SearchPublisher and Institutes
You are here: Home :: Area CULI :: History :: Recent and contemporary history
Manfred Kittel
A central agency for the prosecution of crimes of expulsion?
Keywords: Vertreibung, Zentralstelle für Vertreibungsverbrechen, Verjährungsdebatte
Hundreds of thousands of capital offences that were committed while the Germans were expelled from eastern central Europe in 1945 have never been prosecuted by the legal authorities. The associations that represent the expelled are dissatisfied with this state of affairs, and they have always articulated their anger vehemently when there were new attempts made in the West German policy of justice to punish these crimes - just like during the debate about prolonging the statutory period of limitation concerning National Socialist crimes in 1964/65. In November 1964, the Silesians in Western Germany postulated the establishment of a central agency for the prosecution of crimes concerning the expulsion of the Germans. It was to be similar to the agency in Salzgitter that dealt with crimes committed by the GDR, and it was to create at least the financial prerequisites for a possible future prosecution of the crimes committed. The attempt failed, but not only because the majority of the culprits lived in Eastern Europe and could therefore not be reached by the West German legal authorities. Another reason was an unfavourable attitude in society. While National Socialist crimes in Eastern Europe were intensively studied, and while a policy of détente between the Eastern and Western bloc was starting to develop, the fate of the expelled Germans was of secondary importance in the Federal Republic′s culture of remembrance.
Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag
Print ISSN: 0042-5702
Volume: 54, 02/2006
Pages: 173 - 207