174 175 This retreat set in motion the forced migration of millions of Germans, summarised in German cultural memory with the phrase ‘displacement and expulsion’. In this context, the term ‘Germans’ comprises German nationals on Reich territory and German-speaking minorities in East-Central and Southeastern Europe. In 1943 German troops began retreating from the Eastern front. By May 1945 the course of the war had triggered a range of population movements, from official evacuations to individuals’ own attempts to flee approaching troops. This was undoubtedly the most dramatic phase of displacement and expulsion, during which violence, adverse weather, exhaustion and a lack of basic food and shelter claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands. < LARGE DISPLAY Cart and trunk used by the Ferger family in their evacuation from Erdevik (Yugoslavia) in October 1944. The Fergers belonged to the Danube Swabian community of ethnic Germans.
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