Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Germany--Foreign relations--Europe, Eastern; Europe, Eastern--Foreign relations--Germany; Eastern Europe; Germany; Germans--Europe, Eastern--History--20th century; Diplomatic relations; Germans; 1900-1999; History;
Abstract
This work has tried to address the confusion concerning Germany and Eastern Europe. When Germany's foreign relations with three Eastern European countries are closely examined, it becomes clear that between 1919 and 1929 the treatment o f the German minorities in these countries had little or no effect Germany's foreign policy. In this thesis I adopted a comparative approach concerning the conditions under which the German communities lived in Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. I then examined Germany's relations with each of these countries. Based on that examination I looked for a correlation between the level of government oppression of the ethnic German community and Germany's international relations with each country. My research into the policies of Germany and the attitudes of the German leaders was assisted by the availability of nearly all of records of the German Foreign Office which were captured and copied at the end of World War Two. I also used the correspondences of the German Foreign Minister, Gustav Stresemann. In conclusion, the thesis explains the manner in which from 1922 to 1925 Germany responded to the international consequences of the Peace Treaties and the new situations of the German minorities in Eastern Europe. German foreign policy in Eastern Europe developed along many lines that do not center around the minority issue. Germany placed n o emphasis on the suffering, real or imagined, of German speakers in Eastern Europe. The years 1926 to 1929 provide good examples of the lack of influence which minority issues actually had over German policy. After 1926 Germany was a member of the League of Nations which guaranteed the rights of minority groups in Eastern Europe. Germany did support minority education complaints against Poland; however, the same time, similar treatment of minority education in Hungary, a country with less strategic interest to Germany, went nearly unnoticed. While in Czechoslovakia, the German government paid little attention to ethnic German complaints of any kind, and usually encouraged the minority Germans to cooperate in order to improve German-Czech governmental relations.
Year of Submission
1995
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of History
First Advisor
David McKibbin
Second Advisor
Jay T. Lees
Third Advisor
Robert L. Dise
Date Original
1995
Object Description
1 PDF file (113 leaves)
Copyright
©1995 Frederick William Hollister
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Hollister, Frederick William, "Germany’s Foreign Policy and the Role of German Minorities: Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland 1919-1929" (1995). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2960.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2960
Comments
If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.