Expellee Organizations

Abstract

The original motives behind the formation of expellee groups were social and economic. East Germans were haphazardly scattered all over Germany. Populations of whole provinces, cities, and villages, as well as entire families, were separated. As said above, reception of East Germans on the part of their West German compatriots was largely hostile, and conditions of resettlement were extremely difficult. Initially, newly established West German local and regional administrations were very slow in making improvements. Even the aforementioned special expellee advisory boards did not in the beginning appreciably accelerate the process of integration. Some form of expellee organization was needed. Independent spokesmen outside the government had to be chosen to make expellee needs known.