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The news agency Reuters reported in 2009 that a mass grave containing 1,800 bodies was found in Malbork, Poland. Polish authorities suspected that they were German civilians that were killed by advancing Soviet forces. A Polish archeologist supervising the exhumation, said, "We are dealing with a mass grave of civilians, probably of German origin. The presence of children . . . suggests they were civilians."
During World War II, the German Nazi regime committed great crimes against innocent civilian victims: Jews, Poles, Russians, Serbs, and other people of Central and Eastern Europe. At war's end, however, innocent German civilians in turn became victims of crimes against humanity. Forgotten Voices lets these victims of ethnic cleansing tell their story in their own words, so that they and what they endured are not forgotten. This volume is an important supplement to the voices of victims of totalitarianism and has been written in order to keep the historical record clear.
The root cause of this tragedy was ultimately the Nazi German regime. As a leading German historian, Hans-Ulrich Wehler has noted, "Germany should avoid creating a cult of victimization, and thus forgetting Auschwitz and the mass killing of Russians." Ulrich Merten argues that applying collective punishment to an entire people is a crime against humanity. He concludes that this should also be recognized as a European catastrophe, not only a German one, because of its magnitude and the broad violation of human rights that occurred on European soil.
Supplementary maps and pictures are available online at http://www.forgottenvoices.net
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About the Author:
Review:
Ulrich Merten was born in Berlin, Germany, and came to the United States as a small child before the Second World War. He was a senior executive of Bank of America, working almost exclusively in Latin America and the Caribbean. Currently, he is vice president and treasurer of a non-governmental organization involved in democracy building in Cuba.
"[T]his is a valuable, fascinating, and disturbing book. It is the 'forgotten voices' that make this book come alive and make it a valuable source, particularly for advanced undergraduate students."
—Dolores L. Augustine, The Historian
“FORGOTTEN VOICES: THE EXPULSION OF THE GERMANS FROM EASTERN EUROPE AFTER WORLD WAR II provides scholarly account that analyzes the expulsion of Germans across Eastern Europe after the second world war, and is a fine pick for any studying the aftermath of and its wide-ranging implications. A mass grave of German civilians was discovered in Poland 2009, prompting insights and investigations into what amounted to atrocities committed against non-military German civilians. This book considers the nature of crimes against Germans and humanity, and gathers an impressive collection of source materials documenting the 'ethnic cleansing' of Germans from Europe post-war. It's a sobering, enlightening account for any military or social issues collection concerned with the aftermath of World War II.”
—California Bookwatch
“Merten states that it is a ‘crime against humanity’ to use ‘collective’ punishment against ‘individual’ crimes. Since there is no such thing as a collective mind, a collective conscience, a collective decision, a collective human body, it is an absolute truth that there cannot be a collective punishment that would be just . . . . This is a ‘must read’ book for our time.”
—Ruben Lackman, bismarcktribune.com
"Though Merten's account does take sides in an argument, his scholarly tone, the materials he employs, and his explicit denials of any intention to equate the fate of the expellees to the Jews in the Holocaust, and/or to relativize the Holocaust, suggests strongly that he is open to further discussion about the character of the expellees. As such this is a sound and level-headed introduction for Americans."
—John Flynn, professor emeritus, Sewanee: The University of the South
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- PublisherRoutledge
- Publication date2012
- ISBN 10 1412843022
- ISBN 13 9781412843027
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages356
- Rating
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Forgotten Voices: The Expulsion of the Germans from Eastern Europe After World War II
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Routledge/Transaction, USA
(2012)
ISBN 10: 1412843022
ISBN 13: 9781412843027
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Hardcover, in dust jacket. Clean, tight and unmarked. Very neat -- a sound and handsome copy. Size: 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. Book. Seller Inventory # 75099gh
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