In Germany and Austria, the term ‘displaced persons’ organisation’ is used as a collective term for associations and organisations of displaced persons, refugees, repatriates and late repatriates who arrived in Germany – and, to a lesser extent, in Austria – at the end of and following the Second World War. The umbrella organisations are the Federation of Displaced Persons (BdV), based in Bonn, and the Association of Ethnic German Regional Associations in Austria (VLÖ), based in Linz. Regional associations (LM), formed on the basis of regions of origin, in turn act as umbrella organisations for regional and local displaced persons’ organisations; numerous other displaced persons’ organisations are members of neither the BdV nor the regional associations. In West Germany, a differentiated system of displaced persons’ organisations gradually emerged after the Second World War. By contrast, the integration policy in the Soviet occupation zone and in the GDR, which aimed at the rapid and complete assimilation of displaced persons and refugees, prevented the formation of corresponding interest groups. Only rudimentary forms of self-organisation based on private contacts were possible; the churches provided a certain degree of sanctuary for groups organised along regional lines. Displaced persons’ organisations differ considerably in terms of their objectives and activities, their self-image, their size (membership figures), their legal forms and their organisational structures. The total number of displaced persons’ organisations is unknown.

English: organisations for displaced persons and refugees; Polish: organisations for displaced persons; Czech: organisations for displaced persons

The very first organisation of its kind to be established was the Sudeten German Aid Centre (Stickler), founded in Munich on 12 July 1945. The first organisations for displaced persons emerged within the church as social aid organisations for parishioners. These ‘aid committees’, which had already been set up in 1946 for, amongst others, the Evangelical-Lutheran Slovak Germans, Bessarabian Germans and Germans from Poland, merged in 1951 to form the Convention of the Dispersed Evangelical Eastern Churches. In the academic sphere, the Göttingen Working Group (Göttinger Arbeitskreis e. V.) also began its work as early as 1946; in 1950, the Johann Gottfried Herder Research Council and the East German Cultural Council were founded.

Political and social organisations for displaced persons were able to form following the lifting of the ban on coalitions imposed by the Western Allies. By the end of 1948, displaced persons and refugees had joined forces at regional and supra-regional levels. To represent their economic and socio-political interests, they founded the Central Association of Displaced Germans (ZvD) in 1949. At the same time, displaced persons organised themselves into regional associations based on their place of origin to represent their cultural and homeland-related interests; these associations joined together in 1949 to form the United East German Regional Associations (VOL) and in 1952 as the Federation of Regional Associations (VdL). In 1957, following years of debate and conflict between the two umbrella organisations, the VdL and the ZvD merged to form the BdV.

The corporate members of the BdV comprise, on the one hand, 20 regional associations. In addition, there are 16 BdV regional federations, as well as other associate member organisations focused on specific interests (e.g. the Farmers’ Association of Displaced Persons, the Women’s Association within the BdV). The regional associations bring together regional organisations for displaced persons, in particular ‘Heimatkreise’(hometown associations), as well as district and local groups, whilst the BdV regional federations comprise only district and local groups. There are further organisations for displaced persons, some operating within the BdV and regional associations and others outside them, including youth organisations (e.g. the Federation of Young East Prussians, the Silesian Youth Federal Group e.V., the Sudeten German Youth e.V.).

The preservation of customs and, in particular,
the wearing of traditional dress played a prominent
role in the activities of many
displaced persons’ organisations [Photo: Breslauer Nachrichten, newsletter
of the Silesian Association 1 (1949), No. 12,
p. 97, BKGE Library].

Whilst the history, structures and activities of the BdV and the Landsmannschaften have been well researched, little is yet known about the large number of displaced persons’ organisations that were established predominantly in the 1950s and 1960s: Organisations for displaced persons were established for smaller sub-regions of the areas of origin (district, local and home communities), as well as cultural, academic and educational associations, and a wide variety of social, professional and specialist organisations (e.g. student fraternities, literary societies, cultural organisations, school communities, singing and theatre groups, choirs).

On the Protestant side, in addition to the aid committees, other organisations (e.g. the Association of Protestant Silesians, the Association of Protestant East Prussians) came to the fore. Catholic organisations for displaced persons (e.g. the Ackermann-Gemeinde, St. Hedwig’s Works, Adalbert’s Work e.V.) joined forces in 1966 to form the Working Group of Catholic Organisations for Displaced Persons (AKVO). Since the 1970s, and increasingly after 1989, displaced persons’ organisations have established contacts with their regions of origin, championing cultural interests, exchanges and interpersonal encounters.

In 1959, the BdV reported that there were over 10,000 local branches.^[1] Currently, the BdV website refers to “around 6,000 regional branches and over 1,000 home district associations or home town communities”^[2] . The “Kulturportal West-Ost” (East-West Culture Portal), created in 2012 by the Cultural Foundation for Displaced Persons, currently lists nearly 3,000 institutions, federations, associations and groups representing displaced persons, refugees and resettlers. Membership figures for organisations representing displaced persons are in sharp decline; numerous organisations – particularly smaller, locally-based ones – as well as their local heritage collections have already been dissolved or are at risk of closure.

From the outset, organisations representing displaced persons exerted considerable influence on politics, the media (e.g. on broadcasting councils) and on cultural and political education (e.g. on state youth councils). Despite their insistence on the ‘right to a homeland’, they played a significant role in the ultimately successful integration of displaced persons, refugees and resettlers into West German society and the Federal Republic of Germany by acting as interest groups in various contexts (Thränhart). Whether they tended to increase or mitigate the risk of radicalisation among the millions of displaced persons and refugees is a matter of differing assessment in academic research. As advocacy groups, they were initially particularly committed to humanitarian issues, family reunification, burden-sharing, and other economic and social concerns. In addition, they often undertook voluntary work in the areas of preserving culture, customs and traditions, as well as in academic and educational activities (often with a specific regional and thematic focus), as well as organising homecoming gatherings, establishing and maintaining facilities (cultural centres, libraries, archives, museums, local history rooms), publishing local history works – in particular magazines, local history books and periodicals – and undertaking sponsorship schemes.

Neuroder local heritage gathering, Castrop-Rauxel.
The organisation of local heritage gatherings was an important
task for organisations of displaced persons – at both federal
and regional level [Photo: Der Schlesier.
Breslauer Nachrichten 12 (1960), No. 41, Issue A, p. 8,
BKGE Library]

In Austria, the Working Group of Ethnic German Associations in Austria (VLÖ), founded in Linz in 1954, is the umbrella organisation for several ethnic associations and associations of displaced persons. The VLÖ’s aim is to represent the interests of various groups of German-speaking displaced persons from the territories of the former Habsburg Monarchy. The VLÖ sees its role as ensuring that the issue of ‘displacement’ and the associated crimes – which required moral, legal and economic redress – are not forgotten. Compared with the Federal Republic of Germany, the influence of displaced persons’ organisations in Austria remained initially weak, partly because the displaced persons and refugees, as ‘stateless persons’, possessed neither citizenship nor the right to vote. Politically, the organisations for displaced persons in Austria were able to benefit from pan-European developments after 1989 (the ‘Haus der Heimat’ opened in Vienna’s Third District in 1996), as older issues of historical policy were brought back to the fore.

The European Union of Refugees and Displaced Persons (EUFV), founded in Trieste in 2007 through the merger of displaced persons’ organisations from eleven countries (led by the Unione degli Istriani), (EUFV), sees itself as a Europe-wide representative of the rights of refugees and displaced persons, as well as the victims of nationalist aspirations and ethnic cleansing from the period of the Second World War up to the expulsions in the Balkans in the 1990s.^[3] Its key demands include the right of return for all refugees and displaced persons, the resolution of property issues, and the establishment of an institutional forum within the European Union. The EUFV’s activities are viewed controversially; to date, it has not demonstrated any significant capacity to foster integration. The BdV has not joined the EUFV due to “links [of its founding figures] to the far-right spectrum”[4].

