer. Zur Laufbahn von Bertold Bretholz (1862–1936).Oldenbourg Verlag.ISBN978-3-486-58374-8.Retrieved2 April2018– via muni.cz.
  9. ^"Deutsche Biographie".lrz-muenchen.de.Archived fromthe originalon 6 March 2016.Retrieved2 April2018.
  10. ^"The Sudeten Germans' forgotten fate".7 February 2004.Retrieved2 April2018– via news.bbc.co.uk.
  11. ^abcdFriedrich Prinz (Hrsg.):Deutsche Geschichte im Osten Europas: Böhmen und Mähren,Siedler, Berlin 2002,ISBN3-88680-773-8.(Teil eines zehnbändigen Gesamtwerks)
  12. ^ab"The Germans in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia: with two maps".[Berlin?: Staatsdruckerei.Retrieved2 April2018– via Internet Archive.
  13. ^Manfred Alexander:Kleine Geschichte der böhmischen Länder,Reclam, Stuttgart 2008,ISBN978-3-15-010655-6.
  14. ^abNationalbibliothek, Österreichische."ALEX – Historische Rechts- und Gesetzestexte".alex.onb.ac.at.Retrieved2 April2018.
  15. ^Brod, Max (1960).Franz Kafka: A Biography.New York: Schocken Books.ISBN978-0-8052-0047-8.
  16. ^Urban, Otto (1998). "V.".Czech Society 1848–1918.United Kingdom:Cambridge University Press.ISBN0-521-43155-7.Retrieved25 February2013.
  17. ^ab"History of Charles University".cuni.cz.Retrieved2 April2018.
  18. ^Čapka, František (1999)."X. Směřování k samostatnému státu".Dějiny zemí Koruny české v datech(in Czech). Prague: Libri.ISBN80-85983-67-2.Retrieved21 June2009.
  19. ^Mommsen, Hans (2003).The Third Reich Between Vision and Reality: New Perspectives on German History 1918–1945.Berg Publishers.ISBN1-85973-627-0(Mommsen).
  20. ^Prinz, Friedrich (1993).Deutsche Geschichte in Osten Europas: Böhmen und Mähren.Berlin: Wolf Jobst Siedler Verlag GmbH. p. 381.ISBN3-88680-200-0.Retrieved25 February2013.
  21. ^Act, StGBl. No. 40 and state proclamation,StGBl. Nr. 41/1918 (= p. 51).
  22. ^Manfred Alexander:Die Deutschen in der Ersten Tschechoslowakischen Republik: Rechtsstellung und Identitätssuche.In: Umberto Corsini, Davide Zaffi, Manfred Alexander (Hrsg.):Die Minderheiten zwischen den beiden Weltkriegen.Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, 1997,ISBN3-428-09101-9,p. 127.
  23. ^"Center for Austrian Studies".Austrian Studies | College of Liberal Arts.22 September 2023.
  24. ^Papers relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States 1919 – the Paris Peace Conference, Volume XII.Washington. pp. 273–274.
  25. ^"Hitler's Fifth Column".Radio Prague. December 12, 2002.
  26. ^Thomas Wünsch. ""Emigraten und Kolonisten" und "Drang nach Osten": Bilder von Den Deutschen und die Ideologie der Vertreibung im tschechischen Diskurs 1918-1944 ".Germanoslavica - Zeitschrift für germano-slawische Studien.28(1–2). Praha: Slovanský ústav AV ČR.
  27. ^Marina Cattaruza; Stefan Dyroff; Dieter Langewiesche (2013).Territorial Revisionism and the Allies of Germany in the Second World War.New York: Berghahn Books. p. 61.ISBN9780857457394.
  28. ^abRonald Smelser(2013).The Sudeten Problem, 1933–1938: Volkstumspolitik and the Formulation of Nazi Foreign Policy.Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press. pp. 204–205.ISBN978-0819540775.
  29. ^Erin K. Jenne (2007). "Sudeten Germans in Interwar Czechoslovakia".Ethnic Bargaining: The Paradox of Minority Empowerment.Cornell University Press. pp. 54–90.ISBN9780801444982.JSTOR10.7591/j.ctt1287dwq.8.
  30. ^Ronald Smelser(1980).Das Sudetenproblem und das Dritte Reich 1933-1938: Von der Volkstumspolitik zur nationalsozialistischen Aussenpolitik.Translated by Dierk Hildebrandt. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag. p. 110.ISBN9783486485813.
  31. ^abElizabeth Wiskemann(January 1939)."Czechs and Germans after Munich".Council on Foreign Relations.17(2): 291–304.doi:10.2307/20028918.JSTOR20028918.
  32. ^P. E. Caquet (2018).The Bell of Treason: The 1938 Munich Agreement in Czechoslovakia.New York: Other Press. p. 92.ISBN9781782832874.
  33. ^Johann Wolfgang Brügel[in German](1967).Tschechen und Deutsche, 1918–1938(in German). München: Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung. p. 267.
