German association welcomes commemorations

The German Association for Exilees the (BdV) on Monday welcomed Czech and other commemorations in Central Europe of the expulsion of German communities at the end of WWII and recognition of the fact that this was often accompanies by violence. The association made the statement on the 70th anniversary of the end of the Potsdam Conference at the end of WWII. The association recalled that the Allied powers agreed at the Potsdam Conference in late July and August 1945 to the expulsion of German populations from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland but stressed that it should be done in an orderly and humane fashion. The conference did not legitimize the violence that had started even before the conference began, the association said in a press statement. The statement specifically mentioned massacres of Germans at Ústí nad Labem, the death march from Brno to the Austrian border, and attacks on Germans at Žatec and Lanškroun. A commemorative service was held at Ústí on Friday. Earlier this year the city council at Brno apologised for the death march and expulsion of former German citizens.

Author: Chris Johnstone