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Czech Lawmakers Oppose Brno Sudeten German Event in Nonbinding Vote

The symbolic vote heightens tensions over postwar expulsions, testing CzechGerman reconciliation.

Overview

  • Czech deputies, who passed a resolution Thursday, urged organizers to cancel the 76th Sudetendeutscher Tag.
  • The motion carries no legal force but passed 73–0 with four abstentions after much of the opposition boycotted the vote.
  • Organizers said the gathering will go ahead in Brno on May 22–25, marking the first time the event takes place in the Czech Republic.
  • Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, under pressure from coalition partners, shifted from neutrality and called holding the meeting in Czech territory a bad idea.
  • The dispute sits on the legacy of the postwar expulsion of about three million ethnic Germans, even as the Landsmannschaft dropped restitution claims in 2015.