The German government will be represented at the Sudeten German congress in Brno, scheduled for 22-25 May, as Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, responsible for issues related to displaced persons, plans to attend, his ministry’s spokesperson told CTK today.
Bavarian Minister-President Markus Soder had also previously announced his visit.
This congress is organised by the Sudeten German Landsmannschaft (SL), which represents the interests of Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia after WWII and their descendants, and will be held in the Czech Republic for the first time this year. The Sudeten Germans were invited to Brno by representatives of the Meeting Brno cultural festival.
“I can confirm that Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt will attend this year’s Sudeten German Congress in Brno,” a spokesperson for the German Interior Ministry told CTK.
This week, Dobrindt attended the annual reception of the Federation of Expellees (BdV), which serves as an umbrella organisation for groups and associations of Germans who were forced to leave Central and Eastern European countries after World War II. The SL is also a member of the Federation. According to Steffen Hortler, a representative of the Sudeten Germans, it was at this event that the minister announced he would attend the congress in Brno.
“The Sudeten German Congress is a symbol of understanding, reconciliation and peace,” Hortler stated on Facebook.
Soder said at a press conference in February, following a meeting with Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis in Munich, that he would “probably” be in Brno. As Bavarian Minister-President, Soder serves as the patron of the Sudeten Germans, and has regularly attended Sudeten German conventions in the past. Most recently, in a speech in Regensburg last year, he praised the strong partnership and friendship that Czechs and Germans managed to build after World War II.
SL spokesman David Heydenreich told CTK that the Sudeten Germans firmly expect Soder to attend the congress in Brno, and to speak there as well. SL leader Bernd Posselt and several Czech politicians and representatives of civic society will also deliver speeches at the congress.
At last year’s congress in Regensburg, Czech Education Minister Mikulas Bek called for continued efforts toward reconciliation between Czechs and Germans.
Some members of the Czech public and politicians are protesting against the congress in Brno. Tomio Okamura, speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and leader of the junior government coalition partner Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD), said this week that SPD would propose a resolution in which the Chamber would distance itself from the congress in Brno.
Prime Minister Babis said in Munich in February that the Czech Republic views the upcoming congress as a civic initiative, and therefore the event is not currently an issue for the Czech government.
Brno Mayor Marketa Vankova (ODS) expressed support for the congress last week. Brno city councilors subsequently failed to approve a resolution supporting the congress, but neither did they approve a motion to cancel the event.
Organisers from the Meeting Brno initiative anticipate protests against the festival and the congress and are already facing threats, they said.
Relations between the Sudeten Germans and the Czech Republic have improved significantly in recent years. This was partly thanks to the SL removing all references from its statutes to the return of property confiscated from Sudeten Germans during the postwar transfer from Czechoslovakia. The Czech side, too, has also taken a number of conciliatory steps. Among other things, the Munich speech by PM Petr Necas in 2013 was significant, in which he expressed the Czech Republic’s regret over the injustices caused to Sudeten Germans during the expulsion following World War II.
