Evacuation of German civilians during the end of World War II

The German evacuation from East-Central Europe ahead of the Red Army advance in World War II was delayed until the last moment. Plans to evacuate people from the territories controlled by Nazi Germany in Central and Eastern Europe including from former eastern territories of Germany were prepared by German authorities only when the defeat was inevitable, resulting in utter chaos. The evacuation in most of the Nazi-occupied areas began in January 1945, when the Red Army were already rapidly advancing westward.

Up until March 1945 the Nazi authorities had evacuated from the eastern territories (pre-war Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Yugoslavia) an estimated 10 to 15 million persons, Germans as well as citizens of other nations. On the territory of Germany awarded to Poland after the war there 10 million residents in 1944/45, including 7.3 million permanent residents ie.Reichsdeutsche, (including million ethnic Poles spared the expulsions, and 6.4 million German speaking Reichsdeutsche), in addition on German territory to be evacuated were 2.5 million transients consisting of 1.5 million bombing raid evacuees from the heartland of Nazi Germany and of 1 million slave workers of many nationalities making products for the SS Ostindustrie and DAW. Polish historians put the number of "Germans" in early 1945 on the territory of post war Poland at 12,339,400 ( 8,885,400 on prewar German territory, 670,000 from prewar Poland; 900,000 ethnic Germans resettled in Poland; 750,000 administrative staff and 1,134,000 bombing raid evacuees. ) Along with the native German civilians, as well as the Volksdeutsche from the east (i.e. the German-speakers) were evacuated or fled. Most of the affected Volksdeutsche had settled into occupied Poland before March 1944. They took up farms and homes of Poles forcibly removed (or executed) during the ethnic cleansing operations in the preceding years. Meanwhile, the number of returning Reich Germans who had fled eastward temporarily in fear of the British and American bombings in the centre of Germany is also estimated between 825,000 at a minimum, and up to 1,134,000 by some historians.

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