Centre Against Expulsions

The Centre Against Expulsions, known in German as Zentrum gegen Vertreibungen, was a German museum and documentation-centre project focused on the history of forced migration, expulsions and ethnic cleansing in Europe. Its principal emphasis was the flight and expulsion of Germans from Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe during and after the Second World War, including flight from the advancing Red Army, unregulated expulsions before the war ended, and expulsions authorized or confirmed in the context of the Potsdam settlement. The initiative was established by the Federation of Expellees, the umbrella organization representing German refugee and expellee associations. On 6 September 2000, the federation created the Foundation Centre Against Expulsions to develop a permanent institutional home for its historical documentation and traveling exhibitions. The proposed institution was intended to be more than a memorial to German victims. Its stated program included documentation of the settlement, cultural history, deportation, forced labor, torture and later emigration of German communities; analysis of the integration of millions of expellees into postwar German society; and comparative documentation of expulsions and genocides affecting other peoples, particularly in Europe. The foundation presented the project as a contribution to human-rights education and reconciliation, with a proposed memorial space for mourning, sympathy and forgiveness. It also associated the project with the Franz Werfel Human Rights Award. The initiative became politically controversial because of its association with Erika Steinbach, then president of the Federation of Expellees, and because critics feared that a German-focused institution could detach German suffering from the Nazi war of aggression, occupation and extermination policies that shaped the postwar expulsions. Polish and some German, Czech and Polish historians argued that the proposed centre risked creating moral equivalence between Germans who were expelled and populations subjected to Nazi persecution and occupation. Others supported a European framework for remembering forced displacement while rejecting what they saw as a nationally centered presentation. In the mid-2000s, the project entered federal political discussions under the name Visible Sign against Flight and Expulsion. In March 2008, that name replaced the original project designation. In 2008, the German federal government and parliament provided for a state-supported institution in Berlin, to be administered through a Foundation Flight, Expulsion, Reconciliation subordinate to the Foundation German Historical Museum. That later federal framework assumed responsibility for the permanent documentation project and placed it in the Deutschlandhaus near the former Anhalter Bahnhof site in Berlin-Kreuzberg. The Centre Against Expulsions therefore became principally the name of the original federation-backed initiative and foundation rather than the final title of the federal museum institution. Its historical significance lies in the debate it generated about German memory culture, the place of expellee history in national remembrance, and the need to situate postwar displacement within the broader European history of Nazi expansion, genocide, war and forced migration.

The Centre Against Expulsions emerged from the postwar German expellee movement's effort to preserve and publicly present the history of German flight and expulsion. The Federation of Expellees, founded as the principal umbrella organization for German refugees and expellees, had organized exhibitions and historical activities but sought a permanent venue. On 6 September 2000 it established the Foundation Centre Against Expulsions in Wiesbaden. Erika Steinbach, who also led the Federation of Expellees, became the foundation's principal political representative, while Peter Glotz served as a second head until his death in 2005. The foundation's proposed museum was designed around several related objectives. It aimed to record the settlement and cultural history of German communities in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, the wartime and postwar deportations and expulsions affecting them, their experiences of forced labor and violence, and their later migration. It also intended to examine how millions of displaced Germans were integrated into the Federal Republic after 1945. A further objective was comparative: the foundation stated that the institution should document expulsions and genocides involving other European peoples rather than treat German displacement as an isolated national story. Its proposed memorial architecture included a contemplative rotunda intended to create space for grief, compassion and forgiveness. The foundation also linked its work to the Franz Werfel Human Rights Award. The project became a major issue in German and Polish memory politics. Supporters argued that the suffering and displacement of German civilians had been underrepresented in public remembrance and that a dedicated institution could contribute to a more complete European history of forced migration. International figures, German politicians, writers and historians expressed support for some form of documentation. Critics, however, feared that the proposed centre's political sponsorship and emphasis on German expellees could produce a decontextualized account. A 2003 petition associated with historians and scholars including Hans Henning Hahn, Eva Hahn, Alexandra Kurth, Samuel Salzborn and Tobias Weger warned that the project might nationalize social conflicts and weaken the historical connection between German expulsions, Nazi aggression and the broader wartime destruction of Europe. Ralph Giordano withdrew his earlier support while continuing to defend Steinbach against personal attacks. The strongest criticism came from Poland. Critics argued that the centre could imply an equivalence between the suffering of Germans expelled after the war and the suffering of Jews, Poles and other populations subjected to Nazi occupation, persecution and genocide. Marek Edelman described the initiative as nationalistic and politically motivated. The Polish government objected particularly to Erika Steinbach's involvement in Polish-German historical issues and promoted a broader multinational framework for remembering the victims of totalitarian regimes, including through the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity. German critics such as former foreign minister Joschka Fischer likewise insisted that German victims could not be presented without acknowledging Germany's responsibility for the war and its crimes. The project gained a federal pathway in the mid-2000s. The 2005 coalition agreement between the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union included the goal of creating a visible memorial institution. In 2008, the project was publicly renamed Visible Sign against Flight and Expulsion. On 3 September 2008, the federal government approved a plan for a centre in Berlin's Deutschlandhaus near the former Anhalter Bahnhof site. Parliament subsequently enacted the relevant law on 29 December 2008. The legislation assigned the documentation function to a Foundation Flight, Expulsion, Reconciliation subordinate to the federal Foundation German Historical Museum. Its statutory mission was to establish a permanent exhibition on twentieth-century flight and expulsion in the context of the Second World War, Nazi expansion and extermination policy, and their consequences; organize special exhibitions; disseminate research; collect and assess written, material and eyewitness sources; and cooperate with museums and research institutions in Germany and abroad. This federal arrangement changed the institutional trajectory of the original Centre Against Expulsions. The original name continued to identify the Federation of Expellees' foundation and initiative, while the state-backed project proceeded under a different foundation and a reconciliation-oriented mandate. The centre is consequently best understood as a historically influential proposal and foundation-backed documentation initiative, rather than simply as the final name of the later federal museum institution.

• 2008

  Project renamed Visible Sign against Flight and Expulsion

  [1]Centre Against Expulsionsen.wikipedia.org

  The project adopted a new public name as the federal government developed a state-supported institutional model.

• 2008

  Federal law establishes the institutional framework

  [1]Centre Against Expulsionsen.wikipedia.org

  The federal government and parliament provided for a Berlin centre operated through the Foundation Flight, Expulsion, Reconciliation under the Foundation German Historical Museum.

• 2005

  Federal coalition backs a visible sign

  [1]Centre Against Expulsionsen.wikipedia.org

  The SPD and CDU/CSU coalition agreement included the objective of establishing a visible institution devoted to flight and expulsion.

• 2003

  Scholarly petition criticizes the proposed centre

  [1]Centre Against Expulsionsen.wikipedia.org

  A petition signed by several hundred scholars and public figures warned that the project could present a one-sided and insufficiently contextualized account of the past.

• 2000

  Foundation Centre Against Expulsions established

  [1]Centre Against Expulsionsen.wikipedia.org

  The Federation of Expellees created the foundation in Wiesbaden to develop a permanent centre documenting German and European expulsions.

A German expellee-sponsored remembrance and documentation initiative seeking to place the expulsion of Germans after the Second World War within a broader history of European forced migration, ethnic cleansing and human-rights violations.

• Museum and memorial

  Permanent documentation centre

  The proposed core institution was to document the flight and expulsion of Germans after the Second World War alongside other European cases of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing. The concept included historical interpretation, source collections, eyewitness testimony, educational material and a memorial space for mourning and reconciliation.

• Historical exhibition

  Traveling exhibition on German expulsions

  The Federation of Expellees maintained an exhibition on the flight and expulsion of Germans that was shown at changing locations in Germany. The exhibition served as a practical precursor and advocacy instrument for the proposed permanent centre.

• Human-rights award

  Franz Werfel Human Rights Award

  The foundation associated its work with an award intended to recognize people whose actions strengthened public responsibility for human rights. It formed part of the foundation's effort to frame remembrance of expulsion within a broader moral and human-rights agenda.

• 2003

  Controversy over historical framing and national memory

  Opponents argued that the proposed institution could foreground German suffering without sufficient treatment of Nazi aggression, occupation and genocide, thereby encouraging moral equivalence or an ethnicized reading of history.

  Source

• 2003

  Polish criticism of Erika Steinbach's role

  Polish critics objected to Steinbach's leading role in a project addressing Polish-German history and portrayed the initiative as nationalistic and politically charged.

  Source

Read more

• 2005Visible Sign political advocacy

  Germany

  The project gained support in the federal coalition agreement, giving the proposed memorial a formal place in national cultural and historical policy.

  Outcome. The initiative was renamed in 2008 and incorporated into a federal foundation structure.

  Source
• 2000Permanent Centre Against Expulsions initiative

  Germany · Europe

  The Federation of Expellees launched a foundation-backed effort to turn its existing expellee documentation and exhibitions into a permanent museum and memorial institution.

  Outcome. The original project later moved into a federal framework and continued under the Visible Sign and Foundation Flight, Expulsion, Reconciliation concepts.

  Source

• 2008

  Rename the project as Visible Sign against Flight and ExpulsionStrategy

  Background

  The original federation-backed proposal was being reshaped through federal political negotiations and needed a designation suitable for a broader public institution.

  Action taken

  The project adopted the name Sichtbares Zeichen gegen Flucht und Vertreibung.

  Aftermath

  The project proceeded toward a federal foundation and was no longer simply identified with the original Centre Against Expulsions foundation.

  Source

• 2008

  Transfer the main institutional project to a federal foundationStrategy

  Background

  Debate over political ownership and historical framing led the German government and parliament to establish a state-backed structure for a Berlin documentation centre.

  Action taken

  The federal framework placed the project under the Foundation Flight, Expulsion, Reconciliation, subordinate to the Foundation German Historical Museum.

  Aftermath

  The federal institution received a reconciliation-focused statutory mission covering European twentieth-century flight and expulsion, Nazi expansion and extermination policy, research, exhibitions and source collection.

  Source

1. 1Centre Against Expulsionsen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Centre Against Expulsions official websitez-g-v.de