Flight and Expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia (1945)

As the German Wehrmacht drove in to surrender, was disarmed and their soldiers taken prisoners of war in May 1945, also ethnic German civilians (Sudetendeutsche) had to flee from Czechoslovakia. The expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia after World War II was part of a series of evacuations and deportations of Germans from Central and Eastern Europe. In the months following the end of the war, “wild“ expulsions happened from May until August 1945. Roughly 1.6 million ethnic Germans were deported to the American zone (West Germany), and an estimated 800,000 were deported to the Soviet zone (East Germany). The expulsions ended in 1948, but not all Germans were expelled. The West German government in 1958 estimated the ethnic German death toll during the expulsion period to be about 270,000, a figure that has been cited in historical literature since then. 2:28 According to one of the commentators under this video, this officer is supposed to be SS-Obersturmbannführer Michael Kneissl 6:50 Various threads can be found online under the tag “the lost german girl“ that speculate on the identity and fate of this young woman. She was probably a German anti-aircraft helper from the Sudetenland who was probably beaten by Czech civilians or partisans in the Rokycany area and may have suffered even worse. This scene was filmed by the American GI “Hardlund”. Wikipedia: Music track “Día de los Muertos“ by courtesy of Antoine Marsaud: Music track “Northern Lights“ by courtesy of Antoine Marsaud: Subscribe to chronoshistory: Find more impressive videos in our playlist “Spirit of Liberation“: