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Passauer Neue Presse
, published an article entitled “The Mountain of Misery” which contained
the following comment: “A reasonably fair balance between well-stocked china and linen
cupboards and the pitifully empty cases of the refugees is not a form of interference in
bourgeois family life which can be rejected as ‘undemocratic coercion’, but a necessity for all
those who go through this world with open eyes, which has inevitable, grave implications for
those who recognise it, particularly the wealthy.”
Particular problems were encountered by both churches in Bavaria and these were reflected in
the parish magazines. They were particularly alarmed at the prospect that the refugees might
set up their own churches. This prompted the Protestant regional synod held in Ansbach from
9 to 13 July 1946 to come to the following conclusion: “… We wish to adopt them as brothers
and sisters but we should also expect that they will not lead some form of separate existence
within our church or even attempt to set up separate churches, but instead will be content with
our ways, grow fond of them, and merge together with our communities to form a whole.” The
Catholic church also anticipated difficulties with the common liturgy and the organisation of
services and had difficulty in integrating expelled clerics, all of which was also reflected again
and again in parish magazines.
By 1950, however, all the media had begun focusing on various aspects of the situation of the
new citizens in their new homeland. The main focus of attention was the housing and living
conditions in the collective accommodation provided, as well as progress on integration. From
1948 onwards, when the expellees were allowed to present their own lists at the municipal
elections in Bavaria, it was only natural that the media should monitor the political role of the
refugees and highlight this theme. Apart from a few refugee newspapers all the daily
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newspapers came out against the creation of a refugee party or the establishment of an
“emergency assembly”. In this respect the newspapers were following the instructions of the
allies to the effect that they should promote the integration of the expellees and refrain from
anything which might have fostered a special status for the refugees.
Once allied press supervision was done away with, not only the refugee newspapers but also
most of the daily newspapers demanded the amendment of the Potsdam Agreement and
increased aid from abroad. Practically all the daily newspapers had a monthly refugee
supplement and refused to comply with the allied order of 31 January 1946 demanding that the
word “deportee” should be used instead of “expellee”. When in June 1946, the Munich-based
newspaper, the
Süddeutsche Zeitung
, denounced the Czech authorities’ actions during the
expulsion of the Sudetens in unusually stark terms, this gave rise to no more than a reprimand
from the American authorities. The influence of American press censorship should therefore not
be overestimated.
After the 1949 parliamentary elections the Bavarian press became less concerned with the day-
to-day problems of refugees and more with the passing of the various compensation laws.
However, the newspapers did follow the development of the “refugee towns” very closely. After
1951 the newspapers’ interest in the refugee question declined noticeably - except in the
expellee press.
When we talk about “Bavaria’s fourth tribe” we are implicitly acknowledging that the refugees
and above all over a million expelled Sudetens have their own traditions which were and still are
a major asset in their cultural integration and acculturation. Under the Federal Expellee Act of
1953 the promotion of the cultural activities of refugees and expellees was even advocated by
the state and, although there were other problems and concerns to be dealt with before this,
Bavaria went ahead with this cultural promotion. As early on as the Sudeten German Rally in
Munich in 1954, Bavarian State Prime Minister Erhard announced Bavaria’s patronage of the
Sudeten German community on the basis of the centuries-old historical and cultural links
between Old Bavaria, Franconia and Sudetens. This patronage is still exercised today.
I shall now come to my conclusion. In the immediate post-war period in Germany the integration
of refugees and expellees was one of the greatest challenges in the country's history. Bavaria
alone had to take in some two million people who had to be accepted, accommodated and
cared for in the same way as the native population, if they were not to become a threat to the
newly emerging democracy.
Occupation, denazification and regulations in practically all economic fields as well as
Germany’s international isolation compounded the difficulty of the integration process. For many
people, flight or expulsion meant not only giving up their homeland but also a major setback in
their lives, a change of occupation, and a reduction in social status. Only with the economic
miracle did new sources of livelihood emerge via the “imported industrialisation” process. Young
expellees and refugees in particular made a substantial contribution during the reconstruction to
the creation of modern Bavaria. The “integration miracle” really did take place.
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