Economy of Ethnic Cleansing - The Transformation of the German-Czech Borderlands After World War II

Examines the economic motivations and complications that drove ethnic cleansing in the post-World War II Sudetenland.

List of contents

Introduction; 1. In the wake of war: expulsions, violence and borderland life; 2. National divisions: resettlement, local power and settler conflicts; 3. Persian rugs and well-appointed farms: the politics of expropriation; 4. German workers: Czech settlers and labor politics; 5. Consolidating borderland industries: from confiscation to nationalization; 6. borderlands transformed: diverse communities and the construction of socialism; Conclusion.

About the author

David Wester Gerlach is Associate Professor at Saint Peter's University, New Jersey. His current research explores restitution, reparation, and other compensation programs stemming from World War II, alongside the study of forced migration. He was awarded a Richard M. Hunt Fellowship for the Study of German Politics, Society, and Culture by the American Council on Germany in 2017, the R. John Rath Prize for Best Article in the 2007 Austrian History Yearbook, and the 2006–7 Best Dissertation by the Austrian Cultural Forum.

Summary

This study explores the local dynamics of ethnic cleansing in the German-Czech borderlands after World War II. It demonstrates that resettlers' search for social mobility, the government's contradictory policies and the need for German workers profoundly influenced the nature of ethnic cleansing in the context of the early Cold War.

Product details

• Authors: David W Gerlach, David W. Gerlach, David Wester Gerlach
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.10.2017
• EAN: 9781107196193
• ISBN: 978-1-107-19619-3
• No. of pages: 308
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > 20th century (up to 1945); Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000, European History, Germany, HISTORY / Europe / General, Second World War, Later 20th century c 1950 to c 1999, c 1940 to c 1949, c 1939 to c 1945 (including WW2), Genocide & ethnic cleansing, Genocide and ethnic cleansing, c 1945 to c 2000 (Post-war period), Former Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovakia