Wiesbaden (dpa/lhe) - The CDU parliamentary group in the Hessian state parliament has called for the cultural assets of late resettlers and expellees to be preserved. It remains a permanent task to keep their fate and their achievements in mind, said the CDU MP Max Schad on Thursday in Wiesbaden. He pointed out that the state of Hesse is providing 1.5 million euros for a new chair in "Historical memory and cultural heritage - expellees and late resettlers in Hesse since 1945" at the University of Giessen.
"After the Second World War, Hessen became the new home for 1.8 million refugees and displaced persons. They played a significant role in rebuilding our country after the Second World War," explained Schad. From a legal point of view, expellees and late resettlers cannot be equated with classic migrants. This is culturally and historically insensitive and wrong, said the CDU MP.
The integration policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Turgut Yüksel, said that flight and expulsion after the Second World War and current immigration movements have two things in common: the loss of the old homeland and experiences of discrimination in the new homeland. He warned against playing one group against the other.
