Dear fellow listmembers,
Awhile ago there was some discussion of the legal case brought by
a Czech citizen of German nationality for the restitution of
property confiscated from his family following the Second World
War. The case involved a judicial decision on the validity of
the so-called "Benes Decrees" that provided the legal basis for
the confiscation of property including land, and the transfer (or
expulsion, if you prefer) of populations, mostly German and
including many Hungarians. C.K. Zoltani asked at that time if
anyone actually had the text of the decrees, and I promised I'd
look into it. Well, I admit I had a lot of other things to do,
but I finally was at the library and went to the reference sec-
tion, where the official published source for all laws and
decrees is. The following are extracts from the Sbirka zakonu a
narizeni, 1945 and 1946, giving parts of decrees 5/1945 and
12/1945, and the text of law 115/1946 (often referred to as an
"amnesty" law). I haven't worked through all the technical arti-
cles, and apologize if these translations sound wooden--they are
written in heavy legalese, which lends itself to wooden transla-
tion!
There continues to be a fair amount of discussion, both domestic
and international, about these "Benes Decrees" and the "amnesty".
At present I have seen no sign that the Czech government is going
to do anything formal about declaring them invalid.
DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPBULIC, 19 MAY 1945, ON THE
INVALIDITY OF CERTAIN PROPERTY-RIGHTS TRANSACTIONS FROM THE
PERIOD OF LACK OF FREEDOM, AND ON THE NATIONAL ADMINISTRATION OF
THE PROPERTY OF GERMANS, MAGYARS, TRAITORS AND COLLABORATORS, AND
OF CERTAIN ORGANISATIONS AND INSTITUTIONS
on the recommendation of the government I decree
Article 1:
1. All transfers of property and all property-rights trans-
actions of any kind whatsoever, whether they concern movable or
immovable, public or private property, are invalid, if they were
concluded after 29 September 1938 under the pressure of occupa-
tion or national, racial or political persecution.
2. The method of validating claims arising from the estab-
lishment of paragraph 1 will be regulated by a separate decree of
the President of the Republic, insofar as this has not already
taken place by this decree.
Article 2:
1. The property of persons unreliable towards the state on
the territory of the Czechoslovak Republic is placed under
national administration according to the further regulations of
this decree.
2. Property transferred by persons unreliable towards the
state after 29 September 1938 will also be considered property of
such persons, unless the recipient was unware that the transac-
tion concerned such property.
Article 3:
National administration will be introduced into all concerns
and factories and all property-holding institutions, where the
smooth functioning of production and economic life demands it,
especially in factories, enterprises and property-holding
institutions that have been abandoned, or those which are in the
possession of, rented by, or leased to persons unreliable towards
the state.
Article 4:
The following are to be considered persons unreliable towards
the state:
a) persons of German or Magyar nationality,
b) persons who have carried out actions directed against the
state sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity,
democratic-republican political system, security and defense of
the Czechoslovak Republic, who incited such actions or attempted
to subvert other persons and intentionally supported by whatever
means the German and Magyar occupiers. Those who may be con-
sidered such persons, for example, are members of Vlajka,
Rodobrana, Storm Troopers of the Hlinka Guards, leading
functionaries of the Union for Cooperation with the Germans, the
Czech Anti-Bolshevik League, the Curatoria for the Education of
Czech Youth, Hlinka's Slovak People's Party, Hlinka Guards,
Hlinka Youth, the National Trade-Union Centers of Employees, the
Union of Agriculture and Forestry, the German-Slovak Society and
other fascist organizations of similar type.
Article 5:
Those legal persons (corporations) are to be considered unreli-
able towards the state whose directors consciously and inten-
tionally served the German or Magyar conduct of the war or fas-
cist or Nazi goals.
Article 6:
As persons of German or Magyar nationality are to be con-
sidered those persons who at any census of the population since
1929 declared themselves to be of German or Magyar nationality,
or who became members of national groups or institutions or
political parties uniting persons of German or Magyar nation-
ality.
[Articles 7 to 28 regulate the functioning of the system of
national administration and the coming into effect of the provi-
sions of the decree].
