The German evacuation from Central and Eastern Europe ahead of the
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...
advance during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
was delayed until the last moment. Plans of to evacuate people to
present-day Germany from the territories controlled by
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
in the
Central and Eastern Europe
Central and Eastern Europe is a term encompassing the countries in the Baltics, Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Southeast Europe (mostly the Balkans), usually meaning former communist states from the Eastern Bloc and Warsaw Pact in Europ ...
, including from the
former eastern territories of Germany
The former eastern territories of Germany (german: Ehemalige deutsche Ostgebiete) refer in present-day Germany to those territories east of the current eastern border of Germany i.e. Oder–Neisse line which historically had been considered Ger ...
as well as occupied territories, were prepared by
German authorities only when the defeat was inevitable, which resulted in utter chaos. The evacuation in most of the Nazi-occupied areas began in January 1945, when the Red Army was already rapidly advancing westward.
Until March 1945, the Nazi authorities had evacuated from the eastern territories (prewar Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Yugoslavia) an estimated 10 to 15 million persons, Germans as well as citizens of other nations. In the territory of Germany, which
Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
gave to Poland after the war, there were 10 million residents in 1944–1945, including 7.3 million permanent residents, or
Reichsdeutsche
', literally translated "Germans of the ", is an archaic term for those ethnic Germans who resided within the German state that was founded in 1871. In contemporary usage, it referred to German citizens, the word signifying people from the Germ ...
(including 1 million ethnic Poles
spared by the expulsions, and 6.3 million ethnic Germans), in addition on German territory to be evacuated were 2.5 million transients consisting of 1.5 million bombing raid evacuees from the heartland of Nazi Germany and of 1 million
slave workers of many nationalities making products for the SS ''
Ostindustrie'' and
DAW).
Polish historians put the number of "Germans" in early 1945 on the annexed territory of postwar Poland at 12,339,400 (8,885,400 in prewar German territory, 670,000 from prewar Poland; 900,000 ethnic Germans resettled in Poland; 750,000 administrative staff and 1,134,000 bombing raid evacuees). Along with the native German civilians, the ''Volksdeutsche'' from the east (i.e. the German-speakers) were evacuated or fled as well. Most of the affected ''Volksdeutsche'' had settled into
occupied Poland
' ( Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 Octobe ...
before March 1944.
They took up farms and homes of Poles forcibly removed or executed during the
ethnic cleansing operations in the preceding years. Meanwhile, the number of returning Reich Germans who had fled eastward temporarily in fear of the British and American bombings in the centre of Germany is also estimated between 825,000
and 1,134,000.
Apart from the evacuation of civilians, the Germans also evacuated
Nazi concentration camp
From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as con ...
prisoners from the
WVHA controlled enterprises,
who were forced to walk to the Austrian and German borders as the Soviets approached from the east.
The German
SS evacuated camp after camp as the war drew to a close, sending at least 250,000 men and women on
death marches
A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war or other captives or deportees in which individuals are left to die along the way. It is distinguished in this way from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Article 19 of the Geneva Convent ...
starting in March and April 1945. Some of those marches to the geographical centres of Germany and Austria lasted for weeks, causing thousands of deaths along the road.
[Yad Vashem]
Death Marches.
The Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority 2015. PDF direct download.[The Holocaust Encyclopedia (2015)]
The largest death marches, winter of 1944-1945.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Statistics dealing with the evacuations are incomplete, and there is uncertainty that estimates are accurate because of the atmosphere of the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...
period, when various governments manipulated them to fit ideological narratives.
According to a recent estimate in Germany, up to six million Germans may have fled or had been evacuated from the areas east of the
Oder-Neisse line before the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...
and the Soviet-controlled
Polish People's Army
The Polish People's Army ( pl, Ludowe Wojsko Polskie , LWP) constituted the second formation of the Polish Armed Forces in the East in 1943–1945, and in 1945–1989 the armed forces of the Polish communist state ( from 1952, the Polish Pe ...
took hold of the entire territory of postwar Poland. The West German search service confirmed the deaths of 86,860 civilians from the wartime flight and evacuations from those areas.
Overview
The plans to evacuate the German speaking population westwards from part of the
Eastern and
Central Europe
Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...
including from cities and towns in the
Eastern Gaue of
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
were prepared by various Nazi authorities towards the end of the war.
According to postwar affidavit submitted in 1947 by the Nazi governor of Warsaw, ''Gruppenführer''
Ludwig Fischer
Ludwig Fischer (16 April 1905 – 8 March 1947) was a German Nazi Party lawyer, politician and a convicted war criminal who was executed for war crimes.
