Nemesis at Potsdam the Expulsion of the Germans from the East

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NEMESIS AT POTSDAM THE EXPULSION OF THE GERMANS FROM THE EAST Third Edition, Revised ALFRED M. de ZAYAS Foreword by ROBERT MURPHY University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London CONTENTS FOREWORD BY ROBERT MURPHY xv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xvii INTRODUCTION xix 1 THE PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION TRANSFERS i Historical background Expulsion for peace: panacea and final solution of the minority problem Compensation of Poland at the expense of Germany 'Orderly and humane' transfers: the precedent of the Treaty of Lausanne The prevalent desire to punish the Germans collectively 2 THE GERMANS OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA 17 The Treaty of St Germain-en-Laye The new Switzerland The Second World War and the expulsion 3 THE GENESIS OF THE ODER-NEISSE LINE: THE CONFERENCES OF TEHRAN AND YALTA 38 The Atlantic Charter Strategic amputations: East Prussia Territorial adjustments as compensation The Conference of Tehran The Problem of Katyn Moscow: July and October 1944 The Conference of Malta The Conference of Yalta Vll Vlll CONTENTS 4 THE FLIGHT: PRELUDE TO THE EXPULSIONS 60 The arrival of the Red Army in East Prussia: Nemmersdorf Testimony of French, Belgian and British prisoners of war Testimony of Russian soldiers The fear of deportation to forced labour in The Soviet Union An unnecessary flight? A Flight of 'Bad Conscience' ? The Treks The Frisches Haff Sea rescue Epilogue to the flight 5 ANGLO-AMERICAN PLAN OF LIMITED TRANSFERS 80 Number of persons to be transferred Potsdam Timing of transfers 6 'ORDERLY AND HUMANE' TRANSFERS 103 The ante-Potsdam period: wild expulsions The post-Potsdam period: August-December 1945 The years 1946-7: the 'organized' transfers Internment camps Evaluation 7 FROM MORGENTHAU PLAN TO MARSHALL PLAN 131 The Morgenthau Plan and JCS/1067 The birth of the Marshall Plan The role of the expellees in the German Wirtschaftswunder 8 PEACE WITHOUT A PEACE TREATY 142 Peace with Germany's Axis partners The London Conference and the Berlin Blockade CONTENTS IX Termination of war by proclamation Convention on Relations between the Three Powers and the Federal Republic of Germany 9 RECOGNITION OR REVISION OF THE ODER- NEISSE LINE 153 Ostpolitik and the Treaty of Warsaw of 1970 The Potsdam Conference revisited The Western Allies and post-Potsdam developments The Moscow Conference of the Council of Foreign Ministers Article XIII in the light of Article IX: problems of interpretation The argument of Polish 'recovered' territories From 1948 to the present 10 TOWARDS THE FUTURE 176 The Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe The Berlin question and detente The German expellees today Anglo-American attitudes NOTES 187 APPENDIX 228 Atlantic Charter Foreign Office documents in facsimile Eisenhower telegram to the War Department Charter of the German expellees BIBLIOGRAPHY 244 INDEX 262.

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