the nationality of all inhabitants of the czech provinces and ...

property. Approximately 75,000 people
left Northern Italy at that time, but the
results of the agreement were still not
considered successful.
A large number of Germans were
resettled from the Baltic states, Romania
and other countries. According to a 1940
report, 434,000 Germans “returned” to
Germany that year. Germans living in
“allied states” – like Bulgaria or Croatia –
were also resettled. These people were
resettled in the areas designated for
Germanisation, including the
Protectorate. Under various excuses,
Czech inhabitants were moved out of
certain areas of the Protectorate in order
to create space for gradual and full
Germanisation of the Czech lands.
Before the beginning of the war, large
numbers of Jewish inhabitants of
Germany, Austria and other countries
were stripped of their property and
forced to emigrate. And even greater
numbers of other foreign nationals were
“resettled” by Germany in the
extermination and concentration camps.
The number of Jews alone murdered as a
result of German policies is estimated at
4,851,000. Other victims of the German
policies were the prisoners and
inhabitants of various countries sent to
Germany as forced labour.
THE CRIMES OF HITLER'S
GERMANY AND THEIR
BOOMERANG EFFECT
The uncompromising individual and
collective declarations by leaders of the
anti-Nazi coalition in reaction to the
revelation of crimes by Germany which
contravened all existing principles of
warfare, grew in number and intensity, as
in the course of the liberation of lands
occupied by Germany world opinion
came to learn of the extent of German
crimes and atrocities.
In Declaration of the Four Nations on
General Security, issued on November 1,
1943, Austria was accused of sharing
responsibility for the war together with
Nazi Germany. The section entitled
“Statement on Atrocities” voiced the
determination to punish German
officers, soldiers and members of the
The Transfer and its Legal Aspects
271
Chapter VII
Nazi party for atrocities, massacres and
executions in which they participated.
However, it gradually became clear that
it was not possible to limit responsibility
to those groups alone.
The Joint Communiqué on the
Crimea Conference of February 12, 1945
stated: “Nazi Germany is doomed. The
German people will only make the cost
of their defeat heavier to themselves by
attempting to continue a hopeless
resistance.” Coordinated administration
and control over Germany would be
achieved through a central control
commission consisting of the supreme
commanders of the three powers with
headquarters in Berlin. A programme
of liquidation of the German army,
punishment of war criminals, and
enforced reparations for the damage
caused by the Germans was announced.
It was their stated purpose to: “wipe
out the Nazi Party, Nazi laws,
organisations and institutions, remove all
Nazi and militarist influences from
public office and from the cultural and
economic life of the German people; and
take in harmony such other measures in
Germany as may be necessary to the
future peace and safety of the world. It is
not our purpose to destroy the people of
Germany, but only when Nazism and
militarism have been extirpated will
there be hope for a decent life for
Germans, and a place for them in the
comity of nations.”
It was also agreed at the Yalta
Conference that reparation should be in
the form of confiscation of German
property, shipments of German
merchandise and use of German labour.
Forced labour of the German population
had to offset, at least partially, the
enormous damage caused by the
Germans in the occupied or invaded
lands.
The Potsdam Conference took the
above-mentioned Yalta conclusions
further. According to one of its
statements about Germany: “The allied
armies are in occupation of the whole of
Germany and the German people have
begun to atone for the terrible crimes
committed under the leadership of those