Background
Born into a Catholic family in Kaiserslautern, Fischer joined the Nazi Pa ...
: "in roughly mid-August
944''Gauleiter'' – of the ''
Warthegau
The ''Reichsgau Wartheland'' (initially ''Reichsgau Posen'', also: ''Warthegau'') was a Nazi German ''Reichsgau'' formed from parts of Polish territory annexed in 1939 during World War II. It comprised the region of Greater Poland and adjacent ...
'' (
Greater Poland
Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; german: Großpolen, sv, Storpolen, la, Polonia Maior), is a historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed by Kalisz, the oldest cit ...
) district –
Greiser directed a huge column of trains and other transportation means filled with goods, furniture, textiles, and medical supplies from Warsaw to Posen (
Poznań
Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...
). During the whole time that fighting was ongoing Greiser evacuated not only gasoline, but everything that he could."
In late 1944 the ''
Gauleiter
A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a '' Gau'' or '' Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest rank in the Nazi political leadership, subordinate only to '' Reichsleiter'' and to ...
'' of
Danzig-West Prussia
Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia (german: Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreußen) was an administrative division of Nazi Germany created on 8 October 1939 from annexed territory of the Free City of Danzig, the Greater Pomeranian Voivodship ( Polish Corrido ...
Albert Forster
Albert Maria Forster (26 July 1902 – 28 February 1952) was a Nazi German politician, member of the SS and war criminal. Under his administration as the ''Gauleiter'' and ''Reichsstatthalter'' of Danzig-West Prussia (the other German-anne ...
prepared his own evacuation plan called "Fall Eva" to evacuate cultural and strategic goods from the region in accordance with the '
scorched earth
A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy that aims to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy. Any assets that could be used by the enemy may be targeted, which usually includes obvious weapons, transport vehicles, commun ...
' policy. From late 1944 until May 1945 682,536 refugees, 109,337 soldiers and 292,794 wounded passed through the seaports of
Danzig, Gdynia, and through the
Hel Peninsula
Hel Peninsula (; pl, Mierzeja Helska, Półwysep Helski; csb, Hélskô Sztremlëzna; german: Halbinsel Hela or ''Putziger Nehrung'') is a sand bar peninsula in northern Poland separating the Bay of Puck from the open Baltic Sea. It is l ...
.
Nazi officials estimated that in February 1945 ten million refugees were on the move to escape the Russian advance. According to historians Hahn and Hahn humanitarian considerations did not play a role in Nazi evacuation planning, the Nazis considered the evacuation of the entire population as not feasible and that it was better that the population remain in territory occupied by the Soviets. By most current accounts drawing on research carried out in Poland, up until the
end of the war 7,494,000 persons were evacuated from post-war Polish territory to the centre of Germany including 3,218,000 from
Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. S ...
, 2,053,000 from
East Prussia
East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label= Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
, 1,081,000 from East Pomerania, 330,000 from
East Brandenburg, and 812,000 from
General Government
The General Government (german: Generalgouvernement, pl, Generalne Gubernatorstwo, uk, Генеральна губернія), also referred to as the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (german: Generalgouvernement für die be ...
.
Among them, were 2,000,000 Germans who had been evacuated to, or had been resettled during the war into
occupied Poland
' ( Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 Octobe ...
, and who took up homes of Poles subjected to
ethnic cleansing operations in the preceding years. Before the end of war the number of Germans who evacuated from Czechoslovakia is estimated at 150,000 to 370,000; from Hungary 50,000-60,000; from Romania 100,000; from Yugoslavia 200,000-300,000 and from the USSR 324,000. According to sources, the total number ranged from 10 to 15 million persons. Many of those who were evacuated during the war returned to their homes in the east after May 1945; only to be transferred back to Germany in the following years. The West German
Schieder commission
Documents on the Expulsion of the Germans from Eastern-Central Europe is the abridged English translation of a multi-volume publication that was created by a commission of West German historians between 1951 and 1961
to document the population tra ...
estimated based on German ration card data from February/March 1944 that the total civilian German population (''des deutschen Bevölkerungsstandes'') east of the
Oder-Neisse line was 11,924,000 at the end of 1944.
