Editing Federation of Expellees (section)

==History==
{{Main article|Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950)}}

It is estimated that in the aftermath of World War II between 13 and 16 million [[ethnic Germans]] fled or were [[Forced displacement|expelled]] from parts of Central and Eastern Europe, including the [[former eastern territories of Germany]] (parts of present-day [[Poland]]), the [[Czech Republic]], [[Slovakia]], [[Slovenia]], [[Hungary]], [[Croatia]], [[Serbia]] (mostly from the [[Vojvodina]] region), the [[Kaliningrad Oblast]] of (now) Russia, hitherto [[USSR]] (in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War) and prior to this, the northern part of [[East Prussia]], [[Lithuania]], [[Romania]] and other East European countries.

===Charter of the German Expellees===
The Charter of the German Expellees ({{langx|de|link=no|Charta der deutschen Heimatvertriebenen}}) of 5 August 1950, announced their belief in requiring that "the right to the homeland is recognized and carried out as one of the fundamental rights of mankind given by God", while renouncing revenge and retaliation in the face of the "unending suffering" (''unendliche Leid'') of the previous decade, and supporting the unified effort to rebuild Germany and Europe.

The charter has been criticised for avoiding mentioning Nazi atrocities of [[Second World War]] and Germans who were forced to emigrate due to Nazi repressions.<ref>{{in lang|pl}} Beata Ociepka, "Związek Wypędzonych w systemie politycznym RFN i jego wpływ na stosunki polsko-niemieckie 1982–1992", page 235, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, 1997</ref> Critics argue that the Charter presents the history of German people as starting from the expulsions, while ignoring events like the [[Holocaust]].

Professor [[Micha Brumlik]] pointed out that one third of signatories were former devoted Nazis and many actively helped in realisation of Hitler's goals.

[[Ralph Giordano]] wrote in ''[[Hamburger Abendblatt]]'' "the Charter doesn't contain a word about [[Hitler]], [[Auschwitz]] and [[Buchenwald]]. Not to mention any sign of apologies for the suffering of the murdered people", "avoids mentioning the reasons for expulsions" and called the document "example of German art of crowding out the truth (...) The fact that the charter completely ignores the reasons for the expulsions deprives it of any value".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/pl/karta-wyp%C4%99dzonych-pojednanie-czy-relatywizacja/a-5870536|title=Karta Wypędzonych: pojednanie czy relatywizacja? &#124; DW &#124; 05.08.2010|website=DW.COM}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = Streit über Vertriebenen-Charta zum 60. Jahrestag|url = http://www.abendblatt.de/politik/article107832654/Streit-ueber-Vertriebenen-Charta-zum-60-Jahrestag.html|website = abendblatt.de|date = 5 August 2010|access-date = 19 November 2015|language = de-DE}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = Erika Steinbach ist keine Revanchistin|url = http://www.abendblatt.de/politik/deutschland/article106755899/Erika-Steinbach-ist-keine-Revanchistin.html|website = abendblatt.de|date = 27 February 2009|access-date = 19 November 2015|language = de-DE}}</ref>

===German laws concerning the expellees===
Between 1953, when the [[Federal Expellee Law]] was passed, and 1991, the [[West Germany|West German]] government passed several laws dealing with German expellees. The most notable of these is the "[[Right of Return#Germany|Law of Return]]" which granted [[German citizenship]] to any ethnic German. Several additions were later made to these laws.

The German Law of Return declared refugee status to be inheritable. According to the [[Federal Expellee Law]],<ref>[http://bundesrecht.juris.de/bundesrecht/bvfg/index.html "Gesetz über die Angelegenheiten der Vertriebenen und Flüchtlinge"] Par. 7/2. Retrieved 29 October 2017</ref> "the spouse and the descendants" of an expellee are to be treated as if they were expellees themselves, regardless of whether they had been personally displaced. The Federation of Expellees has steadily lobbied to preserve the inheritability clause.

===Formation of the Federation===
The Federation of Expellees was formed on 27 October 1957 in West Germany. Before its founding, the ''[[All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights|Bund der Heimatvertriebenen]]'' (League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights), formed in 1950, represented the interests of displaced German expellees. Intriguingly, in its first few years, the league was more successful in West Germany than in [[East Germany]].

===German reunification===
Previous West German governments, especially those led by the Christian Democratic Union, had shown more rhetorical support for the territorial claims made on behalf of German refugees and expellees. Although the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democrats]] showed strong support for the expellees, especially under [[Kurt Schumacher]] and [[Erich Ollenhauer]], Social Democrats in more recent decades have generally been less supportive – and it was under [[Willy Brandt]] that [[West Germany]] recognized the [[Oder-Neisse line]] as the eastern German border with Poland under his policy of [[Ostpolitik]]. In reality, accepting the internationally recognized boundary made it more possible for eastern Germans to visit their lost homelands.

In 1989–1990 the West German government realized they had an opportunity to reunify the Federal Republic of Germany and the Soviet created German Democratic Republic. But they believed that if this were to be achieved, it had to be done quickly. One of the potential complications was the claim to the historical eastern territories of Germany; unless this was renounced, some foreign governments might not agree to [[German reunification]]. The West German government under the CDU accepted the 1990 [[Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany]] (Two Plus Four Agreement), which officially re-established the sovereignty of both German states. A condition of this agreement was that Germany accept the post-World War II frontiers. Upon reunification in 1990, the [[Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany|constitution]] was amended to state that Germany's territory had reached its full extent. Article 146 was amended so that Article 23 of the current constitution could be used for reunification. Once the five "reestablished federal states" in the east had been united with the west, the Basic Law was amended again to show that ''there were no other parts of Germany, which existed outside of the unified territory'', that had not acceded.

===2000s===

In 2000 the Federation of Expellees also initiated the formation of the [[Center Against Expulsions]] ({{langx|de|link=no|Zentrum gegen Vertreibungen}}). Chairwoman of this Center is Erika Steinbach, who headed it together with former [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|SPD]] politician Prof. Dr. [[Peter Glotz]] (died 2005).

Recently Erika Steinbach, the chair of the Federation of Expellees, has rejected any compensation claims.{{Citation needed|date=May 2007}} The vice president of the Federation Rudi Pawelka is however a chairman of the supervisory board of the [[Prussian Trust]].

A European organisation for expellees has been formed — EUFV — headquartered in Trieste, Italy. {{Citation needed|date=July 2010}}