FOR NATION AND GAIN: ECONOMY, ETHNICITY AND POLITICS IN THE CZECH BORDERLANDS, 1945-1948 by David Wester Gerlach B.A., Boston College, 1993 M.A., University of Pittsburgh, 2002 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2007 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by David Wester Gerlach It was defended on February 27, 2007 and approved by Nancy Wingfield William Chase Christian Gerlach Werner Troesken Ilya Prizel Dissertation Advisor: Irina Livezeanu ii Copyright © by David Wester Gerlach 2007 iii FOR NATION AND GAIN: ECONOMY, ETHNICITY AND POLITICS IN THE CZECH BORDERLANDS, 1945-1948 David Gerlach, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2007 This dissertation investigates the post-World War II expulsion of approximately three million Sudeten Germans from the Czech borderlands and the settlement of nearly two million Czechs and others in their place. While studies of the Sudeten German expulsions and of ethnic cleansing generally focus on violent conflict, I argue that officials’ and settlers’ efforts to control confiscated German property and labor overwhelmingly shaped the economic, ethnic and political transformations of the borderlands. I examine the actions of and debates within local governments, called national committees, as well as their interaction with central government organs from 1945 to 1948. Expulsion, confiscation and settlement created competing objectives in the borderlands. During the summer of 1945, military units and national committees began expelling Germans and seizing their property. While the army prosecuted expulsions, and plundered in the process, national committees strove to manage expulsions and settlement to benefit their communities, for example, attempting to retain German workers for local production. Despite these committees’ efforts to stabilize the borderlands, widespread looting and the settlers’ quest for social mobility precluded order. Material gain was often more the goal than the physical removal of Germans. Thus Czechs worked with Germans to find and seize property, and they fought with other Czechs over the spoils. iv In addition to local conflicts, expulsion and settlement spurred disputes between Prague and borderland officials, and among political parties. The confiscation of Sudeten German property dovetailed with the Communist-dominated government’s land reform and nationalization policies. The Communist Party utilized the distribution of confiscated German farms to win political support in the borderlands, and it allocated confiscated factories to nationalized enterprises. However, the Party’s efforts to consolidate and liquidate borderland industries faced considerable resistance from national committees even after it took over the state in 1948. While this dissertation studies the economic motives and imperatives that drove ethnic cleansing in postwar Czechoslovakia, its significance extends to other cases of forced migration in which property confiscation and labor issues played central roles. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE...................................................................................................................................... ix GLOSSARY ................................................................................................................................... x MAP OF BOHEMIA, MORAVIA AND SILESIA ...................................................................... xi 1.0 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 ETHNIC CLEANSING ........................................................................................................ 5 1.2 THE CZECH-GERMAN NATIONAL CONFLICT.......................................................... 12 1.3 THE COMMUNIST SEIZURE OF POWER..................................................................... 22 1.4 WAR AND FORCED MIGRATION, 1938-1948.............................................................. 28 1.5 EXPULSION AND ECONOMY IN THE CZECH BORDERLANDS............................. 34 2.0 AUTHORITY AND MIGRATION IN THE BORDERLANDS ........................................... 40 2.1 ČESKÁ KAMENICE: SETTLERS, COMISSARS, AND NATIONAL COMMITTEE CONTROL................................................................................................................................ 40 2.2 NATIONAL COMMITTEES............................................................................................. 46 2.3 EXPULSIONS .................................................................................................................... 58 2.4 SETTLEMENT................................................................................................................... 75 3.0 PROPERTY ON THE MOVE................................................................................................ 96 3.1 CONFISCATION POLITICS............................................................................................. 96 3.2 “GOLD DIGGERS”.......................................................................................................... 108 vi 3.3 RESISTANCE .................................................................................................................. 120 3.4 ACCOUNTING FOR THE PAST.................................................................................... 127 4.0 NATIONAL ADMINISTRATORS: EXPELLERS, OWNERS, AND RELIABLE CITIZENS 138 4.1 NATIONAL ADMINISTRATOR AS EXPELLER......................................................... 138 4.2 PROCESSES AND PROBLEMS..................................................................................... 150 4.3 REVISE ............................................................................................................................. 159 4.4 THE QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP ............................................................................... 170 4.5 RELIABLE CZECHS....................................................................................................... 178 4.5.1 Professional Ability ................................................................................................... 178 4.5.2 Mixed Marriage ......................................................................................................... 182 4.5.3 Volhynian Czechs ...................................................................................................... 186 5.0 LABOR POLITICS .............................................................................................................. 193 5.1 EXPULSION OR RETENTION?..................................................................................... 193 5.2 EARLY SETTLERS AND LABOR SHORTAGES ........................................................ 201 5.3 LABOR RELATIONS...................................................................................................... 207 5.4 ORGANIZING LABOR AND EXPULSIONS................................................................ 216 5.5 “LITTLE BERLINS”........................................................................................................ 224 5.6 DISPERSAL: GERMAN ASSIMILATION AND ECONOMIC NECESSITIES........... 233 6.0 CONSOLIDATING BORDERLAND INDUSTRIES ......................................................... 241 6.1 CONFISCATION AND NATIONALIZATION.............................................................. 241 6.2 FACTORY CONTROL.................................................................................................... 250 6.3 ON THE EDGES OF THE BORDERLANDS................................................................. 257 vii 6.4 LIQUIDATION, AFFILIATION, AND RELOCATION ................................................ 265 6.5 BRATŘÍ KANNEBERGEROVÉ/BRÜDER KANNEBERGER (KANNEBERGER BROTHERS) .......................................................................................................................... 281 7.0 CONCLUSIONS................................................................................................................... 293 7.1 ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF THE SUDETEN GERMAN EXPULSIONS...................... 294 7.2 CONTEXTS: ETHNIC CLEANSING, NATIONALISM, AND COMMUNISM .......... 300 7.2.1 Ethnic Cleansing ........................................................................................................ 300 7.2.2 Nationalism................................................................................................................ 304 7.2.3 Communist Power...................................................................................................... 306 7.3 POPULATION POLITICS AND ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE, 1938-1948................................................................................. 309 7.4 THE POLITICS OF EXPULSION AND SETTLEMENT .............................................. 314 7.4.1 State Power and Migration......................................................................................... 314 7.4.2 Property...................................................................................................................... 318 7.4.3 Labor and Nationalization.......................................................................................... 320 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