Gyökerek • A Dráva Múzeum tanulmánykötete, 2005

Banicz László: 20. századi kálvária – a német kisebbség kitelepítésének politikai háttere

Banicz László: 20. századi kálvária - A német kisebbség kitelepítésének politikai háttere LÁSZLÓ BANICZ TRIBULATIONS IN THE 20

TH CENTURY THE POLITICAL BACKGROUND OF THE GERMAN MINORITY'S DEPORTATION SUMMARY The debates about the deportation of the Germans from Hungary still continue. Despite the recent researches even the exact number of the deportated people can't be known. From the people who were compelled to resettlement some men weren't effectively deportated. In those villages where the proportion of the Germans was relatively low the deportating resolutions were absolutely disregarded. Some of the people of German origin moved into pure Hungarian settlements and they took job as farmhands. These families also lost their property and became deprived but at least the majority of them weren't deportated. After the repeal of the restrictic laws in 1949 many of them returned to their home villages. It shows the cynicism of the regime that in a paradoxical way the people in deep poverty were condemned to be 'kulák' and by the reason of it they were dragged to labour camps. The deportation started in 1946 february and on the grounds of the estimates during this tragic times till the summer of 1948 approximately 216.753 people were deportated into the different occupied zones of Germany. In 1946 and 1947 most of them arrived at the American zone while their smaller group got in the area occupied by the Soviet Union. After some years many of them returned from the latter place because of the misery. About 460 "Svábs" (Hungarian-Germans) departed from Bares to the West. Some 80-85 people left our town voluntarily in 1944 december by train. After staying a year in Deutschlandsberg in Steiermark (Austria) the Hungarian-Germans who came from Bares were transported by the English military-authority to the contentration camp of Kapfenberg. They moved to Sinsheim in 1946 August and a lot of them found a new home there. In 1948, the subsequently deportated group of the 379 people arrived at the environment of Dresden and Heidenau. 110