Government acknowledges merit of German anti-fascists

The government has agreed to acknowledge the merits of former Czechoslovak citizens of German nationality who actively stood against Nazism and remained loyal to the country during the Second World War. The government also expressed regrets over the wrongs they suffered in post war Czechoslovakia and apologised for the injustice done to them by the Communist regime. The proposal of a conciliatory gesture was first put forward by Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek last month.

After World War II, some 200,000 Germans stayed in the then Czechoslovakia, while another 2.5 million ethnic Germans were deported from the country on the basis of the post-war Benes decrees and their property was confiscated. The Germans allowed to stay in Czechoslovakia lost their property, too, and were stripped of Czechoslovak citizenship which was returned to them only after 1953.