20th Century in Poland - Flight and Expulsion of Germans, History of the Jews in 20th-Century Poland (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 30. Chapters: Flight and expulsion of Germans, History of the Jews in 20th-century Poland, Emigration from Poland to Germany after World War II, Rape during the liberation of Poland, Olimp. Excerpt: The later stages of World War II, and the period after the end of that war, saw the flight and forced migration of millions of German nationals (Reichsdeutsche) and ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche) from various European states and territories, mostly into the areas which would become post-war Germany and post-war Austria. These areas included pre-war German provinces which were transferred to Poland and the Soviet Union after the war, as well as areas which Nazi Germany had annexed or occupied in pre-war Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, northern Yugoslavia and other states of Central and Eastern Europe. The movement of Germans involved a total of at least 12 million people, with some sources putting the figure at 14 million, and was the largest movement or transfer of any population in modern history, with the possible exception of the Partition of India in 1947. The largest numbers came from the former eastern territories of Germany acquired by Poland and the Soviet Union (about 7 million) and from Czechoslovakia (about 3 million). It was also the largest among all the post-war expulsions in Central and Eastern Europe, which displaced more than twenty million people in total. The events have been variously described as population transfer, ethnic cleansing or democide. Many deaths were attributable to the flight and expulsions, with estimates ranging from 500,000 to 2 million, where modern estimates are close to the lower 500,000 figure. Many German civilians were also sent to internment and labor camps. The policy was part of the geopolitical and ethnic reconfiguration of postwar Europe; in part spoils of war, in part politic...