Die sogenannten Beneš-Dekrete im öffentlichen Diskurs in Deutschland und Österreich und ihre Auswirkung auf die deutsch-tschechischen und österreichisch-tschechischen Beziehungen nach dem Fall des Eisernen Vorhangs

Abstract

The demand for the repeal of the so‐called Beneš decrees, raised by associations of expellees and parties closely related to them (the CSU and FPÖ respectively), primarily meant restitution or compensation for expropriated property of German expellees from Czechoslovakia. This question was deliberately excluded from German‐Czechoslovak/Czech post‐war treaties. In 2002, the CSU tried to make the repeal of the decrees a precondition for EU membership, because they allegedly were incompatible with EU law and values. After the Czech Republic’s EU accession, the topic has largely disappeared from the German public discourse. No future German federal government will raise or support claims for compensation against the Czech Republic, while in Austria the demand for the repeal of the decrees is raised whenever the FPÖ forms part of the government.