"Migrations in the 20 th century and their consequences – ways forward for history lessons within a European context"

Landsmannschaften, 
cultural and welfare associations 
set up by groups such as the Sudetens, the Silesians and the Banater Schwaben to preserve 
their traditions. However, at local and district level, more and more expellees and refugees 
became involved in politics, so that by 1950 the BHE, the Block of Expellees and 
Disenfranchised, and the ZvD, the Central Alliance of Expelled Germans, were officially 
acknowledged and authorised to engage in political activities throughout the country. The Cold 
War and the iron curtain made it impossible to return home and the refugees and expellees now 
had to settle down permanently in their new home and were expected to take part in the building 
of the Federal Republic.
However, the political activities of the 
Landsmannschaften 
and the refugee associations were 
characterised by constant quarrels and rifts. It was only in 1952 that Lodgmann was able to set 
up an Association of 
Landsmannschaften, 
which merged in 1957 with Linus Kather’s Federation 
of Expelled Germans to form the Federation of Expellees, United 
Landsmannschaften 
and 
National Community Associations (the BdV).
Although they were still divided along 
Landsmannschaft
lines, all of the organisations for 
expellees were now gathered together under the same roof. A major contributor to this 
unification was Theodor Oberländer, who was initially the Bavarian State Secretary for Refugee 
Affairs and then appointed Federal Minister for Expellees in Bonn.
As mentioned above, at first the Americans would not allow the expellees to set up a single 
political organisation or party. Only in 1948 were refugees entitled to vote for the first time in 
municipal elections, and this was a decisive step towards their political integration. Besides this, 
some individual expellees or refugees had already become heavily involved in politics during the 
occupation via existing parties. Early representatives included Hans Schütz and Walter Rinke in 
the CSU, Willibald Mücke and Richard Reitzner in the SPD and Walter Zawadil in the FDP. 
Volkmar Gabert also distinguished himself among the Young Socialists. The Sudetens were 

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particularly active, setting up their own political associations in the form of the social-democratic 
Seliger
group and the CSU-affiliated 
Ackermann
group.
At 25%, the SPD had the highest proportion of expellee members among the political parties in 
Bavaria. However, whenever there was any doubt, native Bavarian candidates were always 
preferred to expellees in political assemblies and committees. At local level the newcomers, 
who still felt like “marginal citizens”, were at least allowed to form associations of electors. When 
in spring 1948 the American military authorities finally allowed independent refugee lists to be 
presented at municipal elections, the Bavarian Prime Minister, Dr Hans Ehard, who was 
concerned about the compensation issue, made a personal comment on Bavarian Radio: “What 
could be more harmful for the gradual overcoming of foreignness than the idea of wishing to 
bridge the gap of foreignness with parties for foreigners”. The refugee parties gained nearly 
12% of the vote in the 1948 municipal elections and in the district elections they even obtained 
over 15%. As a result they became the third strongest political force behind the CSU and the 
SPD in Bavaria’s villages and country towns.
A particular attraction was exerted over the refugees and expellees by the WAV, the Economic 
Reconstruction Union, headed by Loritz. For the parliamentary elections of 1949, he presented 
a parity-based Bavarian regional list thanks to which many refugees were able to gain seats in 
the