Expulsion and Reconciliation

Chancellor Angela Merkel repeated her support for a controversial memorial to Germans expelled from eastern Europe after World War II during a speech on Saturday.

"The history of flight and expulsion affects us all," Merkel told a crowd of several hundred members of an association for expellees. "It is part of our national identity and shared cultural memory."

Merkel was speaking in Berlin to members of the Federation of Expellees (BdV) on a day they recognize as the Tag der Heimat, or "Day of the Homeland." The BdV is moving forward with plans for a memorial and documentation center dedicated to the 12 to 14 million Germans who were ejected or fled homes in eastern Europe after the end of the war.

The Center Against Expulsions, slated to occupy a floor of a Berlin office building, will also incorporate the stories of other displaced groups throughout history. It will cost around 30 million euros ($43 million) to build.

Remembering with sensitivity

Merkel said those who left or were forced from homes in Hungary, Poland and then Czechoslovakia should become "ambassadors of reconciliation," having forsworn revenge and violence in the group's charter.

However, Merkel was careful to note that the suffering of those expelled was the direct result of Germany's own aggression and atrocities during World War II. She noted the need to be "sensitive in our arguments."

"We will not forget: this was the undeniable result of a German war" and Nazi tyranny, said Merkel. "We recognize our responsibility for the darkest chapter in German history."

The league's president, Erika Steinbach, is also a member of Merkel's Christian Democrats. Steinbach was dropped from a list of nominees for the memorial's board in March due to strong objections from the Polish government. They have accused her of emphasizing expellees' suffering over that of Germany's victims. Millions of Poles were killed or forced from their homes following the German invasion in 1939.

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Editor: Holly Fox