Figure 1.-- Here is a group of German refugees just after World War II with what was left of their possessions. The photograph was taken in what was left of Berlin's Tiergarten station (August 1945). This was only a few months after the NAZI surrender. We do not know if they are new arrivals in Berlin or Germans waiting for trains to take them to the Western occupation zones. We suspect that they are waiting for a train to take them west. The group seems to consist mainly of women, elderly bmen, and children, the families' fathers and older brothers having probably been lost in the War or taken as POWs by the Soviets. (Only a few German POWs survived the Soviet Gulag.) We can see Red Cross nursees among the group, attending to their immediate needs, helping them in the crisis of their displacement.
The sign in the backgrond may read,'ELMAR PUSHKIN u. ABERLE' Elmar Pushkin and Aberle are just names of people. Of course, Pushkin was a famous Russian author and I am surprised that Germans from Russia would carry that name. The small letter u. is just an abbreviation of und (and). Aberle is a family name from Southwest Germany (compare it with the name of that American senator: Daschle who's grand parents were Germans from Russia). It perhaps is one of those signs with names of lost relatives or a place to assemble people with a certain family name or country of origin.
It's a very moving sight, but strange as it may seem, these are the lucky ones--they survived. Photographer: Fritz Eschen.
Europe was awash with refugees at the end of World War II. They were a pitiful site, but they were actually the lucky ones--they had survived. Germany was a mix of over 10 million foreign slave and other forced laborers trying to get home as well as several million POWS. A much smaller number of Jewish survivors, many of which could not go home. These non-German refugees are the ones which most commonly come to mind when people think of World War II refugees. Actually, there was another group of refugees headed the other way--over 10 million Germans from the liberated countries. One of the ironies of history was the NAZI policy of remaking the ethnic map of Europe (Generalplan Ost) resulted not in expanded German populations in the East, but in driving the Germans west from areas where they had lived for centuries. And the numbers of German refugees from the East were swelled by the Germans whose homes were destroyed by the Allied bombing or fleeing Soviet rule. Many Germans from Eastern Europe wisely fled the advancing Red Army as the Wehrmacht retreted west. The NAZIs organized ships to take the German refugees from East Prussia. Memel and other Baltic ports were used. They were for women and children and the elderly. Men and older boys were susposed to stay and fight. Some of these ships were sunk by Soviet submarines with great loss of life. Some came by rail, the rail system in eastern Germany was not as damaged as that in the west. Many came the old fashion way--on foot. And at the end of the war, refugees began to come from areas of Germany that had been German for centuries. These were areas that were seized by the Soviet Union such as Köninsberg (Kalinigrad) or transfrred to Poland (such as Danzig, Pomerania, and Silesia). A special class of refugees were the German children evacuated from the cities when the Allied bombing intensified. And adding further to the dislocation and tumault were Germans in the Soviet occupation zone that decided to live in the west. The Germans who tried to stay in their ancestral homes in Eastern Europe (Czechosolvakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, and other countries) were forcibly expelled, both by local vigelantees and/or expulsion laws. The Germans in motion at the end of the War, constituted the lsrgest migration in European history.
Evacuations
One of the most dangerous things Germans could be accusedc of was to be a defeatist, esoecially as the war began to go dusateroudly bagainst Germany. It could get you arrested and hanged. And this continued to be the case eben as the Red army approached the Reich. This occurred forst in East Prussia. There was a desore to flee west to safe areas in nthe Reich. But people needed thevpermissiomn nof local NAZI authorities. To flee without pernissiin could get you the label mof a defeatist. And NAZI officials did not want to give the evacuationnorder because Hitler would see them as defeatist. When the order was finally given, it was too late to organize it and probivdevtrans porta nd provisions. The local NAZIs escape in the big Mercerdes and the population weee left to their own devices.
Europe was awash with refugees at the end of World War II. They were a pitiful site, but they were actually the lucky ones--they had survived. Germany was a mix of over 10 million foreign slave and other forced laborers trying to get home as well as several million POWS. A much smaller number of Jewish survivors, many of which could not go home. These non-German refugees are the ones which most commonly come to mind when people think of World War II refugees. Actually, there was another group of refugees headed the other way--over 10 million Germans from the liberated countries. One of the ironies of history was the NAZI policy of remaking the ethnic map of Europe (Generalplan Ost) resulted not in expanded German populations in the East, but in driving the Germans west from areas where they had lived for centuries. And at the end of the war, refugees began to come from areas of Germany that had been German for centuries. These were areas that were seized by the Soviet Union such as Köninsberg (Kalinigrad) or transfrred to Poland (such as Danzig, Pomerania, and Silesia). And the numbers of German refugees from the East were swelled by the Germans whose homes were destroyed by the Allied bombing or fleeing Soviet rule. Many Germans from Eastern Europe wisely fled the advancing Red Army as the Wehrmacht retreted west. The NAZIs organized ships to take the German refugees from East Prussia. Memel and other Baltic ports were used. They were for women and children and the elderly. Men and older boys were susposed to stay and fight. Some of these ships were sunk by Soviet submarines with great loss of life. Some came by rail, the rail system in eastern Germany was not as damaged as that in the west. Many came the old fashion way--on foot. And at the end of the war, refugees began to come from areas of Germany that had been German for centuries. These were areas that were seized by the Soviet Union such as Köninsberg (Kalinigrad) or transfrred to Poland (such as Danzig, Pomerania, and Silesia). A special class of refugees were the German children evacuated from the cities when the Allied bombing intensified. And adding further to the dislocation and tumault were Germans in the Soviet occupation zone that decided to live in the west. The Germans who tried to stay in their ancestral homes in Eastern Europe (Czechosolvakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, and other countries) were forciably expelled, both by local vigelantees and/or expulsion laws. The Germans in motion at the end of the War, constituted the largest migration in European history.