[Dokumentation der Vertreibung der Deutschen aus Ost-Mitteleuropa Band I/1. Die Verteibung der deutschen Bevölkerung aus den Gebieten östlich der Oder-Neisse. p.78] Including 9,758,000
[Dokumentation der Vertreibung der Deutschen aus Ost-Mitteleuropa Band I/1. Die Verteibung der deutschen Bevölkerung aus den Gebieten östlich der Oder-Neisse. p.5] in pre-war German territory; 134,000 in Memel
[Dokumentation der Vertreibung der Deutschen aus Ost-Mitteleuropa Band I/1. Die Verteibung der deutschen Bevölkerung aus den Gebieten östlich der Oder-Neisse. p.7] 404,000 in Danzig
and 1,602,000 on occupied Polish territory.
According to Schieders calculations included in the total civilian population are 825,000
persons evacuated eastwards to avoid Allied air raids and 1,174,000
Reichsdeutsche
', literally translated "Germans of the ", is an archaic term for those ethnic Germans who resided within the German state that was founded in 1871. In contemporary usage, it referred to German citizens, the word signifying people from the Germ ...
and re-settlers from other European nations. Schieder estimated that out of the 11.9 million population in late 1944 east of the
Oder-Neisse line at the end of the war 4.4 million remained on Polish territory.
More recent research in Poland puts the Germans in the fall of 1944 on the current Polish territory at 12,339,400 including 8,885,400 on pre-war German territory and Danzig; 670,000 in occupied Polish territory; 900,000 re-settlers from other European nations; 750,000 German occupation administrators and 1,134,000 persons evacuated eastwards to avoid Allied air raids According to
Rudiger Overmans the West German search service was able to confirm the deaths of 93,283 civilians due to the wartime flight and evacuations including 86,860 from the territory of present-day Poland and the Russian
Kaliningrad region
Kaliningrad Oblast (russian: Калинингра́дская о́бласть, translit=Kaliningradskaya oblast') is the westernmost federal subject of Russia. It is a semi-exclave situated on the Baltic Sea. The largest city and administra ...
.
[Rűdiger Overmans, ''Personelle Verluste der deutschen Bevölkerung durch Flucht und Vertreibung.'' (this paper was a presentation at an academic conference in Warsaw Poland in 1994), Dzieje Najnowsze Rocznik XXI- Warsaw 1994 p. 55; (these figures are included in the 473,013 confirmed deaths listed by the search service and do not include missing persons whose death was not confirmed. These figures were kept secret by the West German government until 1986).] According to the
German Federal Archives
, type = Archive
, seal =
, seal_size =
, seal_caption =
, seal_alt =
, logo = Bundesarchiv-Logo.svg
, logo_size =
, logo_caption =
, lo ...
100,000 to 120,000 civilians were killed during the wartime flight and evacuation from the territory east of the
Oder Neisse line.
[ ''Note:'' the 1974 ''Bundesarchivs'' report estimated that about 1 percent of the total population of eastern Germany within its prewar borders lost their lives due to military activity in the 1944–45 campaign. Per 1937 census: there were 9,600,000 residents living in German Silesia, Brandenburg, Pomerania and East Prussia; both, east and west of the Oder Neisse line]
(Paikert 1962, p. 2.)
In most cases, however, the implementation of the plans was either delayed until
Allied forces had already advanced into the areas to be evacuated, or it was prohibited entirely by the Nazi apparatus. Despite the rapid advances of the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...
, the German authorities in many areas forbade leaving one's place of residence without a permit and an officially valid reason. Millions of Germans were left in these areas until combat conditions overwhelmed them, as a direct result of both the draconian measures taken by the Nazis towards the end of the war against anyone even suspected of 'defeatist' attitudes (such as suggesting evacuation) and the fanaticism of many Nazi functionaries in their mindless support of useless 'no retreat' orders. When the German authorities finally gave people the order to leave their homes, the available means of transport (such as trains and ships) were inadequate, and this forced many to leave most of their belongings behind. The first mass movement of German civilians in the
eastern territories included both spontaneous flight and organized evacuation starting in the summer of 1944 and continuing through to the spring of 1945.
The guards and inmates of the
Majdanek camp were evacuated starting on April 1, 1944. However most of the evacuation efforts commenced in January 1945, when Soviet forces were already at the eastern border of
Greater Germany, including the largest
death marches
A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war or other captives or deportees in which individuals are left to die along the way. It is distinguished in this way from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Article 19 of the Geneva Convent ...
.
Implementation
The first ''Volksdeutsche'' to exit Russian territories were the
Black Sea Germans
The Black Sea Germans (german: Schwarzmeerdeutsche; russian: черноморские немцы; uk, чорноморські німці) are ethnic Germans who left their homelands (starting in the late-18th century, but mainly in the e ...
and those from around
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. They were resettled and/or evacuated already in 1942–43, partly to
Greater Poland
Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; german: Großpolen, sv, Storpolen, la, Polonia Maior), is a historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed by Kalisz, the oldest cit ...
(then ''
Reichsgau Wartheland
The ''Reichsgau Wartheland'' (initially ''Reichsgau Posen'', also: ''Warthegau'') was a Nazi German ''Reichsgau'' formed from parts of Polish territory annexed in 1939 during World War II. It comprised the region of Greater Poland and adjacent ...
'') and partly to Germany proper. In December 1943 the city of
Berdychiv
Berdychiv ( uk, Берди́чів, ; pl, Berdyczów; yi, באַרדיטשעװ, Barditshev; russian: Берди́чев, Berdichev) is a historic city in the Zhytomyr Oblast (province) of northern Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center ...
was evacuated by the Reich Germans, the German ''
Volksdeutschen'', agencies of the civil government, the government of the country, and the able-bodied population. Because of the provisions of the Yalta Agreement, all Soviet citizens in Germany at war's end had to be repatriated. About 200,000
Soviet Germans, resettled during the war in Poland by the Nazis, were deported by the Soviet forces and sent to
Forced settlements in the Soviet Union in Siberia and Central Asia From
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...
70,000 - 120,000 Germans were evacuated at the end of 1944 and the beginning of 1945. Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans panicked and fled to the west in 1945, particularly from
East Prussia
East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label= Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
, attempting to seek safety within parts of Germany not yet occupied.
Nazi propaganda
The propaganda used by the German Nazi Party in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's dictatorship of Germany from 1933 to 1945 was a crucial instrument for acquiring and maintaining power, and for the implementation of Nazi polici ...
widely publicized the details of the Soviet atrocities, such as the
Nemmersdorf massacre of October 1944, in an attempt to strengthen German morale. The Soviet propaganda machine encouraged a harsh and vengeful attitude toward the Germans. While advancing toward the West, soldiers of the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...
committed a variety of atrocities, most notably rape, mutilation, murder and looting.
[ Beevor, Antony. ''Berlin: The Downfall 1945'', Penguin Books, 2002, ]
East Prussia
The evacuation plans for
East Prussia
East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label= Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
were ready in the second half of 1944. They consisted of both general plans and specific instructions for each individual town. The plans encompassed not only people but also industry and
livestock
Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to ani ...
.
[Nitschke, ''Wysiedlenie ...'', p. 43] The evacuation was planned to be conducted in three waves: the first two of them in July and October 1944, when about 25% of the 2.6 million population, mostly elderly, women and children, were supposed to be evacuated to
Pomerania
Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...
and
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a ...
.
[Nitschke, ''Wysiedlenie ...'', p. 46]
In fact the population of
Memel east of the
Neman River
The Neman, Nioman, Nemunas or MemelTo bankside nations of the present: Lithuanian: be, Нёман, , ; russian: Неман, ''Neman''; past: ger, Memel (where touching Prussia only, otherwise Nieman); lv, Nemuna; et, Neemen; pl, Niemen; ; ...
was evacuated to the western parts of East Prussia in late summer 1944. On October 7, 1944, that area was the only part of East Prussia completely evacuated.
[Kossert, Damals ..., p. 143] On October 16, 1944, the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...
reached German territory for the first time in World War II in the southern part of East Prussia near
Gumbinnen
Gusev (russian: Гу́сев; german: Gumbinnen; lt, Gumbinė; pl, Gąbin) is a town and the administrative center of Gusevsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Pissa and Krasnaya Rivers, near the border ...
, encountering German civilians and committing the
Nemmersdorf massacre. After the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
managed to reconquer large parts of the territory, the East Prussian
Gauleiter
A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a '' Gau'' or '' Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest rank in the Nazi political leadership, subordinate only to '' Reichsleiter'' and to ...
Erich Koch partially conceded the requests of the Wehrmacht and gave permission to evacuate a small strip of 30 km directly behind the front line. Civilians from that area were sent to the northern parts of East Prussia.
The third wave of evacuation happened in January 1945, when the
East Prussian Offensive was already in progress. While Nazi authorities propagated the faith in the
Final victory
''Final Victory'' (Chinese: 最後勝利) is a 1987 Hong Kong action film directed by Patrick Tam and starring Eric Tsang, Loletta Lee, Margaret Lee and Tsui Hark.
Plot
Triad leader Big Bo (Tsui Hark) is a violent man, but his younger brother ...
