Czech-German Relations and the Politics of Central Europe : From Bohemia to the EU

The Collegium Carolinum and the Sudetendeutsche Archiv in Munich provided valuable and informative material. The German-speaking population of the Bohemian lands has been the centre of political controversy for over a century. The success of the fascist Sudeten German Party in the 1930s led to the Munich Agreement of September 1938 - the event that was soon to signal the beginning of World War Two. After harsh years of Nazi German occupation, the Czechs and Slovaks expelled the great majority of the Sudeten Germans from their country at the end of the war. Although most of the expellees did well in the Federal Republic, their chief representative, the Sudeten Homelands Association, never ceased to wage a relentless campaign for the right of the Sudeten Germans to return to their ancestral lands. After the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe, the leaders of the expellee associations insisted that Czech entry into the EU should be made conditional on meeting Sudeten German restitution demands - an issue that is still afflicting negotiations today In the aftermath of World War Two, approximately three million Sudeten-Germans were expelled from their homes in the former Czechoslovakia because of their part in the dismemberment of the Czechoslovak Republic by Nazi Germany in 1938-39. For many years their representatives, the Sudeten-German Association, attempted in vain to redress the wrong done to their people. However, the end of the Cold War has given a new impetus to their campaign. Currently they attempt to block Czech entry into the EU unless there is restitution of confiscated properties. Jürgen Tampke tells the story of the Sudeten-Germans from the beginning of their settlement seven hundred years ago in what is now the Czech Republic to current times. In the aftermath of World War Two, approximately three million Sudeten-Germans were expelled from their homes in the former Czechoslovakia because of their part in the dismemberment of the Czechoslovak Republic by Nazi Germany in 1938-39. For many years their representatives, the Sudeten-German Association, attempted in vain to redress the wrong done to their people. However, the end of the Cold War has given a new impetus to their campaign. Currently they attempt to block Czech entry into the EU unless there is restitution of confiscated properties. Jèurgen Tampke tells the story of the Sudeten-Germans from the beginning of their settlement seven hundred years ago in what is now the Czech Republic to current times Front Matter....Pages i-xviii The Lands of the Weceslav Crown....Pages 1-24 Czechoslovakia....Pages 25-44 The Reichsgau Sudetenland and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia....Pages 45-72 Expulsion and Forced Resettlement....Pages 73-94 Expellee Politics....Pages 95-117 In the Forefront....Pages 118-137 Lest We Forget....Pages 138-155 Back Matter....Pages 156-213 Jurgen Tampke tells the story of the Sudeten Germans from the beginning of their settlement in the 14th century, in what is now the Czech Republic, to the 21st century