The Eviction of the Sudeten Germans and the Modern Relationship between the Czech Republic and Austria

Abstract

The article continues a unique study of the contemporary Czech-Austrian relations in Russian historiography. The purpose of the work is to analyze how and why the claims of Austria related to the events of 1945–1946 have almost prevented the entry of the Czech Republic into the EU, and are still complicating the bilateral relations. In the article, the author makes use of the problem-chronological and comparative research methods. They help to identify the moments of the greatest aggravation of the relations and to compare the approaches of the two countries to the issue. It is for the first time that the bilateral disputes after 2007 have become the subject matter of the research. Millions of the Sudeten Germans remained in the Czech Republic after 1918. They helped A. Hitler to destroy Czechoslovakia in 1938–1939. The German population was deprived of their property and evicted to Germany and Austria in 1945–1946 on the basis of the Beneš decrees. The Czech Republic managed to settle the disputes with Germany, but not with Austria. During the negotiations over the admission of the Czech Republic to the EU, the Austrians did not demand the return of the lost property to the Sudeten Germans, but insisted on the abolition of the Beneš decrees. The Czech Republic, on the contrary, believed that the Decrees should not be cancelled since they constituted an integral part of World War II. As a result, the European Union decided that the Beneš decrees could not prevent the Czech Republic from entering the EU. But even after the completion of the Czech European integration process, Austria continues demanding the abolition of the Decrees. The problem has acquired a pan-European scale and has not been resolved yet. In this case, each of the parties has set the principle of “national justice” above the pan-European solidarity, many times testing it for strength.