, any individual initiatives involving evacuation was labelled as
defeatism
Defeatism is the acceptance of defeat without struggle, often with negative connotations. It can be linked to pessimism in psychology, and may sometimes be used synonymously with fatalism or determinism.
History
The term ''defeatism'' is common ...
.
Most civilians left their homes just hours before Red Army units overran them, and were often directly involved in combat.
At the same time Nazi representatives, like Gauleiter Koch who had prepared two steamboats in the harbour of
Pillau
Baltiysk (russian: Балти́йск; german: Pillau; Old Prussian: ''Pillawa''; pl, Piława; lt, Piliava; Yiddish: פּילאַווע, ''Pilave'') is a seaport town and the administrative center of Baltiysky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Ru ...
for his personal use, were the first to escape to the west. After the Red Army reached the coast of the
Vistula Lagoon
The Vistula Lagoon ( pl, Zalew Wiślany; russian: Калининградский залив, transliterated: ''Kaliningradskiy Zaliv''; german: Frisches Haff; lt, Aistmarės) is a brackish water lagoon on the Baltic Sea roughly 56 miles (90  ...
near
Elbing on January 23, 1945, cutting off the overland route between East Prussia and the western territories, the only way to leave was to cross the frozen Vistula Lagoon and to try to reach the harbours of
Danzig (Gdańsk) or
Gdingen(Gdynia), to be evacuated by ships taking part in
Operation Hannibal
Operation Hannibal was a German naval operation involving the evacuation by sea of German troops and civilians from the Courland Pocket, East Prussia, West Prussia and Pomerania from mid-January to May 1945 as the Red Army advanced during th ...
. This phase of the evacuation followed two major routes: westwards, towards Danzig and
Pomerania
Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...
, and northwards, towards
Königsberg
Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was ...
and
Pillau
Baltiysk (russian: Балти́йск; german: Pillau; Old Prussian: ''Pillawa''; pl, Piława; lt, Piliava; Yiddish: פּילאַווע, ''Pilave'') is a seaport town and the administrative center of Baltiysky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Ru ...
port.
[Podlasek, ''Wypędzenie ...'', p. 74] About 450,000 Germans fled East Prussia over the frozen Vistula Lagoon and were then evacuated by ship from
Baltic
Baltic may refer to:
Peoples and languages
*Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian
*Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...
port cities.
In January 1945 about 3,000 inmates of the East Prussian subcamps of the
Stutthof concentration camp
Stutthof was a Nazi concentration camp established by Nazi Germany in a secluded, marshy, and wooded area near the village of Stutthof (now Sztutowo) 34 km (21 mi) east of the city of Danzig (Gdańsk) in the territory of the German- ...
were murdered in the
massacre of Palmnicken.
According to West German figures out of a pre-war German speaking population (deutschsprachige Bewohner) in East-Prussia of 2,473,000; 511,000 were killed or missing (including 210,000 military personnel). Some 301,000 civilians died due to the wartime flight and post-war expulsions.
[Kossert, Damals ..., p. 168] In total, some 1,200,000 people managed to escape to Germany, while about 800,000 pre-war inhabitants remained in East Prussia as of the summer of 1945.
The number of fatalities is disputed by historian
Ingo Haar
Ingo Haar (born 3 February 1965) is a German historian. He received his Master of Arts from the University of Hamburg in 1993 and his PhD in History in 1998 at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg. His doctoral dissertation was on "Hi ...
who maintains that they were inflated by the West German government during the
Cold war
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...
,
[Ingo Haar]
Straty zwiazane z wypedzeniami: stan badañ, problemy, perspektywy
(Human losses associated with expulsions), translation from German, ''Polish Diplomatic Review'', 2007, nr 5 (39); accessed 6 December 2014. Haar pointed out that the West German search service was able to confirm 123,360 civilian fatalities in East Prussia due to the wartime flight and post-war expulsions
Pomerania
The evacuation of
Pomerania
Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...
was also delayed. It was further complicated by the influx of the Germans evacuated from
East Prussia
East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label= Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
. At the end of February 1945, the authorities ordered the evacuation to be suspended.
[Nitschke, ''Wysiedlenie ...'', p. 48] This delay resulted in the land evacuation routes soon being blocked by the advancing Soviet and Polish forces.
Kolberg, the main seaport within the German-held pocket, was declared a
Festung and became the center for sea-based evacuation of both civilians and military from
Farther Pomerania. Germans who were evacuated on ships were landed either in German seaport cities west of the
Oder River
The Oder ( , ; Czech, Lower Sorbian and ; ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river in total length and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows t ...
