The Economy of Ethnic Cleansing: The Transformation of the German-Czech Borderlands after World War II
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Reprint, 3/28/2019
EAN 9781316647196, ISBN10: 1316647196
Paperback, 310 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm
Language: English
In the wake of World War II the Sudetenland became the scene of ethnic cleansing, witnessing not only the expulsion of nearly three million German speakers, but also the influx of nearly two million resettlers. Yet mob violence and nationalist hatred were not the driving forces of ethnic cleansing; instead, greed, the search for power and property, and the general dislocation of post-war Central and Eastern Europe facilitated these expulsions and the transformation of the German-Czech borderlands. These overlapping migrations produced conflict among Czechs, hardship for Germans, and facilitated the Communist Party's rise to power. Drawing on a wide range of materials from local and central archives, as well as expellee accounts, David Gerlach demonstrates how the lure of property and social mobility, as well as economic necessities, shaped the course and consequences of ethnic cleansing.
Introduction
1. In the wake of war
expulsions, violence and borderland life
2. National divisions
resettlement, local power and settler conflicts
3. Persian rugs and well-appointed farms
the politics of expropriation
4. German workers
Czech settlers and labor politics
5. Consolidating borderland industries
from confiscation to nationalization
6. borderlands transformed
diverse communities and the construction of socialism
Conclusion.