The Czech lower house of parliament yesterday unanimously adopted a resolution declaring the Beneš Decrees an unalterable historical fact and not subject to revision. The Decrees, issued by then-Czechoslovak President Eduard Beneš in 1945, resulted in the deportation of thousands of Czechoslovak ethnic Germans and Hungarians. While long a ‘dead letter’ on the law books of the Czechoslovak state, the Decrees were recently mentioned by right-wing politicians in Hungary and Germany as problematic for the efforts of the Czech and Slovak Republics to enter the European Union. The EU, for its part, has also said the Decrees are ancient history and no barrier to integration.
Compiled by Tom Nicholson from press reports.
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