The Megalomania of the National Deal: Edvard Beneš and the origins of the postwar expulsion of the Sudeten Germans, 1918-1945.

Abstract

The expulsion of the German populations of Central and Eastern Europe after the Second World War was among the largest and most brutal forced migrations in human history. It is also one of the least understood. By focusing on the exile of one group, the Sudeten Germans of Czechoslovakia, this thesis seeks to discover why the postwar eviction took place. It traces the origins of the purge from the foundation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, and argues that the Republic’s long-serving president, Edvard Beneš, played a crucial role in the development and implementation of the plan. Through a detailed analysis of interwar minority rights, population transfers and the notion of German collective guilt, this thesis takes the position that the motivations behind postwar expulsions were shaped by the bitter experiences of the interwar period and that they were not, therefore, carried out as an impulsive act of retribution in the hour of victory.