Dialoguing with Bernd Posselt

As head of the Sudeten German Landsmannschaft, Bernd Posselt must choose his words carefully. After the group revised its statutes in Feb. 2015, Posselt informed his members that "recovery of the homeland" had been dropped as a goal because it had been misinterpreted to mean a desire to change borders and to achieve collective resettlement. The group's unshakable principles remained, he stressed, including the right to a homeland and to the redress of past injustices. It still wants the Beneš Decrees repealed (Art. 4 of its Principles), and it calls to this end for direct talks with representatives of the Czech people. The event in Brno in May, he promised, will be a "celebration of shared culture, diversity, dialogue and understanding." Posselt's code word for repealing the Beneš Decrees and achieving redress is "dialogue." A petition in support of the Brno event being promoted by Tomáš Halík, Pavel Rychetský, Milan Uhde and others speaks of the courage of the host, Meeting Brno, to engage in dialogue.