Political, Moral, and Legal Aspects of the Resettlement of the German Population After World War II - Total War and Vertreibung

Abstract

This study examines the territorial changes and the transfer of German populations, situating them within the framework of the Allied decisions adopted in 1945. It proceeds from the premise that Germany initiated a total war (World War II), planning and preparing mass, systematic crimes against civilian populations, fully aware of their consequences. The study asks whether Allied policy can be justified and how individual guilt, state responsibility, and national historical accountability should be distinguished and evaluated. The study combines doctrinal legal analysis with political and ethical inquiry. It interprets political instruments and relevant customary and treaty law, reviews political doctrines, and integrates moral reflection and memory studies to evaluate reconciliation initiatives and public discourse. Under the international law applicable in 1945, territorial changes and population transfers were not prohibited. Nevertheless, their implementation produced individual suffering. The Potsdam decisions were not punitive acts but measures grounded in the international legal responsibility of an aggressor state, intended to establish durable European security.