The West German Public

Abstract

In 1961, Hans Krüger, President of the newly organized Federation of the Expellees (BdV), declared that the fusion of regional and homeland provincial federations had strengthend the political position of the expellees in the Federal Republic. Owing to “a harmonious relationship” between the expellees and the political parties, he said, West Germany’s foreign policy was based on a position that was mutually agreed upon:

All parties have repeatedly recognized the right of self-determination and the right to the homeland. Reunification and restoration of a united German state has likewise been made a basis for policy formulation. We are at one with the important political forces on questions relating to the Oder-Neisse territories. The right of self-determination also governs the claims of our ethnic groups outside the Reich areas, especially the Sudeten Germans.¹