Expellee leaders framed the right to homeland as a God-given right

Evidence

The centerpiece of the standard argumentation was the concept of a “right to one’s homeland” (Heimatrecht). This rather vague notion, rooted in German localist traditions, was subsequently defined in a BdV-sponsored publication as “the principle … that an individual has, or should have, the right to live undisturbed in his homeland (Heimaf) as long as he wants and that any violation of this right, be it in the form of a forcible transfer of individual people or of an ethnic group from their homeland, or in the form of preventing their return to the homeland, is an injustice.” Expellee leaders sought from early on to gain legal recognition for the concept and to endow it with an exalted moral and ethical stature. They described the Heimatrecht as “a God-given, basic human right” and a “precondition for the preservation of peace and Christian … civilization in Europe.” They also coupled it with another, more widely recognized legal concept, namely that of self-determination (Selbstbestimmung), and demanded that they be granted both. The thrust of their argument was that a return to the old homelands in a minority status under foreign rule would not suffice. The expellees would instead have to receive the right to determine the modalities of their own return, particularly the nature of the political and social system under which they would live. — Pertti Ahonen, Domestic Constraints on West German…, 46

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the Heimatrecht concept and how expellee leaders elevated an inherently vague notion into a legal-moral claim.
• QUESTION: Reader’s thread on whether professed conviction predicts actual bias: the gap between the ‘God-given right’ framing (moral absolutism) and the tactical coupling with self-determination suggests the moralization may have been instrumental.
• XREF: connects to: Expellee rhetoric of rights and Europe disguised irredentist territorial claims. — Pertti Ahonen, Domestic Constraints on West German…, 67; West German governments codified expellee homeland rights as preconditions. — Pertti Ahonen, Domestic Constraints on West German…, 96; Expulsion advocates justified policy through Scripture and ancient precedent (+3 more)

Related

• West German governments codified expellee homeland rights as preconditions. (similarity 0.86)
• All three major West German parties competed in declaring the expellee cause sacrosanct. (similarity 0.82)
• Expellee rhetoric of rights and Europe disguised irredentist territorial claims. (similarity 0.82)
• Unrealistic irredentist goals alienated expellee members and marginalized their organizations (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Expulsion advocates justified policy through Scripture and ancient precedent #corroborates (0.85)
• Expellee rhetoric of rights and Europe disguised irredentist territorial claims. #complicates (0.82) — Pertti Ahonen, Domestic Constraints on West German…, 67
• West German governments codified expellee homeland rights as preconditions. #expands (0.75) — Pertti Ahonen, Domestic Constraints on West German…, 96
• Religion can override political rights and material gains when believers hold it inviolable #expands (0.75)
• The discourse of right masks domination as legitimate sovereignty and obligation. #expands (0.72) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 44
• The inalienable rights of the abstract individual were immediately fused with national sovereignty #qualifies (0.70)