Page 5 - IDEA Studie 7 2022 Dlouhodoba dedictvi

Study 7/2022 The Long-term Legacy of the Liberation of the Sudetenland by the Red and US Armies2 MAY 2022 JAKUB GROSSMANN, ŠTĚPÁN JURAJDA Summary • Forced migration results in trauma to the millions of people displaced from their homes, but very little is known about the fate of those who avoided expulsion and became a minority in the new society. This analysis reveals how and to what degree the manner and extent of the post-war expulsion of the German population from the Sudetenland influenced the country’s long-term social development. • Approximately three million Sudeten Germans lived in pre-war Czechoslovakia, amounting to roughly 30% of the population of the Czech lands (Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia). However, the German and Czech ethnic groups were widely divided, not only geographically, but also socially and politically. After the Munich Agreement of 1938, approximately 175,000 ethnic Czechs left the Sudetenland. At the end of the 2nd World War, the situation was reversed, and nearly the entire German population was removed from the Sudetenland. Approximately 200,000 remained, about 6% of the original population. In turn, approximately two million Czechs, Slovaks, and settlers of other nationalities gradually moved into the territory of the former Sudetenland. • The western part of Czechoslovak territory was liberated by the US army in the spring of 1945, while the eastern part was liberated by the Red army. The line where the two armies met (the so-called demarcation line) had not been agreed in advance, and its final location on the axis Karlovy Vary - Plzeň - České Budějovice was only determined a few days before the liberation of Czechoslovakia. 2 This study summarizes the results and main findings of the research article “Forced Migration, Staying Minorities, and New Societies: Evidence from Post-War Czechoslovakia” by Grossmann, Jurajda, and Roesel. The original article was written in the framework of the project “The Rise of Populist Parties in Europe” supported by the VW Foundation. The authors would like to thank Daniel Münich for his valuable comments and advice. This study represents the authors’ own views and not the official position of the Economics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences nor the Charles University Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education (CERGE). Any inaccuracies or errors are solely the responsibility of the authors. The study was produced with support from the Czech Academy of Sciences as a part of the Strategy AV21 program. 3