German exodus from Eastern Europe: Encyclopedia II - German exodus from Eastern Europe - Expulsion

German exodus from Eastern Europe - Expulsion

Main article: Expulsion of Germans after World War II.

The remaining ethnic German residents, some of whom had become German citizens during the world war, were expelled or fled from present-day Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Kaliningrad Oblast, and other East European countries. Up to 16.5 million Germans of the post-war population were forced to leave. Some fled in fear of the Red Army, and others were persecuted because of their activities during the war or for other reasons. They were sent to makeshift camps or cities in western Germany, mostly according to their Landsmannschaft.

According to some German sources, more than 2.5 million lost their lives during this process. Czech and Polish sources give a much lower estimate (Czech historians arguing that most of estimated population drop is because of soldiers killed at the front). The actual population transfer included about 7 million from former eastern Germany, 1.5 million from Poland in the borders of 1938 (total of 5.075 million from new borders, see Oder-Neisse Line), 2.5 million from Czechoslovakia, around 2 million from the Soviet Union, 240,000 from Hungary, 300,000 from Romania, and another 1 million from other Eastern European regions.

The eviction of Germans from Eastern Europe was ordered by the Potsdam Agreement.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Expulsion", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki