A Terrible Revenge, Second Edition, Fully Revised and Updated: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans
by Alfred-Maurice de Zayas
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Book Summary Information
Author: Alfred-Maurice de ZayasEdition: Paperback
Published: 2006-05-28
ISBN: 1403973083
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Book Reviews of A Terrible Revenge, Second Edition, Fully Revised and Updated: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans
Book Review: A terrible, ignored revenge
Summary: 5 Stars
It is difficult to express how much the reading of this book would have provided understanding during my formative years as immediate family members shared first-hand accounts of their trials in former Yugoslavia. Unfortunately, history such as that presented in this work has only started to trickle into the mainstream. Regardless of the fact that the vast majority of East European ethnic Germans discussed here had no connections with or sympathy for the political establishment of the state of Germany during World War II, the problem is that much of what has been associated with Germany in subsequent years is tied to the fact that Germany lost the war to the Allies. While I highly recommend "Barefoot in the Rubble" and "German Boy" (see my reviews for these books), the difference with this work is that it lays out much of the history behind the ethnic cleansing of East European Germans. In addition, rather than focusing on a single individual or a small group of individuals, "A Terrible Revenge" shares dozens of accounts, including excerpts from official reports, along with footnotes. In addition, the appendix to this book shares high-level quantitative population tabulations for the 1939 to 1950 time period that help underscore the great losses of ethnic Germans outside of Germany. A warning to those who are considering to read this book: many horrors of life during the five year period following World War II are shared, including vivid accounts of rapes and the manners in which individuals were murdered by the hoards of Soviet armies that descended upon the Germans of East Europe. While my initial interest in reading this text revolved around its discussion of Donauschwabens (Danube Swabians), many more ethnic Germans were affected. About 15 million found themselves on the wrong side of the new postwar borders within Europe. For readers who are unfamiliar with this part of history, please bear in mind that in no way is "A Terrible Revenge" unsympathetic to other populations affected by World War II and its aftermath. The introduction to this work presents 6 considerations, which include: "all victims of war and tyranny deserve respect and compassion", "the expulsion of the Germans is a legitimate subject for scholarly research", "historians are bound by a scholarly and moral obligation to research and present historical events, to determine the facts and organize them into the greater historical context", "the expulsion cannot be regarded as a question of crime and punishment", "a principle of collective guilt cannot be applied to the expulsions, just as there can be no collective guilt for war", and "the tragic experience of the German expellees could have served as a warning to spare other nations the traumata of expulsion from homeland, heritage, and pride". With this last consideration, the author notes that: "Alas, for decades the facts of the expulsion of the Germans were systematically ignored by the media and even by professional historians, whose function was and remains to do proper research, to chronicle events and to put them in perspective. No wonder that the ethnic cleansing of the 1990's in the former Yugoslavia was presented by the media as unprecedented. The expulsion and spoliation of the Germans remains an important subject for study in the high schools and universities. We owe this recognition to the victims - as we owe the truth to ourselves."
Summary of A Terrible Revenge, Second Edition, Fully Revised and Updated: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans
The genocidal barbarism of the Nazi forces has been well documented. What is little known is the fate of fifteen million German civilians who found themselves on the wrong side of new postwar borders. All over Eastern Europe, the inhabitants of communities that had been established for many centuries were either expelled or killed. Over two million Germans did not survive. Some of these people had supported Hitler, but the great majority were guiltless. In A Terrible Revenge, de Zayas describes this horrible retribution. This new edition includes an updated foreword, epilogue and additional information from recent interviews with the children of the displaced.
The genocidal barbarism of the Nazi forces has been well documented. What is little known is the fate of fifteen million German civilians who found themselves on the wrong side of new postwar borders. All over Eastern Europe, the inhabitants of communities that had been established for many centuries were either expelled or killed. Over two million Germans did not survive. Some of these people had supported Hitler, but the great majority did not. In A Terrible Revenge, de Zayas describes their horrible fate. This new edition includes an updated foreword, epilogue, and additional information from recent interviews with the children of the displaced.
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