December 20, 2006
Czechs becoming more critical to postwar Benes decrees - poll
published by Ceske Noviny
Prague- Czechs are becoming more critical than before to the validity of the postwar Benes decrees under which Sudeten Germans living in Czech border regions were expelled, according to a CVVM agency's poll released to CTK.
While some two-thirds of Czechs supported the validity of the decrees two or three years ago, now it is about one half of the respondents. The number of those who do not have a clear view on the issue has increased.
The poll showed that 13 percent of the respondents believe that the decrees should be cancelled, as compared to 5 to 8 percent in the previous polls.
One half of Czechs considered the deportation of Sudeten Germans just, but one-third of them said it was unjust. Here, too, the number of those who are critical has thus slightly increased, namely from 27 to 32 percent.
A majority of Czechs share the opinion that the issue of the Benes decrees affects Czech-German relations and one-fourth of the citizens think it has adverse influence on the relations between the Czech Republic and Austria.
Under the decrees, issued by then Czechoslovak president Edvard Benes, Germans, Hungarians and other traitors were deported from the country and their property was expropriated after World War Two.
German population prevailed in the Czech border areas for hundreds of years in the past. Sudeten German statistics say that 241,000 Czech Germans died of hunger, exhaustion or torture during the post-war transfer initiated by the Benes Decrees.
Most of the German deportees, whose number is put at 2.5 million by Czech historians, settled down in Germany, mainly Bavaria, and about 350,000 in Austria.
Author: ÈTK.