Post-war dislocation
Following the cessation of hostilities in the European theatre of war in 1945 Europe, shattered and broken from end to end, experienced yet another wide scale migration as the people returned home and others were forcibly removed from liberated areas, particularly millions of German people that suddenly found their homes outside the borders of their former Reich. This migration in many ways fundamentally shaped post-war Europe and set the demographic landscape for the coming cold war...
posted by Benjamin Nakizo at 8:02 AM
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A study of the West German Federal Republic shows us that on arrival many refugees were given substantial assistance from the new German state. Not only this but the pressure groups the refugees formed, particularly in regards to campaigning for the inclusion of former Reich lands (where they had once lived) be brought back into the new German state. Not only did membership to such organisations give the newcomers a sense on belonging but the Federal Republic embraced this rhetoric as a means of discrediting the violent methods the Red Army had employed in evicting these people from their homes. Yet they did no seriously consider the acquisition of former lands a reality given the new era of cold war politics and the destabilising consequences of border disputes.
On the other hand the German Democratic Republic in the East had a slightly different approach. It initially gave support to the newcomers but withdrew it in early 1950, expecting the new arrivals to integrate within the socialist system like everyone else. On top of this they also suppressed efforts to organise among the migrants. This had two interesting effects. Firstly it made the migrants less integrated and more hostile to Soviet rule in the short term, but in the long term it dispelled any myths they might have had in regards to getting back their old land. This led them to drop the issue early on and hence the GDR avoided the problems encountered by the Federal Republic later in the century when the pressure groups they had encouraged still persisted making what were then wholly unreasonable and potentially dangerous territorial demands from the Soviets.
In Finland again a different approach was taken. After the war Finland had lost a large area to the Soviets along its eastern border. Refugees from these areas flooded westwards into the new borders of Finland. On arrival they were given substantial assistance in resettling and given that most of the newcomers were farmers some moderate land reform freed up new areas for them to live upon. The finish migrants also created their own pressure groups for the reclamation of their former homeland. However, owing to Finland’s proximity to the Soviet Union and its desire to remain neutral should the cold war turn hot the government cleverly engaged with these groups and was able to convince them to play down any aggressive rhetoric and instead campaign actively for the welfare of their people within the new Finnish state. Hence potential disaster was averted and the new Fins were able to better integrate.
In all three cases economic growth helped ease integration also.
Another article I read asses the post war memory of the war in Germany. It says, interestingly, that in the first decade of the cold war Germans focussed on their own suffering, on the tragedies they suffered on the eastern front, of the horrific experience of Soviet POW’s and of the terrible tales of the newly arrived migrants that had been expelled from their homes by the Red Army. Doing so allowed the Germans to talk about the fall of the Third Reich in comfortable terms, not having to then enter into a discussion about who was to blame for its crimes.
In the 60’s and 70’s things changed and a more critical account of the Nazi war crimes emerged but they never seemed to replace the old rhetoric of German suffering. Indeed some polls show, even in 1995, that some 36% of Germans considered the suffering of the German in World War Two to be equal to that of the Jews.
Also interestingly, and previously unknown to me, the West German government in the 1950’s signed a reparations deal with Israel to pay several hundreds of millions of dollars? Deutsch Marks? Not only that but it also established an internal compensation scheme whereby residents of West Germany who were victimised by the National Socialists could be considered on an individual basis and compensation given where appropriate..
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