The Sudeten Germans would like a congress in the Czech Republic, but they are waiting for a signal from Prague – ČT24 – Czech Television
“In many Czech villages, Sudeten Germans are already meeting, it works great,” said Posselt about the cooperation of Czechs with SL, which represent the interests of Sudeten Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia and their descendants after World War II.
Asked if the congress in the Czech Republic would be a test especially for the Czechs, Posselt replied that it would be another step forward. “It would simply be another step forward in the European spirit and based on several hundred years of coexistence.”
According to Posselt, it is clear that the topic of a possible congress in the Czech Republic arouses extraordinary opposition among Czech nationalists. “The debate needs to continue. We will organize the congress at the moment when the Czech Republic sends us a signal that such a meeting will be in order, “he remarked, adding that the Sudeten Germans are waiting in peace for further development.
I hope to listen to a stable Czech government
With regard to the upcoming parliamentary elections, which the Czech Republic and Germany are waiting for in the autumn, Posselt said he wanted a stable government. He has no doubt that a stable government is emerging in Germany. “I would also like it in the Czech Republic. And it doesn’t matter what it looks like, “he said.
Regarding the incumbent government of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (YES), Posselt said that due to the support of communists and nationalists, on whom the prime minister is dependent in parliament, he improved the rapprochement of Czechs and Sudeten Germans as much as the cabinets of former prime ministers Bohuslav Sobotka (ex CSSD) and Petr Nečas. (ODS). “The current government continues to converge, but significant progress is lacking compared to previous cabinets,” he said.
Posselt spoke about the possibility of a congress in the Czech Republic at a Sudeten German meeting in Regensburg in 2019, when he said that time was not yet ripe, but in a few years it could happen. The German Minister of the Interior and former Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) added that they consider the idea of a congress of Sudeten Germans in their former homeland to be great.
Posselt: Czechs, Germans and Sudeten Germans demand each other
Due to the pandemic, the current Sudeten German Congress is being held in an alternative date in Munich; the meeting was originally planned in Hof on the Pentecostal weekend, which this year fell from 21 to 23 May. Last year, the traditional action did not take place due to coronavirus. Posselt said that the fact that they met was a cultural encouragement not only for the Sudeten Germans, but also a signal of a new beginning for Czech-Sudeten German relations. “It is a signal for the development of cooperation in the heart of Europe.”
According to Posselt, until the fall of communism, the Czech Republic was on the edge of the Iron Curtain, which separated the West from the sphere of the Soviet Union. According to him, the same was true for Bavaria, which in turn lay on the edge of the Western world. “And thirty years after the fall of the curtain, the edge of Europe has become the heart of Europe. It is an extraordinary opportunity for us and also an incredible responsibility, “he said, adding that the Czechs, Germans and Sudeten Germans need each other. “There’s a piece of the other in each of us.”
According to Posselt, the role of the Sudeten Germans is clear for the future. “We have lived in the Czech lands for centuries, now we are the fourth Bavarian tribe. We have the logical function of a bridge between the Czech Republic and Germany, “he said. Bavaria, which officially took over the Sudeten Germans after World War II, is therefore the reason for the so-called fourth Bavarian tribe after the old Bavarians, Swabians and Franks.
About three million Germans were expelled from Czechoslovakia after World War II. According to the Czech-German Commission of Historians, fifteen to thirty thousand Germans still lost their lives. During the previous more than six years of Nazi rule, around 320,000 to 350,000 inhabitants of the former Czechoslovakia perished.