  34. ^Ronald Smelser(2013).The Sudeten Problem, 1933–1938: Volkstumspolitik and the Formulation of Nazi Foreign Policy.Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press. p. 300.ISBN978-0819540775.
  35. ^abP. E. Caquet (2018).The Bell of Treason: The 1938 Munich Agreement in Czechoslovakia.New York: Other Press. p. 93.ISBN9781782832874.
  36. ^David J. Gossen (June 1994).Public Opinion, Appeasement, and The Times: Manipulating Consent in the 1930s(Thesis). Vancouver: The University of British Columbia. p. 63.doi:10.14288/1.0094711.
  37. ^P. E. Caquet (2018).The Bell of Treason: The 1938 Munich Agreement in Czechoslovakia.New York: Other Press. p. 76.ISBN9781782832874.
  38. ^P. E. Caquet (2018).The Bell of Treason: The 1938 Munich Agreement in Czechoslovakia.New York: Other Press. p. 75.ISBN9781782832874.
  39. ^Claudia Breit Whiteus (2010).A Struggle for Existence: Explaining the Actions, Motives and Fall of German Social Democracy in the First Czechoslovak Republic.Budapest: CEU eTD Collection.
  40. ^Michael Walsh Campbell (2003). "Keepers of Order? Strategic Legality in the 1935 Czechoslovak General Elections".Nationalities Papers: The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity.31(3). Routledge: 295–308.doi:10.1080/0090599032000115501.S2CID155757534.
  41. ^Bildung, Bundeszentrale für politische (6 November 2002)."Republik unter Druck – bpb".bpb.de.Retrieved2 April2018.
  42. ^""Prager Tagblatt", Nr. 116, May 18, 1935,Tschechoslowakische Parlamentswahlvom 19. 5. 1935 ".Archived fromthe originalon February 23, 2007.RetrievedMarch 9,2012.
  43. ^abZimmermann, Volker:Die Sudetendeutschen im NS-Staat. Politik und Stimmung der Bevölkerung im Reichsgau Sudetenland (1938–1945).Essen 1999. (ISBN3-88474-770-3)
  44. ^Churchill, Winston:The Second World War. Vol. I, The Gathering Storm.1986. (ISBN0-395-41055-X)
  45. ^Čelovský, Bořivoj:Germanisierung und Genozid. Hitlers Endlösung der tschechischen Frage – deutsche Dokumente 1933–1945.Dresden 2005 (ISBN80-903550-1-3)
  46. ^Šamberger, Zdeněk:Mnichov 1938 v řeči archivních dokumentů.Praha 2002. (ISBN80-85475-93-6)
  47. ^Kárník, Zdeněk:České země v éře první republiky (1918–1938).Díl 3. Praha 2003. (ISBN80-7277-030-6)
  48. ^Král, Václav (ed.):Die Deutschen in der Tschechoslowakei 1933–1947. Dokumentensammlung.Praha 1964.
  49. ^Alfred de Zayas,"Anglo-American Responsibility for the Expulsion of the Germans, 1944–48",(Pittsburg lecture, published in Vardy/TooleyEthnic Cleansing in 20th Century Europepp. 239–254) p. 243
  50. ^ab"K otázce vysídlení občanů ČSR ze Sudet, Těšínska, Podkarpatské Rusi a Slovenské republiky v letech 1938/1939".Archived fromthe originalon 2014-12-02.Retrieved2014-12-02.
  51. ^Doležal, Bohumil."Fakta o vyhnání Čechů ze Sudet".bohumildolezal.cz.Retrieved2 April2018.
  52. ^Smlouva mezi Česko-Slovenskou republikou a Německou říší o otázkách státního občanství a opce, law no. 300/1938 Sb.
  53. ^"Die Sudetendeutsche Geschichte".dbb-ev.de.Archived fromthe originalon 25 February 2012.Retrieved2 April2018.
  54. ^Biman, S. – Cílek, R.:Poslední mrtví, první živí.Ústí nad Labem 1989. (ISBN80-7047-002-X)
  55. ^"Memories of World War II in the Czech Lands: the expulsion of Sudeten Germans – Radio Prague".radio.cz.14 April 2005.Retrieved2 April2018.
  56. ^abP. WALLACE/BERLIN"Putting The Past To Rest",Time MagazineMonday, Mar. 11, 2002
  57. ^Z. Beneš, Rozumět dějinám. (ISBN80-86010-60-0)
  58. ^"home".Archived fromthe originalon 2019-07-08.Retrieved2013-02-26.
  59. ^"Census 2001 by Czech statistical office".Archived fromthe originalon August 25, 2007.
  60. ^"Puyuhuapi History and Legends".InterPatagonia.Retrieved2022-04-13.
  61. ^Un pueblo alemán en el sur de ChileinDeutsche Welle
  62. ^Festejan el 85 aniversario de la Colonia Sudetia de Paso Yobái – Centinela – ABC Color

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sudeten_Germans&oldid=1245827487"