REMEMBERING GERMAN VICTIMS
By Charles Hawley
Spiegel Online, Germany
Aug. 10, 2006
Some call it historical revisionism. Others say it’s an important
part of World War II. An exhibition in Berlin looks at the fate of
Germans expelled from Eastern Europe after the war — something that
makes many of Germany’s neighbors nervous.
REUTERS
Erika Steinbach, head of the Federation of German Expellees, looks
at the new exhibition in Berlin.
One wonders what all the fuss is about. The exhibition, after all, is
relatively modest — occupying three rooms in the Kronprinzenpalais
located on Berlin’s Unter den Linden boulevard. Inside, one sees
informational plaques dedicated to the forced re-settlement of the
Finnish Karelians, forced by the Soviets to head westward during
World War II. One sees luggage belonging to Italians forced out of
Yugoslavia in 1944. There’s even documentation regarding the expulsion
of the Armenians from Turkey in 1915.
But the exhibition — called "Forced Paths: Flight and Expulsion in
20th Century Europe" — also has a large section on the post-World War
II expulsion of some 12 to 14 million Germans from Poland and other
Eastern European countries. In other words, say critics, the exhibition
seeks to portray Germans as victims of World War II and to rewrite
history. Plus, they point out, there’s already an exhibition dedicated
to the German expellees across the street in the German History Museum.
An esoteric debate for historians? Hardly. It’s an issue that has
repeatedly strained Germany’s relations with Eastern European countries
and has particularly rankled next-door neighbor Poland.
Indeed, soon after his election last fall, conservative Polish
President Lech Kaczynski made it be known that the ongoing efforts
of the German group Federation of Expellees — led by the vocal
parliamentarian Erika Steinbach — to build a permanent center in
Berlin devoted to post-war German expellees was unwelcome.
And in late July, he commented on the current exhibition: "Polish
foreign policy, of course, is dedicated to pursuing Polish interests,"
Kaczynski said on Polish radio. "The exhibition about expulsions
which will open on (August 10) in a prestigious building in the
Federal Republic of Germany is very definitely not in the interest
of Poland. The relativization of the responsibility for World War II
is not in Poland’s interest."
The ongoing debate is not primarily about the historical facts. When
the Soviets under Stalin agreed with the Western Allies to move the
Polish border west to the Oder and Neisse rivers, millions of Germans
who had long lived in areas now belonging to Poland were forced to
leave. As many as 2 million died on the trek westwards and those who
arrived in Germany had to live for years in temporary shelters and
even in former concentration camps due to post-war housing shortages.
Primarily, opponents of the Center Against Expulsion — which is
the preliminary name Steinbach and her group have given to their
pet project — worry about the context within which German expellees
are presented. A handful of protestors were on hand on Thursday to
make sure their side of the story got press as well. "An image of
history," read the anti-exhibition flyers tossed into the scrum of
journalists crowded around Steinbach to hear her opening address,
"is being communicated which portrays Germans as the victims of
flight and expulsion without adequately presenting the fact that
flight, expulsion and resettlement at the end of World War II was the
consequence of the aggressive, expansionist and destructive policies
followed by the Nazis."
It is a criticism that has dogged Steinbach’s group for years —
and one that she seems particularly sensitive to. In comments to a
group of foreign journalists on Wednesday, she took pains to emphasize
the European nature of the exhibition and never tired of mentioning
that historical expertise was provided by experts from a number of
European countries including Czech Republic and Hungary. A Polish
expert withdrew from the project due to pressure faced at home.
Modest exhibition, bolder aims
And the exhibition itself — which will run through October 29 —
is rather modest. The fate of the German expellees is presented
along with that of eight other groups that were victims of forced
resettlement in 20th century Europe. The result is a lot of text, a
few items on display — the centerpiece being the bell from the ship
Wilhelm Gustloff which sank in January 1945 killing 9,343 Germans
fleeing Poland — and not a lot of clarity. If anything, it seems as
though Steinbach’s group is trying to keep the issue alive without
stepping on any toes.
But the true motivation for the ~@500,000 exhibition is obvious enough
and Steinbach herself admits that it is a means to an end. "I believe
that our exhibition will be an important step in the direction of
opening a center in Berlin documenting the expulsion," she said
on Wednesday. Germany’s current government under Chancellor Angela
Merkel supports the idea of setting a "visible symbol" dedicated to
the expulsions, but have yet to agree on what that should be.
DDP Critics argue that portraying Germans as victims of World War II
amounts to historical revisionism.
And Steinbach’s group has made it clear it won’t be deterred by
criticism from outside Germany. "It is important that Germans
understand the fears (of Poles) and respects those fears," she said.
"But that shouldn’t result in inaction. There is a need in Germany
to confront our entire history and a part of that is the story of
the expellees."
Perhaps. But Eastern European fears are not so easily quelled. The
Polish papers on Thursday ramped up their anti-German rhetoric to mark
the exhibition’s opening. "The biggest difference (between Germany
and Poland) in their approach to history," writes the weekly Wprost,
"is that in Poland and in other countries, one thinks primarily about
those things the Germans would rather forget."
Or, as Piotr Buras, a Polish expert on German-Polish relations, told
SPIEGEL ONLINE last autumn: "The idea of a (Center Against Expulsion)
is very suspect for Poles. The Germans need to understand that
there is a large problem in German-Polish relations and she is called
Steinbach. If the Germans don’t see that, then it is a clear sign that
they aren’t all that interested in good relations with their neighbor."