ABSTRACT
By the turn of the 1950s, the postwar political shape of Central Europe had been largely settled. The Iron Curtain cut through the region until the fall of communism in 1989. Presumably, the Cold War “froze” any conflicts and the closed and tightly guarded borders between the Soviet bloc countries and the West prevented any substantial population movements. Hence, the popular opinion maintains that no instances of ethnic cleansing (“population transfers”) were observed during the time in Central Europe. Map 30 seeks to problematize this stereotypical and simplistic view. In the communist period, expulsions, forced migration, and flights of populations were governed by two factors: first, ethnolinguistic nationalism, and second, many Central Europeans’ continuing dislike and distrust of communism and the Soviet Union. With time the latter was deepened by a clearly visible inefficiency of the Soviet bloc’s planned economies, which failed to provide for the population at large. In contrast, the “economic miracle” (Wirtschaftswunder), facilitated by the United States’ postwar Marshall Plan of vast economic and financial aid, beginning in the 1950s produced an unprecedented level of general prosperity in West Germany, Austria, and elsewhere in Western Europe. Due to the arms race between the West and the Soviet bloc, the difference in standards of living continued to widen. The stagnating Soviet bloc economies were unable to catch up with their Western counterparts. As a result, a growing share of the bloc’s GDP had to be spent on armaments in order to maintain a parity in nuclear warheads and conventional arms with the West.