Transport
The NAZIs organized ships to take the German refugees from East Prussia. Memel and other Baltic ports were used. They were for women and children and the elderly. Men and older boys were susposed to stay and fight. Some of these ships were sunk by Soviet submarines with great loss of life. Some came by rail, the rail system in eastern Germany was not as damaged as that in the west, butoften reservedvfor the military. Many came the old fashion way--on foot. This was necessary because people could not bleace unil permitted bynlocal NAZIm leaders. Those that tried might be labeled defeatist. And the local leaders did not wantb tongive theborder bleast they appear defeatists. Of course once the order was given local ,leaderscoukd escape in m=Mercedes cars, the peoole had to leave on foot or if they were licky on horse drawn carts withour any preparation or provision made for them.
Violence
The German refugees were subjected to Red Army atrocities. Rgis included the Germans outside the Reich as wella s within the Reich, especially the areas to be annexed or turned over to the Poles. The Yugoslav partisans were also brutal. After the War, Germans remaining outside the Reich were brtalized and subhected to harsh measures, especially in Poland and Czechoslovakia. [Ahonen, p. 20] The Germamns who tried to remain experienced hunger and disease, and separation from family and friendsm The list their citizenshipmand civil mrights. Many were interned and suhjected to forced labor. members, loss of civil rights and familiar environment, and sometimes internment and forced labour. [Ahonen, p. 20] There were reprts of beatings, rapes and murders.
There were massacres of small groups. The Ústí (Aussig) massacre involved the murder of 80–100 ethnic Germans. Another massacre occured at Postoloprty. There were also deaths from terrible conditiins in internment camps.
At Camp Łambinowice (Lamsdorf) in Upper Silesian, nterned Germans were treated sadistically. Some 1,000 people perished. [Ahonen, p. 20]
Conditions
The arrivals were in terrible condition. This was espedcially those arriving feeing the Red Army in the severe 1944-45 winter. This was followed by the 1945-46 hard winter. Teains arrived carring the fead and dieing.
Often the dead had been thrown out from the carriages along the way. [Gibney and Hansen, p. 199.] Unlike the NAZI Jewish transports, the expelees were not locked in. Internal refugees werecreasonably cared for Hitler vYouth bgirls were assigned to aid them. They werevptovidedvwith food and clothing. Housing was found for them. Often the clothes andwere taken from the Jews being deprted. Hiusing was often apartments seized fron Jews. This cahnged in thelastbyear of the War when it became increasingly difficult as the bombing began to overwhaem the Germans and refugees began to arrive from the Rast. The refigees found a country devastated by the War. After the NAZI surrender (May 1945). But this did not end the flood of refugees into Germany. The people the NAZIs terrorized wanted all Germans out of their country. Thus for some time refugees continued arriving. The Germans hardly had the ability to feed and house the Germans already in Germany. Terrible shortahes plagued Germany, incliding food and virtually all consumer goods.
Casualties
There are no relaiable count od the German civilian refugee groups who perished or actually killed during World War II, especially at the end of the War and the post-war period. This inclides people who fled or were expelled and individuals the Soviets dragooned into forced lanor. Estimates range from 0.5-3.0 million people. [Overmans] The West German government after the War published statistics toward the higrhr end of these estimates. Western historians not simply accepting the West German estmates tend to put the figure and the lower end of the estimates. The Germans gradually lowered their estimates. [Spieler, pp. 53-54.]
Care and Tratment
The care and treatment of the foreign refugees was underttaken by the cictiruius a=Allies, especially the Western Allies. Here the prinarybagencu was UNRRA, a Unired Nations agency createdc before the United Nations itself was createdd.
Allied Occupation Zones
And adding further to the dislocation and tumault were Germans in the Soviet occupation zone that decided to live in the west. The German learned of the various occuopation zones after Yalta. The popuolation in generak may nitb have knowm, nut many in eastern Germany nwantedv to be as far aaway from the Red Armjy nas possinble
Outcome
Only with the Currency Refot=rn (1948) did cinditiins begin to improvem but comditions were still difficult for some time. The refugees were not totally integrated into national society for more than a decade (1960s). There were comflicts between the refugees and local populatiomns. [Gibney and Hansen, p. 200.] It was the German Economic Mircale which finally created the conditions to deal with the refugee issue. The bppming economy drove unemployment rates close to zero. [Görtemaker, p. 170.]
Spurces
Ahonen, Pertti. After the expulsion: West Germany and Eastern Europe, 1945–1990 (Oxford University Pressn 2003).
Gibney, Matthew J.and Randall Hansen. Immigration and Asylum: From 1900 to the Present, 2005
Görtemaker, Manfred. Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland: Von der Gründung bis zur Gegenwart (Munich: C.H. Beck, 1999).
Overmans, Rüdiger. "Personelle Verluste der deutschen Bevölkerung durch Flucht und Vertreibung". Academic conference in Warsaw: Dzieje Najnowsze Rocznik, XXI. (1984).
Spieler, Spike. Ed. Vertreibung und Vertreibungsverbrechen 1945–1948. Bericht des Bundesarchivs vom 28. Mai 1974. Archivalien und ausgewählte Erlebnisberichte (Bonn: Kulturstiftung der deutschen Vertriebenen, 1989).
