Quote:
Originally Posted by BBwarrior
My sympathy lies with the fact that the forced removal of a population is wrong and frankly, a crime against humanity - regardless of their national origin. (The US went to war with Serbia over issues of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo).
Even though these are Germans we're talking about, those inhabitants of East Prussia retained their fundamental human rights. IMHO, it is disingenuous to suggest that what occurred to the civilian population of the eastern German territories was somehow 'OK' and justified, while at the same time condemning the expulsion policies of the Nazi's.
I am not in any way condoning the Nazi government or their policies. What I, and the book A Terrible Revenge suggest, is the Eastern German refugee experience should not be buried and hidden away as' forgotten history.'
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I understand and respect your views, at least the Germans of Poland, Czechoslovakia, and from other Easter European countries had a place to go to. And Germany was large enough to accept all the refugees.
You bring up the Balkans, there is no comparison in terms of what the Serbs did and what Germany did. I recommend some Balkan History, here is a quote from Wikipedia
"The post-World War II Yugoslavia was in many respects a model of how to build a multinational state. The Federation was constructed against a double background: an inter-war Yugoslavia which had been dominated by the Serbian ruling class; and a war-time slaughter in which the Nazis made use of the earlier Serbian oppression to use Croatian fascism for barbarous acts against the Serbs and also exploited anti-Serb sentiment amongst the Kosovar Albanians - and some elements in the Bosnian Muslim population - to bolster their rule."
Invasion of Yugoslavia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yugoslavia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
These ethic tensions never disappeared, they
all committed atrocities,the Serbs were simply the strongest party involved. And in many ways they were the only ones really punished, everybody else barely got a slap on the arm. IMO opinion they were all guilty. The Muslim Bosnians for the most part were the biggest victims and the ones that for the most part had the most to lose with the civil war (smallest entity).
Going back to Germany, in many ways the expulsion of Germans was also done to prevent possible future wars.
On a personal note. My father's father lost both legs, fighting the Germans in Greece, he died shortly afterwards, days before my father was born. My grand mother also adopted a Jewish girl and renamed her Maria to hide her from the Germans and Italians, she hid inside a small shed they had for 3 whole years. They already had 7 kids of their own. The occupation of Greece was not the most pleasant, many during the occupation died from starvation, and as reprisal killings for the Greek resistance. The Germans had a policy of killing 20-40 civilians for every German killed by the resistance. My mothers parents were luckier, they left Slovakia (Czechoslovakia) and their home, to escape the Nazis & the Communists and came to the states.
Personally I have much respect for todays Germany, a great and peaceful nation today.