Herbert Czaja
Encyclopedia
Dr. Herbert Czaja was a German
Christian Democratic
politician and advocate for Germans expelled after World War II
. He was a Member of the Bundestag
, the Parliament of West Germany
, from 1953 to 1990, a long-time member of the Central Committee of German Catholics
, and was President of the Federation of Expellees
from 1970 to 1994.
in Austria-Hungary
to a German-speaking, Catholic family (the name Czaja has Polish origin). He became a Polish citizen at age four when part of Cieszyn Silesia
became Polish, as part of the restored Polish Republic
. Czaja studied German studies
, History
, and Philosophy
in Vienna
and Kraków
. During the 1930, he was active in German student organisations in the Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship
of Poland, as a member of Senator Eduard Pant
's Deutsche Christliche Volkspartei, a Catholic party working for the interests of the German minority in Poland. At the same time, he worked as a teacher in eastern Upper Silesia. In 1939, before the start of World War II
, he received his doctorate
from the University of Kraków. Herbert Czaja was fluent in Polish and German.
During World War II
, when the Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship
was annexed by Nazi Germany
and reattached to the Province of Silesia
inside Prussia
, he was granted German citizenship, being considered part of the ethnic German
community.
In 1939, Czaja refused to enter the Nazi Party, which resulted in loss of his position as a teacher and assistant at schools and the Kraków University, which was later closed by the occupying German forces.
From October 1940 till March 1941 Czaja worked as secondary school (Oberschule) director in Zakopane
and then from March 1941 till May 1942 in Przemyśl
. His status actually prevented him from joining Nazi Party, which only allowed native Germans (Reichsdeutsche) at this time but in 1941 he joined Deutsche Gemeinschaft, a branch of Nazi Party created for Germans with Volksdeutsche
status.
Czaja served in the Wehrmacht
(May 1942-1945) and was wounded in early 1945.
On the basis of alleged high treason
during the war by military service in the army of the enemy state of Germany, Polish People's Republic authorities
expelled Czaja to Stuttgart
in 1946 during the expulsion of Germans after World War II
. He was a member of the Bundestag
, the Parliament of West Germany, from 1953 to 1990, spokesman of the Landsmannschaft der Oberschlesier from 1969 and president of the Federation of Expellees
(Bund der Vertriebenen, BdV) from 1970-1994. From 1948 he was also member of the Central Committee of German Catholics
.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Czaja voted - along with several conservative politicians - against the recognition of the Oder-Neisse line
as the Polish-German definitive border in 1990, and claimed the reunification of the Federal Republic of Germany
with the territory of the former German Democratic Republic
was not a complete reunification according to the German constitution, as it did not include the eastern provinces of Nazi Germany as they existed on December 31, 1937. Czaja proposed to establish out of Western Poland an autonomous zone under international administration
However, he was active in Polish-German reconciliation in the 1990s, and worked for the authorities of Opole Voivodeship
in modern Poland
. While promoting ethnic peace between Poles and Germans, he was criticized for insisting that legally the historically eastern German provinces could in future be reunited to a German state, as he repeated in his 1996 book Unterwegs zum kleinsten Deutschland?. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
criticized him for this opinion. Czaja however stated that no expulsions may ever be repeated; that millions of Poles had lived in a German state before and could so once again if these lands would be reintegrated into Germany; Czaja however explicitly called for a Centre against Expulsions in Berlin to be established by Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic in a joint effort to promote peace and reconciliation.
Czaja died in Stuttgart in 1997, survived by a wife and ten children. The Dr.-Herbert–Czaja-Weg in Stuttgart was named in his honour the same year. His oldest daughter, Christine Czaja, who is the current vice president of the Landsmannschaft der Oberschlesier (Federation of [German] Upper Silesians), has recently published a biography of her father, who is increasingly seen positively in Poland.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Christian Democratic
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
politician and advocate for Germans expelled after World War II
Expulsion of Germans after World War II
The later stages of World War II, and the period after the end of that war, saw the forced migration of millions of German nationals and ethnic Germans from various European states and territories, mostly into the areas which would become post-war Germany and post-war Austria...
