Speaker. before World War II. there were 7 million Czechs and 3.3 million Sudeten Germans living in Bohemia and Moravia Silesia for many centuries. in the frame of old AustriaHungary and before it. in the frame of the German Empire. In the years 191838. they lived together in the Czechoslovak Republic. After World War II. the Communists drove out and forcibly deported the 3.3 million Sudeten Germans from their homeland. Most of these expellees live now in free West Germany. where they have represented a most constructive and democratic element. Their President. Dr. Hans Christoph Seebohm. is one of the cofounders of the German Federal Republic and has been member of the German Federal Government since its very beginning 12 years ago. as only the Chancellor Adenauer and Vice Chancellor Erhard have been. Being a main part of the 13 million German expellees and refugees coming from the Soviet Zone of Germany and living now in West Germany. the Sudeten Germans are an important factor in the exile antiCommunist work. Their ranks are free of any Communist infiltration and they represent the strongest exile unit from the territory of former Czechoslovakia. a unit with its own political leaders in West German legislative and government bodies. with their own economy and resources. They are striving for cooperation with the Czech and Slovak and all other exiles from former Czechoslovakia and I believe that such a close cooperation would be in the interest of all the enslaved nations and the free peoples and to the disadvantage of world communism only.
Keywords matched
deported refugees