Die Lage der Vertriebenen und das Verhältnis des deutschen Volkes zu seinen östlichen Nachbarn
The situation of the Expellees and the Relationship of the German people to its Eastern Neighbors

Author(s): Author Not Specified
Subject(s): WW II and following years (1940 - 1949)
Published by: CEEOL Digital Reproductions / Collections
Keywords: German Protestant Church ; Kurt Scharf; East-European German Settlement;
Summary/Abstract: The Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), a church community situated in the political tension between East and West, observes with growing concern that the wounds inflicted by the Second World War on the relationship between the German people and its eastern neighbors have barely begun to heal, even 20 years after its end. A significant reason for this on the German side is that the occupation of the former German territories east of the Oder-Neisse Line by Soviet Russia and Poland, and the expulsion of millions of Germans from these territories and from the former German settlement areas in Czechoslovakia and the rest of Eastern and Southeastern Europe, have created problems that have not yet been adequately resolved. Public discourse on these issues occupies a prominent place in the Federal Republic of Germany and in West Berlin; the demand, repeatedly raised by the spokespeople of the expellees and repeatedly affirmed by the Federal Government in public statements, for the restoration of the former legal status quo by peaceful means constitutes a significant factor in both domestic and foreign policy.

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