Signed by:
Benes, Fierlinger, Gottwald, Sramek, David, Ursiny, Siroky,
Nosek, Srobar, Pictor, Ripka, Duris, Sotesz, Prochazka, Svoboda,
Nejedly, Kopecky, Hasal, Hala, Stransky, Majer, Lausman,
Clementis (who also signed on behalf of Jan Masaryk), Ferjencik,
Lichner.
A DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC, 21 JUNE 1945, ON THE
CONFISCATION AND ACCELERATED DISTRIBUTION OF THE AGRICULTURAL
PROPERTY OF GERMANS, MAGYARS, AS WELL AS TRAITORS AND ENEMIES OF
THE CZECH AND SLOVAK NATIONS
Meeting the appeals of Czech and Slovak farmers and landless
agricultural laborers for a thorough implementation of a new land
reform, and led by the effort in particular once and for all to
take Czech and Slovak land from the hands of alien German and
Magyar landholders, as well as from the hands of traitors to the
republic, and place it in the hands of Czech and Slovak farmers
and landless laborers, at the suggestion of the government I
decree:
Article 1:
1. Immediately and without compensation all land is con-
fiscated for the purposes of land reform which is in the posses-
sion:
a) of all persons of German or Magyar nationality,
without regard to citizenship,
b) of traitors and enemies of the republic of whatever
nationality or citizenship, who have expressed this enmity espe-
cially during the crisis and war in the years 1939 to 1945,
c) of limited and other companies and corporations, whose
administration intentionally and consciously served the German
conduct of the war or fascist and Nazi aims.
2. The agricultural property of those persons of German or
Magyar nationality who actively participated in the struggle for
the preservation of the integrity and liberation of the Czechos-
lovak Republic will not be confiscated under paragraph 1.
3. The decision on whether an exception can be made under
paragraph 2 will be taken by the appropriate agricultural commis-
sion of the relevant District National Committee. Doubtful cases
will be referred by the District National Committee to the Land
National Committee, which will send it with its recommendation
for a final decision to the Ministry of Agriculture, which will
decide in agreement with the Ministry of the Interior.
Article 2:
1. Those persons are to be considered of German or Magyar
nationality who, at any census of the population from the year
1929 declared themselves of German or Magyar nationality or who
became members of national groups or institutions or political
parties grouping persons of German or Magyar nationality.
2. Exceptions from the regulation of paragraph 1 will be
determined by a separate decree.
[Article 3 defines traitors and enemies of the republic, Article
4 defines agricultural property, articles 5-14 govern the opera-
tion of the decree, including the provision in article 7 that
"from the land administered by the National Land Fund will be
distributed landholdings to the ownership of persons of Slavic
nationality..."].
Signed by:
Benes, Fierlinger, Nosek, Srobar, Stransky, Duris, Majer.
LAW OF 8 MAY 1946 ON THE LEGALITY OF ACTIONS CONNECTED WITH THE
STRUGGLE FOR THE RECONQUEST OF CZECH AND SLOVAK FREEDOM
The provisional National Assembly of the Czechoslovak Republic
has decided in this law:
Article 1:
Actions that took place in the period between 30 September
1938 and 28 October 1945 and whose goal was to contribute to the
struggle for the reconquest of Czech and Slovak freedom, or which
were aimed at the just retribution for the actions of the
occupiers or their accomplices, are not illegal even in the cases
where they would otherwise under valid regulations be criminal.
Article 2:
1. If anyone has already been tried for such actions, the
case will proceed according to the regulations of the renewal of
the criminal code.
2. The appropriate court is the one in which the case was
tried in the first instance, or if it no longer exists, then the
court which would have had jurisdiction in the first instance at
the present time, if the illegality of the action had not been
ruled out under article 1.
3. If an action listed in Article 1 was accompanied by
another criminal action, for which the accused was sentenced by
the same judgement, the court will pronounce for that other
action a new sentence, bearing in mind the verdict already pro-
nounced.
Article 3:
This law comes into effect on the day of its proclamation; it
will be carried out by the ministers of Justice and National
Defence.
Signed by:
Benes, Fierlinger, Drtina, Svoboda
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