Synopses & Reviews
Expelling the Germans focuses on how Britain perceived the mass movement of German populations from Poland and Czechoslovakia at the end of the Second World War. Drawing on a wide range of British archival material, Matthew Frank examines why the British came to regard the forcible removal of Germans as a necessity, and evaluates the public and official responses in Britain once mass expulsion became a reality in 1945.
Central to this study is the concept of "population transfer": the contemporary idea that awkward minority problems could be solved rationally and constructively by removing the population concerned in an orderly and gradual manner, while avoiding unnecessary human suffering and economic disruption. Dr Frank demonstrates that while most British observers accepted the principle of population transfer, most were also consistently uneasy with the results of putting that principle into practice. This clash of "principle" with "practice" reveals much not only about the limitations of Britain's role but also the hierarchy of British priorities in immediate post-war Europe.
Review
"As a result of Frank's careful and extensive research on an impressively wide range of publica nd private archives, Britain's liberal conscience can now be added to a list of causes of twentieth-century violence... This is a lucid, well-crafted and compelling monograph that adds substantially to the literature." --American Historical Review
About the Author
Matthew Frank is a Research Fellow at Sheffield Hallam University.
Table of Contents
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Frankfurt-on-Wye/Monmouth an der Oder: Population transfer before the Second World War
2. 'Not a difference of principle, but a difference of emphasis': Wartime studies on population transfer, 1940-45
3. From Prague to Potsdam: Expulson of the Germans from Czechoslovakia and Poland, May-July 1945
4. From Prague to Potsdam: Explusion of the Germans from 'In Germany Now': The German refugee crisis, July-October 1945
5. 'A thankless task': Official responses to the expulsions, August-December 1945
6. Crisis! What crisis? German refugee rumours and scares, October 1945-January 1946
7. 'Useless mouths': Transfer of the Germans from Czechoslovakia and Poland, 1946-47
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index