Nearly 7 million Germans were expelled from western Poland, partly as a result of the country’s eastward shift in recompense to the USSR, as agreed at Yalta. Another 3 million were expelled from Czechoslovakia and more than 1.8 million from other countries, for a total of 1,173,000 refugees, mostly in West Germany. Approximately 3.2 million settled in East Germany, and another 3 million passed through before heading West. Approximately 4.25 million settled in the British occupation zone in West Germany, followed by Operation Swallow. And approximately 3.3 million settled in the American occupation zone. West Germany thus increased its population by 23% and East Germany by 25%. Despite the deplorable policy of forced expulsion by several Eastern Bloc states, this was still far from the total annihilation planned by the Third Reich.
