The Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft (; ) is an organization representing Sudeten German expellees and refugees from the Sudetenland in

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. Most of them were forcibly expelled and deported to western Allied occupation zones of Germany, which would later form

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, from their homelands inside

during the expulsion of Germans after World War II. Many settled in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

The charter was signed in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

in 1950 and committed the organization to the renouncing of revenge and retaliation and promoting European accord. The organization tried to slow down the membership of today's Czech Republic in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

by demanding a complete revocation of the

Beneš decrees The Beneš decrees were a series of laws drafted by the Czechoslovak government-in-exile in the absence of the Czechoslovak parliament during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in World War II. They were issued by President Edvard Beneš fr ...

which established the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia after the war and declared them unlawful. The association is currently based in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. Its chairman is Bernd Posselt. It is a member of the Federation of Expellees (Bund der Vertriebenen, BdV). Since Pentecost of 1950, the Landsmannschaft has organized a traditional convention, the , which mostly takes place in southern Germany, in Augsburg or Nuremberg. In 1950 the Homeland Association already vowed to reject any form of violence and revenge. The association observes the annual Sudeten German Day with a festival celebrating their culture. It also has local and district chapters which undertake various activities, such as developing and taking exhibitions about the expulsion to schools. In 2024, the Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft awarded former European Union president

Jean-Claude Juncker Jean-Claude Juncker (; born 9 December 1954) is a Luxembourgish politician who was List of prime ministers of Luxembourg, prime minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013 and president of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. He also was List ...

its Charlemagne Prize, for his advocacy of a just international order in Central Europe.

References

External links

Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft
branch in Germany
Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft in Österreich
branch in Austria
SL New York / SL USA

Brasilien/Brazil
Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft in Argentina

Sudetendeutscher-Tag.de

SdJ – Jugend für Mitteleuropa e.V.
(SdJ = Sudetendeutsche Jugend), youth organization in Germany
Sudetendeutsche Jugend Österreichs
youth organization in Austria
Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft, Landesgruppe Bayern
Organizations established in 1950 Landsmannschaften Sudeten German people Sudetenland 1950 establishments in West Germany {{Germany-org-stub

See also

References

External links