. He was a Member of the Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
, the Parliament of West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
, from 1953 to 1990, a long-time member of the Central Committee of German Catholics
Central Committee of German Catholics
The Central Committee of German Catholics is lay body comprising representatives of various Catholic organisations in Germany. They organise the Catholic Days in Germany. The organisation is headquartered in Bonn....
, and was President of the Federation of Expellees
Federation of Expellees
The Federation of Expellees or Bund der Vertriebenen is a non-profit organization formed to represent the interests of Germans who either fled their homes in parts of Central and Eastern Europe, or were expelled following World War II....
from 1970 to 1994.
Life
Herbert Czaja was born in TeschenCieszyn
Cieszyn is a border-town and the seat of Cieszyn County, Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland. It has 36,109 inhabitants . Cieszyn lies on the Olza River, a tributary of the Oder river, opposite Český Těšín....
in Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
to a German-speaking, Catholic family (the name Czaja has Polish origin). He became a Polish citizen at age four when part of Cieszyn Silesia
Cieszyn Silesia
Cieszyn Silesia or Těšín Silesia or Teschen Silesia is a historical region in south-eastern Silesia, centered around the towns of Cieszyn and Český Těšín and bisected by the Olza River. Since 1920 it has been divided between Poland and Czechoslovakia, and later the Czech Republic...
became Polish, as part of the restored Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
. Czaja studied German studies
German studies
German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents, and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German history, and German politics in addition to the...
, History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, and Philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
. During the 1930, he was active in German student organisations in the Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship
Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship
The Silesian Voivodeship was an autonomous province of the interwar Second Polish Republic. It consisted of territory which came into Polish possession as a result of the 1921 Upper Silesia plebiscite, the Geneva Conventions, three Upper Silesian Uprisings, and the eventual partition of Upper...
of Poland, as a member of Senator Eduard Pant
Eduard Pant
Eduard Pant was a journalist and politician of the Catholic German minority in the Silesian Voivodeship of Poland in the interwar period...
's Deutsche Christliche Volkspartei, a Catholic party working for the interests of the German minority in Poland. At the same time, he worked as a teacher in eastern Upper Silesia. In 1939, before the start of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he received his doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
from the University of Kraków. Herbert Czaja was fluent in Polish and German.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, when the Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship
Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship
The Silesian Voivodeship was an autonomous province of the interwar Second Polish Republic. It consisted of territory which came into Polish possession as a result of the 1921 Upper Silesia plebiscite, the Geneva Conventions, three Upper Silesian Uprisings, and the eventual partition of Upper...
was annexed by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and reattached to the Province of Silesia
Province of Silesia
The Province of Silesia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1815 to 1919.-Geography:The territory comprised the bulk of the former Bohemian crown land of Silesia and the County of Kladsko, which King Frederick the Great had conquered from the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy in the 18th...
inside Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
, he was granted German citizenship, being considered part of the ethnic German
Volksdeutsche
Volksdeutsche - "German in terms of people/folk" -, defined ethnically, is a historical term from the 20th century. The words volk and volkische conveyed in Nazi thinking the meanings of "folk" and "race" while adding the sense of superior civilization and blood...
community.
In 1939, Czaja refused to enter the Nazi Party, which resulted in loss of his position as a teacher and assistant at schools and the Kraków University, which was later closed by the occupying German forces.
From October 1940 till March 1941 Czaja worked as secondary school (Oberschule) director in Zakopane
Zakopane
Zakopane , is a town in southern Poland. It lies in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998 it was in of Nowy Sącz Province, but since 1999 it has been in Lesser Poland Province. It had a population of about 28,000 as of 2004. Zakopane is a...
and then from March 1941 till May 1942 in Przemyśl
Przemysl
Przemyśl is a city in south-eastern Poland with 66,756 inhabitants, as of June 2009. In 1999, it became part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship; it was previously the capital of Przemyśl Voivodeship....
