Expelling the Germans

British Opinion and Post-1945 Population Transfer in Context
Erscheinungsjahr 2008
ISBN: 978-0-19-923364-9
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 332 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 146 mm x 224 mm, Gewicht: 537 g

Expelling the Germans focuses on how Britain perceived the mass movement of German populations from Poland and Czechoslovakia at the end of the Second World War. Drawing on a wide range of British archival material, Matthew Frank examines why the British came to regard the forcible removal of Germans as a necessity, and evaluates the public and official responses in Britain once mass expulsion became a reality in 1945.

Central to this study is the concept of 'population transfer': the contemporary idea that awkward minority problems could be solved rationally and constructively by removing the population concerned in an orderly and gradual manner, while avoiding unnecessary human suffering and economic disruption. Dr Frank demonstrates that while most British observers accepted the principle of population transfer, most were also consistently uneasy with the results of putting that principle into practice. This clash of 'principle' with 'practice' reveals much not only about the limitations of Britain's role but also the hierarchy of British priorities in immediate post-war Europe.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Frank, Matthew

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Deutsche Geschichte
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Wirtschaftspolitik, politische Ökonomie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Abbreviations

- Introduction

- 1: Frankfurt-on-Wye/Monmouth an der Oder: Population transfer before the Second World War

- 2: 'Not a Difference of Principle, but a Difference of Emphasis': Wartime studies on population transfer, 1940-45

- 3: From Prague to Potsdam: Expulsions from Czechoslovakia and Poland, May-July 1945

- 4: 'In Germany Now': The German Refugee Crisis, July-October 1945

- 5: 'A Thankless Task': Official responses to the expulsions, August-December 1945

- 6: Crisis! What Crisis?: German refugee rumours and scares, October 1945-January 1946

- 7: 'Useless Mouths': Transfer of the Germans from Czechoslovakia and Poland, 1946-47

- Conclusion

- Bibliography

- Index

Über Autor(innen)

Matthew Frank is Lecturer in International History at the University of Leeds.