Peterswald-Nollendorfer Heimattreffen 2007

“Faithful to the homeland” was read on the banner, which was stretched on the stage of the Hainburger gym between the flags of Germany and the Sudetenland, and under which on 30 June and 1 July 2007 about 100 Peterswalder and Nollendorfer expellees for the 25 Home meetings met. This anniversary meeting had been prepared by the home supervisors Edith Fischer, Liane Jung and Annelies Zechel exemplary.

The meeting was opened by the Hainburger church choir with 2 songs “skip walls” and “you my beautiful Erzgebirge”. The latter was the first performance of a song composed by the Peterswald Franz Kliem, which was to be declared the Peterswald-Nollendorf anthem.

Annelies Zechel welcomed the participants, among them guests of honor, the mayor of Hainburg, Bernhard Bessel, and the second chairman of the national association of Hessen, the Federation of Expelled Persons, Gerhard Klöcker. Then she gave a brief overview of the history of the Peterswald Heimattreffen: Inspired by the now deceased Rudi Tscherney met in the early fifties from the evicted Peterswalder manufacturer Dittmeyer in the vicinity of Hainburg called Peterswälder for the first time in the Small Emperor Hall of the restaurant of the displaced Peterswalder Innkeepers Karl Hacker in Klein Auheim. After the founding of the Perswalder Heimatgemeinde by Franz Ritschel and Heinz Wolf, a second meeting took place on 26.6.1959 with great participation.

Mayor Bessel began his greeting with quotations from Friedrich Schiller: “Homeland is probably the most expensive thing people have” and the Holy Father’s: “Homeland has geographical, cultural, spiritual and religious dimensions. It belongs to man and his history and therefore can not be taken from anyone. For from a healthy home-based rooting people draw joy of life, social creative power and hope for the future. Ideologies that demand or justify expulsions are directed against the dignity of man. “He praised the homeland-expelled Peterswalder and Nollendorfer confession to the homeland in the spirit of Friedrich Schiller and Pope Benedict XVI and thanked them for their numerous appearance after more than 60 years of expulsion in Hainburg for this year’s home meeting.

In recognition of the contributions of the expellees to progress, reconciliation and peace, and their historic achievement in the reconstruction of Germany after the Second World War, Bessel cited the Charter of the Expellees on August 5, 1950 signed. He described the renunciation of expellees for revenge and retaliation at a time when all wounds were still open, as an almost superhuman achievement. “With this outstanding peace and Europe manifesto, the charter of the German expellees, the vicious circle of injustice and retribution was broken, not from abroad by force or pressure, but by the victims themselves,” explained Bessel, and went on “This self-overcoming, self-commitment and the will to a peaceful new beginning is and remains a special achievement of the displaced,

Bessel especially praised the early commitment of the expellees to Europe that had already been made in 1950. He quoted from the charter: “We (expellees) will support every beginning with all the strength that is directed towards the creation of a united Europe in which the peoples can live without fear and coercion,” and further: “Thus the expellees were the The first to bet on Europe after the horror of the Second World War. Because this charter of 5 August 1950 is supported by the construction of a Europe of law with no violence. It is thus a document of high responsibility and of a high European rank, which has made the expellees home builders of Europe and ambassadors of understanding and reconciliation. “

(Bessel’s words suggested two things to the rapporteur. First, the German expellees were more progressive in Europe and peace in 1950 than the distributors are today, for example the Kaczynski twins at the Europe summit two weeks ago, or desperate clinging on the racist Benesch decrees Second, the charter of German expellees from 1950 deserves the award of the Nobel Peace Prize.)

Finally, Bessel praised the merit of the Confederation of Expellees over the past five decades, both at the federal and local levels, including Hainburg, to keep the memory of the homeland awake. This happened sometimes at times when nobody else wanted to talk about the subject and in which the mention of the expulsion to hostilities gave rise. Today, the discussion on escape and displacement in the media and in politics is more common than ever before, and the Center Against Expulsion Foundation carries this discussion abroad across borders. He stressed Chancellor Merkel’s commitment to the homeland by quoting what she said on the Day of Home 2006: “We have to look at the history of flight and expulsion as part of our overall German history.