The political activities of some organisations representing displaced persons remain controversial to this day. As early as 1965, Eugen Lemberg asked whether the displaced persons were “mediators or troublemakers”^[5] . For a long time, organisations representing displaced persons adopted revisionist positions, rejected the Oder-Neisse line and opposed Willy Brandt’s Ostpolitik as well as the treaties with the East. In 1985, the slogan chosen for the Silesian Gathering – “40 Years of Expulsion – Silesia Remains Ours” – following Chancellor Kohl’s confirmation of his attendance, sparked lively debate. On several occasions, displaced persons’ organisations found themselves in the media due to links with far-right circles. For example, the Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen revoked this status from its youth organisation “Junge LM Ostpreußen” (now: ‘Junge LM Ostdeutschland’) due to its extremist orientation and founded the ‘Bund junges Ostpreußen’ (BJO) as a new youth organisation in 2000.

There has been repeated criticism of the historical narratives – long rooted in an outdated understanding and, in some cases, shaped by stereotypes (the ‘cultural bearer theory’, paradigms of ‘Eastern research’) – propagated by some displaced persons’ organisations.

However, the numerous organisations of displaced persons cannot be characterised uniformly or categorised politically in general terms. The diversity of political opinion and plurality existing within these organisations was, and remains, only partially apparent to the public due to the defining role played by the BdV.

• Wolfgang Kessler (ed.): East German Cultural Heritage in the Federal Republic of Germany. A Handbook of Collections, Associations and Institutions and their Holdings. Munich et al. 1989.
• Manfred Kittel: ‘The Expulsion of the Expellees? The Historical German East in the Culture of Remembrance of the Federal Republic (1961–1982)’. Munich 2007 (Series of the Vierteljahreshefte für Zeitgeschichte, special issue).
• Gregor Ploch: Clemens Riedel (1914–2003) and the Catholic German organisations for displaced persons. Driving force or stumbling block in the process of German–Polish reconciliation. Berlin 2011 (Essays on Theology, the Church and Society in the 20th Century 21).
• Matthias Stickler: ‘East German Means All of Germany’. Organisation, Self-Conception and Objectives Regarding Homeland Policy of the German Displaced Persons’ Associations 1949–1972. Düsseldorf 2004 (Research and Sources on Contemporary History 46).
• Matthias Stickler: The Integration of Displaced Persons in Austria and Germany – A Comparison. In: Michael Gehler, Ingrid Böhler (eds.): A Comparison of Different European Paths. Austria and the Federal Republic of Germany from 1945/49 to the Present. Festschrift for Rolf Steininger on his 65th birthday. Innsbruck 2007, pp. 416–435.
• Tobias Weger: ‘Endless “Struggle for National Identity”?’ Sudeten German Organisations 1945–1955. Frankfurt am Main et al. 2008 (The Germans and Eastern Europe 2).

• kulturportal-west-ost.eu/kulturportal/institutionen/institutionen-nach-name/ (up-to-date directory of organisations for displaced persons)

[1] “For Homeland and Future 1959”, appeal by the BdV, quoted from: Eva Hahn, Hans Henning Hahn: The Expulsion in German Memory. Legends, Myths, History. Paderborn et al. 2010, p. 516.

[2] See www.bund-der-vertriebenen.de/verband/mitgliedsverbaende (accessed 6 August 2021).

[3] See the website www.eufv.de.vu/ (accessed 19 March 2014).

[4] Statement by the BdV dated 18 February 2008: A large majority of the BdV Federal Committee opposes membership of the European Union of Refugees and Displaced Persons (EUFV) in Italy. URL: www.bund-der-vertriebenen.de/presse/index.php3?id=710&druck=1 (accessed 19 March 2014).

[5] Eugen Lemberg: The Displaced Persons – Mediators or Troublemakers? In: Peter Nasarski (ed.): Neighbours in the East. Changes and Insights over Two Post-War Decades. Leer 1965 (Schriften zur deutschen Frage 15), pp. 122–132.

Matthias Weber: Organisations for Displaced Persons. In: Online Encyclopaedia on the Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe, 2014. URL: ome-lexikon.uni-oldenburg.de/p32701 (accessed 6 August 2021).