A file of correspondence and press material concerning West German refugees. The documents discuss a speech given by Franz Josef Strauss, the Chairman of the West German Christian Democratic Union of Germany, suggesting that a reunified Germany should attempt to "struggle for every metre of the German Eastern territories", and that German expellees were "the victims of Soviet expansionism". The documents also cover Strauss' assertion that certain left-wing circles in Germany incorrectly claimed that the sufferings of the inhabitants of Germany's former eastern territories were retribution for the crimes committed by Nazi Germany. Other documents in the file comment on a rally of former inhabitants of Silesia in Hanover, attended by around 250,000 people including Ludwig Erhard, the West German chancellor, and Willy Brandt, the mayor of West Berlin, which was notably restrained in its advocacy of a reunified Germany regaining its former eastern territories.
- Collection ID
- FO371
- Countries
- East Germany West Germany
- Department Reference
- File 1823
- Document Type
- Correspondence Press and Media
- File Reference
- FO 371/183167
- Identifier
- 10.1080/cwee.fo371.183167
- Note
- The following item has been removed from this file due to copyright restrictions:Deutschland-Union-Dienst, 5 May 1965, The Nuremberg Declaration of the CDU/CSU.
- Pages
- 15
- Persons Discussed
- Franz Josef Strauss Ludwig Erhard Willy Brandt
- Published in
- United Kingdom
- Subject Countries
- Germany (East and West)
- Themes
- International Relations Populations and Social Policy