The chairman of the local chapter Hainburg of the Confederation of the Expelled, Gerhard Klöcker, agreed. He thanked the Federal Chairman of the BdV, Erika Steinbach, for her initiative to found the foundation “Center against Expulsions”, which led to the dissolution of the taboo of expulsion. He expressed his delight at the numerous participation in the meeting after more than 60 years of expulsion and emphasized the importance of human encounters for the term home, which does not only consist of mountains, forests, meadows and fields. He condemned the robbery of our beautiful homeland and the associated deprivation, expropriation and expulsion through brutal state violence. He found words of appreciation for the help given to the expellees by the long-time residents during their severe blow of fate,

In the end, compatriot Klöcker confessed to the culture of remembrance and praised the commitment of the Peterswald-ridden Rudolf Pueschel, now living in California. Pueschel thanked Klöcker for his kind, encouraging words and tried to explain the reasons for his commitment to seek the truth. “Anyone who witnesses a crime, and does not object, is complicit in the perpetrators.” The crime against humanity of the expulsion of refugees after World War II of 15 million Germans (with 2 million deaths), including 3 million Sudeten Germans and 2000 Peterswaldern, he became aware in autumn 1989. He explained the time span of 43 years between experience and condemnation of expulsion from home with obligations for family and work,

Pueschel then referred to the laid-back, expelling homefirming 5 books and pamphlets he co-authored or translated and published, and drew attention to souvenirs that he bequeathed to the museum in Seligenstadt and are there exhibited. His greatest contribution to the memory of his Sudeten German homeland is yet to come. This is his share, together with 20 of his hometown friends to contribute to the restoration of a baroque cross at the Peterswald cemetery. The cross was consecrated for the first time in 1796, but since 1945 it has been declared to be in decay. Restored, it will be inaugurated in the spring of 2008 for the second time in order to remain a witness to the former size of Peterswald for the next few centuries as a feature of Sudeten identity.

Nollendorf’s homework adviser Herbert Klepsch recalled June 21, 1959, when seven hundred (!) Peterswalders appeared among the first home gathering, many of whom were adolescents. With melancholy he discovered that the young people of old had become old and the elders of that time were no longer alive. With regret, he noted that there are hardly any young people left in the lighted rows. He sees the reason for this in the prosperity that the expellees have helped to create, but which offers their descendants too much variety and with which they can find their happiness elsewhere than in the memory of the loss of the home of their parents and grandparents. The inhumanity of chasing away possessions and the home of the generation of experience does not change this fact, said Klepsch. In his opinion, the experience generation will never know how the story will portray the tragedy of the expulsion. As a consolation remains that “memories of our beautiful home are the only paradise from which nobody can drive us out.”

Renate von Babka tried to dispel fellowman Klepsch’s worries. As a descendant of the Franz Beil (electric hatchet) from Peterswald, born in Swabia, she declared herself ready to found and develop a new generation of young people from the Peterswald-Nollendorf hometown. Her aim is to work up the history of Peterswald, to point out, clarify and clarify the historical context of the descendants, to find a communication platform and to provide a meeting place for the former German inhabitants of the communities of Peterswald, Nollendorf and the surrounding area create. After all, the border town of Peterswald in the history of Bohemia played a role, especially for stagecoach time, and also Nollendorf at the time of the Napoleonic Wars, which is significant for the historiography. Renate of Babka’s initiative is praiseworthy and deserves the fullest support of those who have suffered the crime of expulsion from their homes. It supports the possibility that after the demise of the experience generation descendants in the sense of the charter of 1950 “demand that the right to homeland as one of God-given fundamental rights of humanity is recognized and realized.”

The participants enjoyed a hearty goulash soup with rolls for lunch, and coffee and cake in the afternoon. Intense experiences were exchanged in words and pictures, which again let the day pass much too fast.