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Czechoslovakia Minorities and Population Transfers
The Czechoslovak National Front coalition government, formed
at Kosice in April 1945, issued decrees providing for the
expulsion of all Sudeten Germans with the exception of those who
had demonstrated loyalty to the republic. German property would
be confiscated without compensation. All officials of the SdP, or
the Sudeten Nazis, and all members of the Nazi Security Police
would be prosecuted.
In May 1945, Czechoslovak troops took possession of the
Sudetenland. A Czechoslovak administrative commission composed
exclusively of Czechs was established. Sudeten Germans were
subjected to restrictive measures and conscripted for compulsory
labor to repair war damages. Individual acts of retaliation
against Germans and precipitous expulsion under harsh conditions
characterized the immediate aftermath of the occupation. On June
15, however, Benes called Czechoslovak authorities to order. In
July Czechoslovak representatives addressed the Potsdam
Conference (the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union) and
presented plans for a humane and orderly transfer of the Sudeten
German population.
The Potsdam Agreement provided for the resettlement of
Sudeten Germans in Germany under the supervision of the Allied
Control Council. The transfer began in January 1946. By December
31, 1946, some 1.7 million Germans had been resettled in the
American Zone and 750,000 in the Soviet Zone. Approximately
225,000 Germans remained in Czechoslovakia, of whom 50,000
emigrated or were expelled soon after.
The Potsdam Agreement pertained to Germans only. Decisions
regarding the Hungarian minority reverted to the Czechoslovak
government. The resettlement of about 700,000 Hungarians was
envisaged at Kosice and subsequently reaffirmed by the National
Front. Budapest, however, opposed a unilateral transfer. In
February 1946, the Hungarian government agreed that
Czechoslovakia could expatriate as many Hungarians as there were
Slovaks in Hungary wishing to return to Czechoslovakia. By the
spring of 1948 only 160,000 Hungarians had been resettled.
Territory ceded to Poland in 1938 and restored to Slovakia
after the Nazi invasion of Poland, in accordance with the terms
of the German-Slovak agreement of November 21, 1939, became part
of the restored Czechoslovak state in 1945. The Polish minority
(100,000) enjoyed full civil liberties.
Data as of August 1987
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