Abstract
The Bene[sbreve] decrees resulted in the expulsion of over three million Sudeten Germans from Czechoslovakia in 1945. Most of these expelled Germans settled in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). Throughout the Cold War their demands for restitution and for the annulment of the Bene[sbreve] decrees disturbed relations between Bonn and Prague. In the 1990s German and Czech leaders tried to 'draw a line across history,' but the prospect of EU enlargement made it impossible to ignore the legal controversies surrounding the Bene[sbreve] decrees. In 2002 disputes over the Bene[sbreve] decrees upset Czech relations with Germany and Austria. The central question in these disputes was: can the Czechs be allowed into the EU without annulling the Bene[sbreve] decrees? This question created divisions between and within Germany, the Czech Republic and the European Union, but in December 2002 the Czechs were invited to join the EU without any modification of the Bene[sbreve] Decrees.
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