The term Umsiedler is a German word of the same root than the verb " umsiedeln" who means " déplacer". It renvoit with groups of population moved during and after the Second world war.

Under the Third Reich

Under the Third Reich and during the Second world war, the " Umsiedler" (literally " who changes place, of colony ) were populations of German origin installed in Eastern Europe and who because of bilateral agreement between German Reich and the home countries had to leave their hearth apart from the German territory between 1939 and 1944 and were transferred in the motherland . This process particularly touched the South-Tyroleans (Italy), the Germans of the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) as well as the Germans of Bessarabia (Soviet Union). A great number of these Umsiedle were installed during the Second world war in the part of Poland annexed by Germany and returned in 1944-1945 in a process of escape and expulsion which then concerned all German of East Germany and Eastern Europe.

In the Soviet zone of occupation (SBZ)

The term appears as of the creation of the SBZ to indicate the expelled populations of the territories German of the east. This term is during term used in FRG: Heimatvertriebenen . This term is a Euphémisme which makes disappear the responsibility for the the USSR, of the Poland, of the Czechoslovakia and which forgets the violence of expulsions, of the forced migration.

Between 1945 and 1949, approximately 4,5 million Umsiedler arrive in the Soviet zone of occupation, they are originating in the Sudètes, Silesia, Prussia Orientale, the Balkans, Hungary, Romania, etc Their exact number is difficult to give because the authorities often confused the refugees, expelled, the evacuees. All were regarded as Umsiedler . One can then differentiate Umsiedler and Ost-Umsiedler, those expelled of the Eastern territories.

The arrival of Umsiedler is with the particularly chaotic departure, but very quickly, the SMAD ( Sowjetische Militäradministration in Deutschland ) orders the creation of an Central administration for Umsiedler ( Zentralverwaltung für Umsiedler ). This body is charged to manage the arrivals and to coordinate the action of the German local governments. In a few months, are installation of the " Umsiedler" commissions; and " Neubürger" commissions;.

Random links:

Max Favalelli | Kekou | Polydrusus | Eghvart | The System of the objects | Baba_de_Tupeni