Ambassador Kafka: Relations between Czechs and Sudeten-Germans have improved significantly

Relations between Czechs and Sudeten Germans have improved significantly in recent years, and the days when Czechia viewed conferences of the Landsmannschaft with apprehension are now a thing of the past, the Czech ambassador to Germany, Tomáš Kafka, said in an address to the annual gathering of Sudeten Germans in Augspurk, Bavaria. The Sudeten German Landsmannschaft which organizes annual gatherings is one of the biggest organisations representing ethnic Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia after World War II. Ambassador Kafka attended the meeting as the official representative of the Czech government. He conveyed to the gathering greetings from President Petr Pavel, saying that the Czech head of state is very pleased with the direction and dynamism with which Czech-German relations are developing.

In the past, Czech-German relations were burdened by the past, driven also by Czech fears of potential property demands from descendants of Germans expelled after the war. The moto of this year’s gathering, which was held three weeks before the European Parliament elections, is Sudeten Germans and Czechs - Together for Europe.