Bund der Vertriebene
The Federation of Expellees (Bund der Vertriebenen, BdV) is a union of the German Heimatvertriebene (literally: "the ones driven from their homeland") following the German expulsion after World War II. It is the result of the diaspora of the approximately 15 million ethnic Germans and German citizens, who in the years surrounding World War II fled or were evicted from countries occupied by Stalin's Red Army, particularly those parts of eastern Germany that after World War II became part of Poland, Soviet Union as well as Sudeten Germans from the former Czechoslovakia and other countries, like Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia.
Charter of the Ethnic German Refugees
The Charta der deutschen Heimatvertriebenen (Charter of the Ethnic German Refugees) of August 5, 1950 announced their belief in requiring that "the right to the homeland is recognized and carried out as one of the fundamental rights of mankind given by God", while renouncing revenge and retaliation in the face of the "infinite wrong" of the previous decade, and supporting the unified effort to rebuild Germany and Europe.
Organization
The expellees are organized in 21 territorial associations (Landsmannschaften), 16 state organizations (Landesverbände) and 5 associate member organizations. It is the single representative federation for the approximately 15 million Germans which after fleeing, being expelled, evacuated or emigrated, found refuge in the Federal Republic of Germany.
The current president of the federation is the German politician Erika Steinbach (CDU), who also is a member of the Bundestag.
The Federation helps members to integrate into German society. Many of the members assist the societies of their place of birth.
Member organizations
Landsmannschaften
- Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen
- Landsmannschaft Schlesien
- Deutsch-Baltische Landsmannschaft
- Landsmannschaft der Banater Schwaben e.V.
- Landsmannschaft Berlin-Mark Brandenburg
- Landsmannschaft der Bessarabiendeutschen e.V.
- [Landsmannschaft der Buchenlanddeutschen (Bukowina) e.V.]
- Bund der Danziger e.V.
- Landsmannschaft der Dobrudscha- und Bulgariendeutschen
- Landsmannschaft der Donauschwaben, Bundesverband e.V.
- Karpatendeutsche Landsmannschaft Slowakei e.V.
- Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Litauen e.V.
- Landsmannschaft der Oberschlesier e.V. - Bundesverband -
- Pommersche Landsmannschaft - Zentralverband - e.V.
- Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Russland e.V.
- Landsmannschaft der Sathmarer Schwaben in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland e.V.
- Landsmannschaft der Siebenbürger Sachsen in Deutschland e.V.
- Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft Bundesverband e.V.
- Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Ungarn
- Landsmannschaft Weichsel-Warthe Bundesverband e.V.
- Landsmannschaft Westpreußen e.V.
Landesverbände
- Landesverband Baden-Württemberg
- Landesverband Bayern
- Landesverband Berlin
- Landesverband Brandenburg
- Landesverband Bremen
- Landesverband Hamburg
- Landesverband Hessen
- Landesverband Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
- Landesverband Niedersachsen
- Landesverband Nordrhein-Westfalen
- Landesverband Rheinland-Pfalz
- Landesverband Saar
- Landesverband Sachsen / Schlesische Lausitz
- Landesverband Sachsen-Anhalt
- Landesverband Schleswig-Holstein
- Landesverband Thüringen
German Laws concerning Expellees
Between 1953 and 1991 the West German government, the Bundesregierung, has passed several laws dealing with the expellees. Most notable of these laws is the law of return which granted West Germany citizenship to any ethnic German.
Several additions were made to these laws: [1].
Recent developments
Under previous governments, especially those led by the CDU, the (West) German government has shown more rhetorical support for the refugeed and expelled Germans. SPD governments have been traditionally less supportive of the Heimatvertriebene and it was under an SPD government under Willy Brandt that recognized the Oder-Neisse line as part of a policy of Ostpolitik.
Nevertheless, support for the aims of these groups within the German electorate remains low, and recent German governments both CDU and SPD have tended to favor better relationship with Eastern Europe even when this conflicted with the interests of the Heimatvertriebenen. The issue of the Eastern border of Germany and of return of Heimatvertiebene to their original home is an issue which the current German government at the moment consider closed.
Presidents
Further reading
- Casualty of War: A Childhood Remembered (Eastern European Studies, 18) Luisa Lang Owen and Charles M. Barber, Texas A&M University Press, January, 2003, hardcover, 288 pages, ISBN 1585442127
- New York Times article, "Honor the Uprooted Germans? Poles Are Uneasy", by Richard Bernstein, October 15, 2003
External links
|