. His status actually prevented him from joining Nazi Party, which only allowed native Germans (Reichsdeutsche) at this time but in 1941 he joined Deutsche Gemeinschaft, a branch of Nazi Party created for Germans with Volksdeutsche
Volksdeutsche
Volksdeutsche - "German in terms of people/folk" -, defined ethnically, is a historical term from the 20th century. The words volk and volkische conveyed in Nazi thinking the meanings of "folk" and "race" while adding the sense of superior civilization and blood...
status.
Czaja served in the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
(May 1942-1945) and was wounded in early 1945.
On the basis of alleged high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
during the war by military service in the army of the enemy state of Germany, Polish People's Republic authorities
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
expelled Czaja to Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
in 1946 during the expulsion of Germans after World War II
Expulsion of Germans after World War II
The later stages of World War II, and the period after the end of that war, saw the forced migration of millions of German nationals and ethnic Germans from various European states and territories, mostly into the areas which would become post-war Germany and post-war Austria...
. He was a member of the Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
, the Parliament of West Germany, from 1953 to 1990, spokesman of the Landsmannschaft der Oberschlesier from 1969 and president of the Federation of Expellees
Federation of Expellees
The Federation of Expellees or Bund der Vertriebenen is a non-profit organization formed to represent the interests of Germans who either fled their homes in parts of Central and Eastern Europe, or were expelled following World War II....
(Bund der Vertriebenen, BdV) from 1970-1994. From 1948 he was also member of the Central Committee of German Catholics
Central Committee of German Catholics
The Central Committee of German Catholics is lay body comprising representatives of various Catholic organisations in Germany. They organise the Catholic Days in Germany. The organisation is headquartered in Bonn....
.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Czaja voted - along with several conservative politicians - against the recognition of the Oder-Neisse line
Oder-Neisse line
The Oder–Neisse line is the border between Germany and Poland which was drawn in the aftermath of World War II. The line is formed primarily by the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers, and meets the Baltic Sea west of the seaport cities of Szczecin and Świnoujście...
as the Polish-German definitive border in 1990, and claimed the reunification of the Federal Republic of Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
with the territory of the former German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
was not a complete reunification according to the German constitution, as it did not include the eastern provinces of Nazi Germany as they existed on December 31, 1937. Czaja proposed to establish out of Western Poland an autonomous zone under international administration
However, he was active in Polish-German reconciliation in the 1990s, and worked for the authorities of Opole Voivodeship
Opole Voivodeship
- Administrative division :Opole Voivodeship is divided into 12 counties : 1 city county and 11 land counties. These are further divided into 71 gminas.The counties are listed in the following table .- Economy :...
in modern Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. While promoting ethnic peace between Poles and Germans, he was criticized for insisting that legally the historically eastern German provinces could in future be reunited to a German state, as he repeated in his 1996 book Unterwegs zum kleinsten Deutschland?. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , short F.A.Z., also known as the FAZ, is a national German newspaper, founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt am Main. The Sunday edition is the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung .F.A.Z...
criticized him for this opinion. Czaja however stated that no expulsions may ever be repeated; that millions of Poles had lived in a German state before and could so once again if these lands would be reintegrated into Germany; Czaja however explicitly called for a Centre against Expulsions in Berlin to be established by Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic in a joint effort to promote peace and reconciliation.
Czaja died in Stuttgart in 1997, survived by a wife and ten children. The Dr.-Herbert–Czaja-Weg in Stuttgart was named in his honour the same year. His oldest daughter, Christine Czaja, who is the current vice president of the Landsmannschaft der Oberschlesier (Federation of [German] Upper Silesians), has recently published a biography of her father, who is increasingly seen positively in Poland.
Literature
- Czaja, Christine (2003): Herbert Czaja - Anwalt für Menschenrechte. Kulturstiftung der deutschen Vertriebenen