Do most people in prussia want to be part of Poland.

[Desmond Hawkins]

Prussia does not exist anymore - do you mean [wiki]Kaliningrad Oblast?[/wiki]

Highly unlikely for the time being, as the area was ethnically cleansed as a result of WW2; it's entirely (well, 82.37&#37 Russian now.

Actually, Kaliningrad only represents only about half of the former East Prussia. The majority of the combined Prussia lies in Poland now.

 

[Goonie]

Germans were expelled from Poland between 1945 and 1947.

 

[Bill3000]

Actually, Kaliningrad only represents only about half of the former East Prussia. The majority of the combined Prussia lies in Poland now.

Given the context, (which there isn't much) I'm quite sure he meant East Prussia, particularly the area of its most significant city.

 

[Ceritoglu]

I believe the area you're describing is known as 'the Polish Corridor' - it was given to the Poles as a 'corridor' to the world (since it gives them naval ports). The Germans don't have a legitimate claim over the region, and didn't in the Second World War either. I don't think the UN principle of Self-Determination supercedes International Treaties - if it does, then the Germans may have had a claim back in the 30s, but definitely no more.

 

[Winner]

I don't really see how it's pointless - one doesn't need to speak German to be a german, given the right of return; it's a matter of both having german ancestry and identifying as a german, in this case. 1/3 of Czechs could have a significant level of German ancestry, but what matters is whether or not they idenitfy as a German, which they probably don't.

Language is a part of your identity. I find it a bit absurd when people, for example in America, identify with the home country of their ancestors, when they don't know anything about it, when they don't speak the language and when they're totally American.

I know that nationality is partially a matter of how you feel, but this has to be reflected by objective criteria as well.

Besides, it probably doesn't help that the Czech Republic doesn't offer minority language rights at the moment.

It does, we just don't have any minorities large enough and we're not going to support some ultra-minority languages just to have them.

Well, my only point was that Silesia is more historically german that the Sudentenland - not a matter of whether or not such a thing should be done at all. The issue had been first and foremost whether such a move was justified - not that it should be rescinded. Besides, if there's anyone to really blame, it's the Russians.

Nothing of that could be justified today. It was a large scale ethnic cleansing, in both Czechoslovakia and Poland. But it was different time.

Ideally, the EU would be eventually set up in such a way such that borders are pretty much meaningless, and that the germans who would want to move into their ancestral areas could if they wanted to. I don't think anyone is seriously suggesting to give Silesia et al back to Germany. The population transfers that would be required would be a disaster.

I guess a lot of people wouldn't mind living in Germany

 

[Commy]

Nowadays, certain groups of Germans (usually those who were expelled and their descendants) want to get "their" property in these parts of Poland and Bohemia back, which is kinda provocative and stirs up emotions in Poland and the Czech rep.

But if this property was not get by Poland or former Czechoslovakia (Bohemia and Moravia?) as reparations, or not officially (i.e. by the law) nationalized, this countries have to give this property back to Germans.
I think during Soviet time it was dangerous for Germany even to say about getting back its property. But know USSR will not stand up for you country, and private property will be given to its legal owners.

 

[Commy]

No, even the Poles don't want to be part of Poland.

 

[Winner]

But if this property was not get by Poland or former Czechoslovakia (Bohemia and Moravia?) as reparations, or not officially (i.e. by the law) nationalized, this countries have to give this property back to Germans.
I think during Soviet time it was dangerous for Germany even to say about getting back its property. But know USSR will not stand up for you country, and private property will be given to its legal owners.

We have an useful thing called "Benešovy dekrety" (Benes Decrees) which say no property seized after WW2 can be given back to rightfully expelled Germans. Very un-PC law, if you ask me

 

[Commy]

And nobody appealed this decrets in European Court of HR? I think its temporarily.

 

[Bill3000]

And nobody appealed this decrets in European Court of HR? I think its temporarily.

The decrees, or the land? For the land, I don't think either Poland, Russia, Ukraine, or Belarus want to lose any land.

As much as it was an atrocity, there was the advantage of making a homogeneous population in Poland.

 

[Winner]

As much as it was an atrocity, there was the advantage of making a homogeneous population in Poland.

Exactly. Germans really wouldn't have liked living with Poles, Czechs or other nations they attacked and terrorized.

The ethnic cleansing was wrong from the today's perspective, but back than, it was the least wrong option.

 

[REDY]

And nobody appealed this decrets in European Court of HR? I think its temporarily.

Its not temporarily. If it would be abandoned, the relationships between Germans and Czechs should get worse again. After 1989 some expelled Germans got some poverty because they proved that they or their fathers were not nazists, but nobody from them want realy live in poor Czech Republic now.