Abstract
Since 2015, Europe’s “refugee crisis” has driven global attention toward large-scale human mobility. In Germany, public opinion has been divided over the acceptance of refugees. In this context, when attempting to address this current crisis based on historical experiences, the most frequently mentioned analog is the experience of the integration of the German population that was forcibly displaced from the former eastern territories of Germany and other Eastern European countries.
After World War II, part of the eastern territories was to be ceded from Poland to the Soviet Union. The cession of the eastern part of Germany to Poland was considered a means of compensating for the loss of Polish territories. Military defeats and border changes were accompanied by a massive displacement of Germans. The migration of Germans from Eastern Europe, especially in the initial stages, occurred under harsh and violent conditions. The image of violent “expulsion” was consciously reinforced in West Germany, resulting in its treatment as a symbol of the war damage suffered by Germans. Consequently, the migration of Germans cast a long shadow over the postwar relations between Germany and Eastern European countries, especially with Poland.
Nonetheless, it is important to consider the synchronic context of the expulsion of Germans: in the immediate aftermath of World War II, various population transfers occurred in parallel in Eastern European countries, including Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, and Hungary. The forced migration of Poles from the former eastern territories of Poland (which were ceded to the Soviet Union) and the population exchange between Czechoslovakia and Hungary exemplify such population transfers.
In addition to the resettlement of various ethnic groups through forced migrations and population changes, there was, across Europe, a parallel movement of returning soldiers, foreign prisoners of war, forced laborers, and concentration camp survivors returning home. These civilians who existed beyond the borders of their own countries (due to World War II) are referred to as displaced persons (DPs). In the immediate aftermath of the war, there were 11 million DPs of more than 20 nationalities throughout Europe.
This article examines the various movements of people that occurred in Europe immediately after World War II, including the resettlement of various ethnic groups in Eastern Europe as well as the repatriation, foreign migration, and staying behind of DPs, and how these simultaneous, multidirectional movements were interconnected.
In this context, the historical origins of the idea of population exchange in 20th-century Europe, the partial or complete replacement of residents in Eastern European cities and villages, and the formation of perceptions and memories of postwar human mobility will be particularly considered.
