Politicians clash over ambassador’s attendance of Sudeten German meeting

Communist Party chairman Vojtěch Filip has criticised the participation of the Czech ambassador to Berlin in a meeting of the Sudeten German Homeland Association last month, accusing Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček of trying to demolish the Beneš decrees.

Mr. Filip said the Sudeten German group could not be a partner of the government and that he had never felt such disgust at a Czech foreign minister.

For his part, Mr. Petříček said nobody had questioned the Beneš decrees. He said Mr. Filip was acting like a parasite toward the past and what’s more was doing so a month late.

The Beneš decrees sanctioned the expulsion of Czechoslovakia’s German minority and the confiscation of their property after WWII.

Author: Ian Willoughby