The Wilmington morning star., 1947-07-30
Mass Expulsions

OF Germans expelled from fola1u' NNee.io
solvakia, Hungary and austria is seVesleu
in a report recently prepared by the refugee
oomnoittea of the Laenderrat Council Of
States in the U. S. zone:
Although nowhere critical OF military go1-
ernn.ent or Allied policy, the report aas the
effect of being indictment OF mass e$-
puls;ons The severity OF the indictment, ~
deed. is enhanced by the coldly statlalic'l
presentation of facts ard the very temper
s+eness of the language used in the docu-
7,1ent.
Tho c1osest the report comes to oulspoken
of the policy OF mass exp is On,
a. s.1ch is when If refers to the Potsdan re-
ouirer. .ent that the transfers De effected N an
orderly and humane manner. Mllllohs q.
neorle - the report notes, 'on the oasis o1
this agreement. suffered complete expcoprl
ton and removal from their native SOIL lnls
oompl lsory mass removal which may Occupy
urique place in the history OF 1he "o-l.'
has been effected. particularly in its cary
stsoec under circumstances which can be
c,liec ANYTHING but orderly and humane
Tae German authorities reserve the rlght 10
submit at the opportune time comnrehen
eve report on this matter to the U' > MILL
t4rv government . ,,
erogestive of>the kind o: humanity involved
e t,e fact that "a large percentage OF me
o,,neraes (at least one-third> arrived wlthcn1
haQ2dSe ''iN
r. kilos 600 pounds) ard onlv the very 1e"
recoanized anti-fascists from the SudetentaHo
eoIinned with some household goods
To view this in its proper perspec1Ve II
~nus4 be remembered that large lh''o- ~
If the expellees were neither minority groups
abroad nor settlers sent by Hitler to po'u!s
,od 4o,,i+orie~ hit ron~eSent"d an IN
ciqenous population most " whose ahceS''i'
had settled there 700 years ago
TIE report does not argue. and th's core
n5en+ is not attempting to argue. that 'he
f:erroans in the Sudetenland and Poland We1e
free Of nolitical sin. Many Of them thouon oV
no reans all were more 1ahatlc0l va. -
n an 4lose in the Third Reich. 1t is the pine
n]e OF mass expulsion. however, Nnlch IS a.
fault the whole idea that any permanent -
sotis4 ctorv-not to mention moral-solu' on Is
80 bo ,cheved bv tearing millions Of people
out Of century-old social and economic coii-
+axts and dumping them into an area lncap-
able - supporting them
The renort suggests the notable failure OF
Greece TO assinila4e the million or SO IEee<
refucees it had to take from Turkev m lsz1'
Quoting from The New English Weekly me
report says that few OF these Greeks re1ltfe7
themcelves into national lite. Ihey mos1'E
settled in shacks on the hills around Athens
where thew remained an unhappv mass OF
humanity. productive of little but anarchlc-
bolshevist agitations They did much 10 pro
r1ote if not create, the lively dscord in which
Greece has lived ever since
In Germany it is not question OF a mil lo1
o, Sc refugees but o: u Million When one
recalls as the report does that the un"ed
States with its vast area and PROD gIou*
wealth is dubious about it's ability to accept
400 on displaced persons how is it to be sup,
posed that Germany which never produced
enoupl, food for its population and which fas
now lost one fourth 0. it's p,e-war Territory
and % per cent of its arabic land. can absorb
- millions?
II was never originally interded that such
vest numbers Of people would be affected.
The Allied Control Councils program. dr aWn
I'D in November 1945 to implement the Pot
dam decision. figured on tttal OF $3.50 ooo-
fantastic enough number tseE-to be dis
t.ibu4ed throughout the four occupation zones
Of Germany.
Where are the other $3.50, 600 coming from?
for they are still coming. The ansWe~ TO
thet concerns one Of those cute little MS
interpretations Of the Potsdam agreement
which have had such edifying results in the
last two years.
Pctsdam made it as clear as anything very
we'll could be that the western frontier OF Po-
land was not fixed. 1t said tfat. pending the
final determination of that frontier. The terri
tories east Of the Oder-Neisss rivers should
be urder Polish administration The Poles,
with Russian support. took this temporary ar
as being the de fecto final deter
mna'ion Of the frontier. So tney Immediately
started kicking Germans out The German
provir ces east Of the Oder and Neisse had
a pop, lation of 1888 933 of whom the expe,lee
report says 1873. .597 "declared the Polish Ian
gua ge TO be their native tongue.
AS result the Control Council estimate
o. total OF 665000O expelIees has already,
in less than two years. been exceeded by
far. The evacuations started on November
2" 1o45. curiouslv enough the same day
which the victorious Allies started trvin9
group Of men in Nuremberg tor certain
crimes among them mass removals Of popu-
lations)
The bulk Of the report is concerned with
lie reception and subsequent fate Of thA
pellees in the " zorn ok Germanv. Ger
man refugee Offices and refugee committees
were established in the states Of the u S
zone to facilitate the assimilation OF The new
comers through ALLEGATIONS of food and ho1sin9
and arrangements whereby they could work
in their customary professions
How prodigiously hopeless these efforts
have teen is implicit in every page of the
report The influx into the U. S. zone in
creased that areas population by 21.5 per
cent as between 1899 and 1916
The protracted stay Of TIE expelle,s in
camps and emergency dwellings," the report
says "necessitated by the difficulties in ac-
commooatlng them in private homes. mas
sulted in considerable harm to health and
morals. The lack of means and facilities fer
keeping body, clothing and liren clean brings
about an alarming rise in filth diseases. The
number of TP cases is orov-'-o steadilv hay
ing Increased three to five-fold since 1885 -
Van Street Journal.
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