page_title: Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950)
section_title: Evacuation and flight to Denmark
hierarchical_section_title: Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950) / Movements in the later stages of the war / Evacuation and flight to Denmark
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. ADN-ZB-Archiv II. Weltkrieg 1939-45 Flüchtlinge aus den deutschen Ostgebieten werden am 12.2.1945 in einer vorläufigen Sammelstelle in Appenrode/Dänemark versorgt. In einigen Stunden werden diese Frauen und Kinder in vorbereitete Privatquartiere in Nordschleswig gebracht. Aufnahme: Krämer [Scherl Bilderdienst]
context_page_description: During the later stages of World War II and the post-war period, Germans and Volksdeutsche fled or were expelled from various Eastern and Central European countries, including Czechoslovakia, and the former German provinces of Silesia, Pomerania, and East Prussia, which were annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union. In 1957, Walter Schlesinger discussed reasons for these actions, which reversed the effects of German eastward colonization and expansion: he concluded, "it was a devastating result of twelve years of National Socialist Eastern Policy." The idea to expel the Germans from the annexed territories was considered by Winston Churchill and by the Polish and Czechoslovak exile governments in London at least since 1942. In late 1944 the Czechoslovak exile government pressed the Allies to espouse the principle of German population transfers. On the other hand, Polish prime minister Tomasz Arciszewski, in an interview for The Sunday Times on 17 December 1944, supported the annexation of Warmia-Masuria, Opole Regency, north-east parts of Lower Silesia, and parts of Pomerania, but he opposed the idea of expulsion.
context_section_description: From the Baltic coast, many soldiers and civilians were evacuated by ship in the course of Operation Hannibal.
  Between 23 January and 5 May 1945, up to 250,000 Germans, primarily from East Prussia, Pomerania, and the Baltic states, were evacuated to Nazi-occupied Denmark, based on an order issued by Hitler on 4 February 1945. When the war ended, the German refugee population in Denmark amounted to 5% of the total Danish population. The evacuation focused on women, the elderly and children — a third of whom were under the age of fifteen.
  After the war, the Germans were interned in several hundred refugee camps throughout Denmark, the largest of which was the Oksbøl Refugee Camp with 37,000 inmates. The camps were guarded by Danish military units. The situation eased after 60 Danish clergymen spoke in defence of the refugees in an open letter, and Social Democrat Johannes Kjærbøl took over the administration of the refugees on 6 September 1945. On 9 May 1945, the Red Army occupied the island of Bornholm; between 9 May and 1 June 1945, the Soviets shipped 3,000 refugees and 17,000 Wehrmacht soldiers from there to Kolberg. In 1945, 13,492 German refugees died, among them 7,000 children under five years of age.
  According to Danish physician and historian Kirsten Lylloff, these deaths were partially due to denial of medical care by Danish medical staff, as both the Danish Association of Doctors and the Danish Red Cross began refusing medical treatment to German refugees starting in March 1945. The last refugees left Denmark on 15 February 1949. In the Treaty of London, signed 26 February 1953, West Germany and Denmark agreed on compensation payments of 160 million Danish krones for its extended care of the refugees, which West Germany paid between 1953 and 1958.
caption: Refugee camp in Aabenraa (Apenrade) in Denmark, February 1945
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