268 269 ALTAR CRUCIFIX BELONGING TO SILESIAN EXPELLEES. THE INSCRIPTION READS ‘LORD, RETURN OUR HEIMAT TO US’. Place and year unknown MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION OF THE LINGUISTIC ENCLAVE OF WISCHAU Munich (Germany), 2016 The association campaigns for the dissemination of the cultural heritage of those formerly resident in the Wischau linguistic enclave in Moravia. This photograph was taken shortly before the group joined the parade at Munich’s Oktoberfest. peace and prosperity, in a stable and familiar environment from which they had been torn. Those who had fled or been expelled from the same region would meet up there regularly, curating small exhibitions with these commemorative objects or compiling so-called Heimatkarteien, indices with information about the places they had had to leave behind and their former residents. However, the realities of life under the Nazi regime and the discrimination and persecution of Jews or dissidents, were rather glossed over. Today these museums may seem rather old-fashioned, yet for many decades they were important places for expellees where they could preserve their traditions and their identities. Over many decades, expellees in West Germany also found a sense of belonging within other types of communities and clubs founded to this end. Those interested in traditional regional costume or dance could join Heimatkreisvereine (larger regional Heimat associations) which also kept alive regionally specific crafts like embroidery and lacemaking. Whether the long-established West German population was at all aware of the cultural heritage of the expellees and their conservation practices, is perhaps hard to say. In any case, for many expellees places like the Heimatstube, the
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