Sudeten Germans Still Want to Go Home Acerbic Border Disputes Are Not Isolated to East Europe; Germans Expelled from Czechoslovakia after World War II Want Compensation, and Some Politicians Are Listening

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AS Europe tries to forge an unprecedented era of unity, some interest groups threaten to disrupt the process by reviving lingering grievances.

The Sudeten Germans are one such community embroiled in controversy. A vocal minority of Sudetens, now concentrated in the southern German state of Bavaria, is agitating for compensation for the post-World War II expulsion of ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia. Some want their old land returned, but most would be happy with a financial settlement.

Some powerful politicians in both Germany and Austria support the calls for compensation. Meanwhile, the Czech government steadfastly refuses to discuss the matter.

At the …