Organizované divoké odsuny? Úloha ústředních státních orgánů při provádění „evakuace“ německého obyvatelstva (květen až září 1945)
Organized Spontaneous "Transfers"? The Role of the Central State Organs in "Evacuating" the German Population from May to September 1945 (P. I)

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this long article based on a large number of records that were till now ei¬ther underused by scholars or completely unknown to them is to outline the current state of what we know about the role of the top-level Czechoslovak authorities in the first phase of the mass deportations of Germans from the Bohemian Lands. The core of the problem, argue the authors, turns out to be how to determine the extent played in initiating and carrying out the expulsions in 1945 by, on the one hand, local ‘spontaneous,’ uncoordinated activity, not directly run by the central authorities, and, on the other, the instructions and orders of the central state organs. Chronologically and concisely, the article attempts to present a basic overview of the important results of debates at the top level and the decisions resulting from them, which then in the form of set regulations also affected various sides of the preparations for, and carrying out, of the ‘evacuation’ of the German population from Czechoslovakia by the autumn of 1945. The authors also pose questions relevant from the point of view of a more detailed, deeper clarification of the subject. Is it possible to trace a certain development of opinion in individuals and bodies which were one way or another involved in the matter? What interactions came about amongst the participants and of what importance were they to the adopted solution to the ‘German Question’? The article seeks to present a well-rounded picture of the whole complex of phenomena connected with the ‘spontaneous (divoký) expulsion’ including its organizational and technical aspects, the local conditions, and its special features. Various acts of discrimination and limitation against those labelled ‘politically unreliable’ (státně nespolehlivý), acts of vengeance and post¬war ‘excesses,’ and the conditions in the camps and prisons are not the focus of the article, since the authors consider them in other works.

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