Brno death march

Brno death march

The Brno march, sometimes also called a "death march"Rozumět dějinám, Zdeněk Beneš, p. 208] [ "Redrawing Nations: Ethnic Cleansing in East-Central Europe, 1944-1948", by Philipp Ther, Ana Siljak, 2001 [http://books.google.com/books?id=oGmTs2SceAgC&pg=PA206&dq=%22Brno+death+march%22&sig=4gCPxCni41nXHYWxTZdyHtbjxIc] ] [After the Reich: The Brutal History of Allied Occupation, by Giles MacDonogh, 2007 ISBN 0465003370] ( _de. Brünner Todesmarsch) started late on the night of 30 May 1945 when the German population of Brno, Czechoslovakia was expelled to Austria.

This expulsion of about 20,000 Germans from Brno was directed by the "Zemský národní výbor" initiative. The psychological motivation of the action was probably negative experiences during the German Nazi occupation. Brno, along with Ostrava, were cities where German forces did not surrender and the Allies had to gain it in a firefight. The group of Germans was forced to march convert|56|km|mi|0|lk=on south towards the border to Austria.

Most of the victims were not adult men since most were prisoners of war (POWs) at the time. The main tragedy happened when Austria refused to accept refugees and sent them back. They were interned in the villages near Pohořelice. There were about 800 confirmed deaths which included natural causes, diseases and violent crimes. Some sources claim there were 1300 - 8000 deaths, but those are not based on the investigation evidenceRozumět dějinám, Zdeněk Beneš, p. 209] .

Agent Bedřich Pokorný, who had already organized the Ústí massacre of hundreds of ethnic Germans in Ústí nad Labem ( _de. Aussig an der Elbe) on 31 July 1945, was behind the act which happened towards the end of the Potsdam conference (17 July to 2 August 1945).

After the war, there were several attempts to confirm the statement that there were thousands of people shot. The Austrian historian Emilia Hrabowecz investigated but was unable to substantiate such claims. She mentioned that old people and tired young children were on the trucks and some of them were in the arms of Czechoslovak guards. In 2002, the joint commission of German and Czech historians collected evidence and released a book entitled "Rozumět dějinám" ("Understanding History").

See also

* List of massacres
* Sudetenland
* Ústí massacre
* Lidice massacre

References

External links

*de icon [http://www.bruenn.org/de/ende.php Heimatverband der Brünner]
*de icon [http://todesmarsch.bruenn.org/PDF/btm-doku-avt.pdf Sonderausgabe des Brünner Heimatboten zum Todesmarsch]
*de icon [http://www.altvaterturm.de/Baustelle_Bilder/Einweihung/Einweihung/einweihung_16.html Bild der Gedenktafel]
*de icon [http://www.drasenhofen.at/sehenswertes.php Bilder von Massengräbern]
*de icon [http://oe1.orf.at/programm/20050531140500.html Sendung im österreichischen Radiosender Ö1]


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