tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7130813892118656644.post3189043662904022667..comments2024-03-17T19:16:53.218+01:00Comments on Luxarazzi: Luxarazzi 101: Countess Marie Kinsky of Wchinitz and TettauCarolina http://www.blogger.com/profile/00544805975432249553noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7130813892118656644.post-22184117612749625622013-06-17T17:01:45.816+02:002013-06-17T17:01:45.816+02:00The Beneš decrees and the expropriatation of Germa...The Beneš decrees and the expropriatation of Germans is another thing than the detention of Germans in concentration camps. <br /><br />I did not say that all Germans were interred though I could have been clearer by adding numbers. I, however, fail to see how children could be put into those camps because children could have hardly been Nazis. It was the same thing that the Nazis did when they placed family members of anti-Nazis into concentration camps, kin liability or "Sippenhaft" as they called it.<br /><br />---<br /><br />As you are probably aware the Beneš decrees refer to a number of decrees issued by Edvard Beneš.<br /><br />The presidential decree of 19 May 1945 (No. 5/1945) ordered the sequestration of private and business properties of Germans and Hungarians and handed them over into state administration.<br /><br />The presidential decree of 25 October 1945 (No. 108/1945) ordered the confiscation of property owned by persons of German or Hungarian nationality previously sequestrated with the "exception of persons who demonstrate their loyalty to the Czecheslovakian Republic, have never committed any offence against the Czech or the Slovakian nations, and who either actively participated in the fight for the liberation of the country, or have suffered under Nazi or fascist terror."<br /><br />---<br /><br />Considering that someone like Adolph Schwarzenberg *, husband of Princess Hilda of Luxembourg, had their properties taken away, it is (in my opinion) save to assume that the Beneš decrees were indeed used to force the Germans and Hungarians to leave the country. If the German or Hungarian in question could be of any use to the Czecheslovakian state (crucial for the industry e.g.), it was possible for them to remain in the country.<br /><br />---<br /><br />* The Prince Adolph of Schwarzenberg was a staunch anti-nazi. He welcomed Beneš himself at one of his properties in the late 1930's and gave him money for the defense of Czecheslovakia. During the "Anschluss" of Austria, he ordered black flags to be flown over his Viennese properties and put up "Jews welcome" signs at his palace's gardens when all other parks were closed for the Jewish population. He refused to meet Hitler and to replace his Czech managers with ethnic Germans. He then fled the occupied country and took up residence in Italy and later the United States. He remained an anti-nazi and supported the Czecheslovakian resistance.<br /><br />Adolph Schwarzenberg handed over the management of his estates to his adoptive son, Heinrich, who kept up his uncle's stance against the Nazis and in August 1940, all the family's properties within the Third Reich were confiscated. Heinrich Schwarzenberg was arrested on direct orders of Heinrich Himmler, leader of the SS, and lived in police prison and concentration camps for the next four years until he was released and had to work as a forced labouror.<br /><br />I think it is save to assume that Heinrich Schwarzenberg has "suffered under Nazi or fascist terror", that Adolph Schwarzenberg was a "person(s) who demonstrate their (his) loyalty to the Czecheslovakian Republic" and that none of them has "never committed any offence against the Czech or the Slovakian nations". Yet, their properties were taken away based upon the Beneš decrees and the appeal lodged by his lawyer within the two weeks deadline was never considered. In 1947 the Lex Schwarzenberg came into place and only in 1989 after the Velvet Revolution the family got parts of their properties back.SydneyLuxnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7130813892118656644.post-52337644749626812472013-06-17T13:02:19.903+02:002013-06-17T13:02:19.903+02:00Just one point: It is not true that all ethnic Ger...Just one point: It is not true that all ethnic Germans were interred. In fact - it was important if they declared during the war being of German nationality, which in fact many did (of course big number did it because of fear), but some not. Many Germans stayed after war just because they were explicit anti-nazis during the war (but of course some of those were also interred or they went to Germany voluntarily). There was also chance for those who were planned to be interred to prove they were not collaboraters or something like this. I did not studied Beneš decrees a lot but this all is in those decrees as I read iit n one book dealing with this problem of Beneš decrees. Sad is that Beneš decrees are still misinterpreted...Duciinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7130813892118656644.post-62276815367630700092013-06-05T23:04:17.245+02:002013-06-05T23:04:17.245+02:00Have always wanted to know more about this Princes...Have always wanted to know more about this Princess, so many thanks. Am enjoying reading about the Liechtensteins - the new kids on the blog :))kathymacnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7130813892118656644.post-37790789627510955622013-06-05T17:53:11.488+02:002013-06-05T17:53:11.488+02:00I know that it's simply the Czech word for con...I know that it's simply the Czech word for concentration camp. People often forget that concentration camps aren't a purely German thing. The Nazis actually took the word from the British, who had used it during the Anglo-Boer War.<br /><br />As you said, there is a difference between concentration and death camps. There were hundreds of concentration camps in Nazi-Germany and the occupied regions, while there were only six death camps (Auschwitz-Birkenau, Chelmno, Sobibor, Majdanek, Belzec and Treblinka). While concentration camps main purpose was to inter people, the aim of of death or extermination camps was to systematically kill people.<br /><br />After the end of World War II, Germans was interred in the Czech camps without any trial but due to the fact that they were Germans, regardless whether they had been Nazis or not (many in fact were children). There was great hunger, they were forced laborers, faced physical and psychological violence and medical care was largely insufficient. The Manchester Guardian reported that the number of calories given to each prisoner on a daily basis was below the number Bergen-Belsen, a German concentration camp (where Anne Frank died). Czech historian Tomáš Staněk estimates that between 1945 and 1946, 24,000 to 40,000 Germans died in the Czech camps.<br /><br />In no way it is implied in the article that the Czech concentration camps were death camps.SydneyLuxnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7130813892118656644.post-57839883772639070292013-06-05T17:03:41.764+02:002013-06-05T17:03:41.764+02:00Koncentračni Tabor, a Czech concentration camp - i...Koncentračni Tabor, a Czech concentration camp - it is not a name of camp it is just czech term which means concentration camp. I woul also like to note, that there is a difference between concentration camps and extermination camps (for people who do not distinguish it, it is a quite big difference). From your article it looks that those camps were similar to nazi ones, but they weren´t (that is probably also one reason for changing the term), its purpose was different (I mean purpose after WW2 and before communist seizure of power).Duciinoreply@blogger.com