The Organized Persecution of Germans

In Naimark’s “Fires of Hatred”, he discusses the terms, ethnic cleansing and genocide. Naimark makes a point in clearly defining the differences between the two and stresses the importance of knowing the differences between them. Genocide is the intentional killing of part or all of an ethnic group, nationality, religious group, etc.  Genocide’s goal is to get rid of the non-dominant nationality, ethnic, or religious group and gain control of lost territory. Ethnic cleansing is the removal of all traces of the group such as; the removal of architecture, dance, good, culture, or literature of the specific group. Ethnic cleansing was first introduced when the Serbs attacked Bosnian Muslims in trying to drive the Muslims from their home territories. To have genocide or ethnic cleansing, there needs to be modern media, bureaucratized state, nationalism, and a flashpoint.

            It is apparent that when genocide or ethnic cleansing occurs, the events take place either during or after a major war. The talk about the expulsion of Germans from Poland and Czechoslovakia had begun when World War II had barely begun. The Czechoslovaks and Polish viewed that it was because of the Germans that this war had begun and blamed everything on the Germans, which lead them to justify their harshness against them, as being okay. The Czechs stated that the expulsion of the Germans was the most important postwar task (Naimark 114), clearly exemplifying that they saw the Germans as the reason of their issues. After Potsdam the brutality and harshness of the forced deportations decreased remarkably. As modern media being one of the things needed in order for genocide or ethnic cleansing to occur, this can be seen when the Czechoslovak propaganda was lead towards anti-Germans. The police and military not only did not stop the violence against the Germans, but also took part. The Germans considered the Soviet military much more humane because the Soviets would sometimes protect the Germans against the Poles, but were very inconsistent in the protection.

            During the expulsion of the Germans, they were forced out of their homes, often with very little time to pack and leave, and if they refused to leave they would be punished with violence. The events were so traumatic, whole families would commit suicide by hanging or poison. As often the case is, the women were separated from the men and sexually abused. And sometimes just for entertainment. On the route to their destination, disease was the biggest killer to the Germans. Suicide, hunger and exposure took a serious toll on the Germans as well. Even when the war ended, the hatred towards the Germans was still part of society. How the Germans were treated depended on their status in society.

            Today, we can still see the tensions between the countries as stated from Dr. Weffer, when the soccer teams would play and it would turn into an all out brawl. Also, the new Czech president recently had some provocative statements in his speech saying the Germans were lucky that they were only being forced out of their homes.

http://www.thenation.com/article/171484/brutal-peace-postwar-expulsions-germans#

http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2013/05/czech-politics