Lost Heimat? Remembering the Expulsion of Ethnic Germans From East Prussia

The forced migration of ethnic Germans at the end of and after World War II constitutes a population transfer on a massive scale. Many expellees lost their homes in Central and Eastern Europe when Germany was forced to give up some of its former territories after its defeat or when they were expelled from Poland, Czechoslovakia and other countries. The traumatic experience of displacement and the subsequent inaccessibility of previous homes challenged the traditional understanding of Heimat as a locale of social familiarity that can be revisited. It poses the questions of how people reestablished the sense of familiarity and belonging without accessing the locale. Recent scholarship explores not only the political and social responses to the "lost Heimat' caused by the expulsion but also the remembrance of it through literature and films. This thesis contributes to this approach by turning to memoirs and letters that deal with the experiences of expellees from East Prussia and analyzing their capacity to develop a new concept of Heimat. These accounts reveal personal struggles and commemorations, which supplement the general perception of this historical moment. This thesis argues that individuals pushed back against the notion of "lost Heimat' by recreating their Heimat in and through memory. After a period of transition and adjustment, expellees accepted the loss of their previous Heimat place, giving up its present and future. However, they associated themselves closely with its past, which is preserved through their remembrance and their expellee community, because their experience of the place is part of their life before the expulsion and the history of the place is part of their identity. Rediscovering Heimat in this manner transforms it from a physical presence into an imaginary concept that accommodates the experiences and consequences of the expulsion. The deep connection between individuals and their Heimat overcomes the physical and temporal distance between them, and is fundamental for understanding the relationships between individuals, communities, and places.