, or in Denmark, where internment camps were set up by the Danes after the war.
["A Legacy of Dead German Children"](_blank)
Manfred Ertel, Spiegel Online, May 16, 2005 In total almost 2.2 million people were evacuated this way,.
[Nitschke, ''Wysiedlenie ...'', p. 50]
Silesia
The evacuation of the 4.7 million population of
Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. S ...
began on January 19, 1945. The first orders concerned the elderly, women and children of
Upper Silesia
Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, locate ...
.
Schieder commission
Documents on the Expulsion of the Germans from Eastern-Central Europe is the abridged English translation of a multi-volume publication that was created by a commission of West German historians between 1951 and 1961
to document the population tra ...
, ''Die Dokumentation der Vertreibung der Deutschen aus Ost-Mitteleuropa'' (Documentation of the German expulsions from East Central Europe), Bonn 1954, Band 1,
About 85% of the
Lower Silesia
Lower Silesia ( pl, Dolny Śląsk; cz, Dolní Slezsko; german: Niederschlesien; szl, Dolny Ślōnsk; hsb, Delnja Šleska; dsb, Dolna Šlazyńska; Silesian German: ''Niederschläsing''; la, Silesia Inferior) is the northwestern part of the ...
n population was evacuated in 1945, first across the
Oder River
The Oder ( , ; Czech, Lower Sorbian and ; ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river in total length and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows t ...
and then to
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a ...
or to
Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
. However, many of the
Silesians
Silesians ( szl, Ślōnzŏki or Ślůnzoki; Silesian German: ''Schläsinger'' ''or'' ''Schläsier''; german: Schlesier; pl, Ślązacy; cz, Slezané) is a geographical term for the inhabitants of Silesia, a historical region in Central Euro ...
ignored the evacuation orders, believing that their knowledge of
Polish and their Polish provenance would spare them the horrors feared by Germans.
[Podlasek, ''Wypędzenie ...'', p. 90]
February 1945 the Red Army approached the city of Breslau (now
Wrocław
Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, r ...
).
Gauleiter
A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a '' Gau'' or '' Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest rank in the Nazi political leadership, subordinate only to '' Reichsleiter'' and to ...
Karl Hanke declared the city a
Festung to be held at all costs. Hanke finally lifted a ban on the evacuation of women and children when it was almost too late. During his poorly organised evacuation in early March 1945, 18,000 people froze to death in icy snowstorms and -20 °C weather.
Western Germany
Civilians of
Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th ...
were evacuated in Summer 1944.
[Christopher R. Gabel, Ph.D.]
"Knock 'em All Down:" The Reduction of Aachen, October 1944.
Urban Operations. An Historical Casebook, at GlobalSecurity.org via the Internet Archive.
See also
*
World War II evacuation and expulsion
Mass evacuation, forced displacement, expulsion, and deportation of millions of people took place across most countries involved in World War II. A number of these phenomena were categorised as violations of fundamental human values and norms by ...
*
Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50)
Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be ...
*
Nazi-Soviet population transfers
*
Hegewald (colony) in
Reichskommissariat Ukraine
During World War II, (abbreviated as RKU) was the civilian occupation regime () of much of Nazi German-occupied Ukraine (which included adjacent areas of modern-day Belarus and pre-war Second Polish Republic). It was governed by the Reic ...
*
The March (1945)
Notes
References
*
*
*Dennis M. Weidner (August 18, 2002)
German World War II KLV Evacuations.HBC/CIH. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
*
*
*
*
*
# B. Nitschke (2000),
Theodor Schieder
Theodor Schieder (11 April 1908 – 8 October 1984) was an influential mid-20th century German historian. Born in Oettingen, Western Bavaria, he relocated to Königsberg in East Prussia in 1934 at the age of 26. . 56/sup> He joined t ...
, ''Die Vertreibung der deutschen Bevölkerung aus den Gebieten östlich der Oder−Neiße'', Band 1, München 1984 (Table 1).
# Jan Misztal (1990), ''Weryfikacja narodowościowa na Ziemiach Odzyskanych'', PWN 1990, page 83. .
* Douglas, R.M.: Orderly and Humane. The Expulsion of the Germans after the Second World War. Yale University Press, 2012. .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flight And Evacuation Of German Civilians During The End Of World War Ii
Germany in World War II
Germany–Soviet Union relations
Post–World War II forced migrations
Germany–Poland relations