ZAGREB ZAGREB, Oct 25 (Hina) - A book entitled "A brief history of Danube River Region Germans" (unauthorised translation of "Abriss zur Geschichte der Donauschwaben") by authors Anton Scherer and Manfred Straka, was promoted on
Monday in the Ethnographic Museum in Zagreb. The book is published in the Croatian language, but it also contains the original text in German. It is about the history of Germans' settlement in areas of Austro-Hungarian Monarchy from the tenth century to 1919 and about their destinies and exodus from the Social Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRJ) in the wake of Word War Two. In 1944 and 1945 about 30,000 Germans were deported to Ukraine, whereas the rest was sent to Communist concentration camps, the book read. In 1946, in the then Yugoslavia about 110,000 Germans were taken prison and the camps were closed in 1948. The period between 1950 and 1985 was marked by their
ZAGREB, Oct 25 (Hina) - A book entitled "A brief history of Danube
River Region Germans" (unauthorised translation of "Abriss zur
Geschichte der Donauschwaben") by authors Anton Scherer and
Manfred Straka, was promoted on Monday in the Ethnographic Museum
in Zagreb.
The book is published in the Croatian language, but it also contains
the original text in German.
It is about the history of Germans' settlement in areas of Austro-
Hungarian Monarchy from the tenth century to 1919 and about their
destinies and exodus from the Social Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
(SFRJ) in the wake of Word War Two.
In 1944 and 1945 about 30,000 Germans were deported to Ukraine,
whereas the rest was sent to Communist concentration camps, the
book read.
In 1946, in the then Yugoslavia about 110,000 Germans were taken
prison and the camps were closed in 1948. The period between 1950
and 1985 was marked by their systematic movement out of the then
SFRJ into the Federal Republic of Germany.
According to Vladimir Geiger, a historian, in the wake of WW II
waves of German refugees surged from eastern and south-eastern
Europe. The destiny of the so-called "Volksdeutschers" (ethnic
Germans) was linked with the collapse of the Third Reich.
At the 1945 Postdam Conference, the Allies decided to move the
remaining German population from Czechoslovakia, Poland and
Hungary into Germany in a humane manner. Those that were not covered
by this decision, for instance Yugoslavia, solved this issue in the
most drastic way - the ethnic cleansing was legalised as an ideal
and permanent solution, Geiger said.
On behalf of the Austrian Cultural Institute which financially
supported the publishing of this pbook, the Institute's Director
Walter Maria Stojan, greeted the release of such work and voiced
satisfaction by raising this question which had been kept secret
for 50 years.
The book was issued by the Pan Liber publishing house.
(hina) jn ms