Volksdeutsche

Volksdeutsche was a term used for ethnic Germans, living outside and east of Germany. This is in contrast to the Reichsdeutsche[?] (literally "Germans of the realm"), who were citizens of eastern Germany lands, taken over by Soviets.

Prior to World War II well above ten million ethnic Germans lived in Central and Eastern Europe. They constituted an important minority far into Russia. Many of them were killed or subjected to ethnic cleansing as a result of World War II. Tiny remnants of the ethnic German community remain in the former Soviet Union republics in Central Asia. There is also a small surviving German community in Siebenbürgen (Transylvania) in Romania.

The Nazis popularized the terms Volksdeutsche and also exploited this group for their own purposes. As a result the term is controversial, and many belonging to the group prefer other words, for instance that more closely associate them with their earlier place of abode (such as Volgadeutsch, the ethnic Germans living in the Volga basin in Russia).

In Poland during WW II Polish citizens of German ancestry, often identifing themselves with the Polish nation, were confronted with the dilemma whether to sign the Volksliste - the list of Germans living in Poland. This included ethnic Germans who lived in Poland proper for centuries and Germans (since 1920 citizens of Poland) from the part of Germany, which had been given to Poland as Polish Corridor after WW I.

Often the choice was either to sign and be regarded as a traitor or not to sign and be treated by the Nazi occupation as a Slavic person (which they considered to be of a lower class). After the collapse of Nazi Germany these people were persecuted by the Polish communist authorities. Even now the word Volksdeutsch is regarded as an insult, synonymous with the word traitor.

Both groups, Volksdeutsche by signing the list, and Reichsdeutsche retained German citizenship during the 50 years of allied military occupation and the establishment of the GDR and FRG in 1949, later Bundesrepublik Deutschland.

Volksdeutsche translates to folks German, German folks, German people or ethnic Germans as it would be called today.

See also

• Heimatvertriebene
• German expulsion after World War II

External link

[[1] (http://www.internationalscope.com/journal/volume%202001/issue%206/pdf/8Munz&Ohliger.pdf)] Immigration of German People to Germany, statistics on refugee Ethnic Germans arriving in remaining part of Germany after WW II.