Abstract
The dispersion of the ethnic German settlements in central and eastern Europe, during and shortly following the second world war, resulted in over a half-million ethnic German refugees seeking asylum in Austria.a Today, nine years after the termination of hostilities, approximately 330,000 of this group still reside in Austria, the majority de facto or de jure Stateless. This group, comprising naturalized and non-naturalized ethnic Germans, is the largest segment of the refugee population in Austria today.b
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Reference
Other than the Reich Germans and South Tyroleans, ca. 97% of the ethnic Germans in Austria are from Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania and Hungary. See Table II, p. 36.
The total refugee population (July 1, 1953) according to the Austrian Government statistics, is 529,195; or 7.6% of the total Austrian population. See Table VII, p. 45.
Read, J. M.: “Magna Carta for Refugees,’’ United Nations publication, New York, 1951, p. 25.
The above quotation has been extracted from Article 1, General Provisions of the “Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees,” which is included in the Read publication. Although this is not the complete definition of the term “refugee” as used for the purpose of the Convention, it brings out the principal characteristics connected with refugee status in terms of the individual and his relation to his former country and the lack of a new nationality. A generally accepted definition of the term “refugee” has become ever more elusive. Also see, Vernant, J.: The Refugee in the Post-War World, Final Report, London, 1953, pp. 4, 14–19.
See footnote b, page 1.
See Table I, p. 35.
Royse, M. M.: Volksdeutsche in Austria, Memorandum, PREP/176, January 27, 1948: “This expression is a recent innovation, the product of NSDAP nomenclature and Third Reich legislation, and was designed to cover all persons outside of Germany and Austria who could qualify as members of the German “race.” As regards central and eastern Europe, the expression “Volksdeutsche” is identical with “German minorities” and differs from the expression “German ethnic origin” only in degree, as the latter includes Germans and Austrians as well.” pp. 1,2.
Pol, Heinz: AO-Auslands Organisation, Linz, 1946. “Der Volksdeutsche umfasste (im Gegensatz zu dem in Ausland lebenden Reichsdeutschen) eine Unmenge von Kategorien, und wir werden später noch sehen, wie sogar Polen und Slowaken, auf Grund besonderer Gesetze kurzerhand zu “Volksdeutschen” ernannt wurden, mit dem Ziele, sie nach langjähriger Schulung zum Range von Reichsdeutschen zu erheben.” p. 14. Also see Constitution, IRO, Para. 4, Part II, Annex I.
Office of the United States High Commissioner in Austria, Vienna, Orientation Talk-DP Division, Colonel Brotherton, (no date, ca. 1947).
United States High Commissioner in Austria, Displaced Persons Division, Statistical Report on DPs and Refugees in Austria, Vienna, January 31, 1950.
See Just, A., “Die Flüchtlingsfürsorge in Österreich” Schriftenreihe, Die Öffentliche Fürsorge in Einzeldarstellungen, Vienna Magistrate, Heft 1, 1951, p. 2.
Office of the United States High Commissioner in Austria, Vienna, Orientation Talk-DP Division, Colonel Brotherton, (no date). “As regards the first point, i.e., expulsion of Volksdeutsche from Austria, the Potsdam Agreement stipulated that German minorities in Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland would be moved to Germany without regard to their wishes in the matter. No mention was made in the Potsdam Agreement of German minorities in Austria. However, on the 24th of January 1946, the Allied Control Commission for Germany, in reply to a request from the Quadripartite Displaced Persons Directorate, informed the Allied Council that the provisions of the Potsdam Agreement would become applicable to Austria, and that Hungarian and Czechoslovakian Volksdeutsche would be transferred to the U.S. Zone Germany and that Polish Volksdeutsche would be transferred to the British and Soviet Zones of Germany. The letter also granted Allied Authorities in Austria permission to expel Reichsdeutsche then resident in Austria to the zones in Germany in which they were formerly domiciled.”
Kulischer, E., The Displacement of Population in Europe, Montreal, 1943, p. 17.
See: Statistical Report on Displaced Persons, Refugees and Aliens in Austria, published monthly by the Office of the United States High Commissioner in Austria, Political Division.
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© 1955 Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands
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Radspieler, T. (1955). Introduction. In: The Ethnic German Refugee in Austria 1945 to 1954. Studies in Social Life, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-7910-2_1
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