The prize (Karlpreis), the SL's highest decoration, was handed to Uhl by SL spokesman Bernd Posselt. Uhl received ovations for addressing Sudeten Germans as compatriots (Landsleute). After closing his speech, delivered in German, he received standing ovations from some participants in the SL annual Projects ...
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German Order not to get back Czech Bouzov castle - court ... meeting. Uhl said he still misses - in both the Czech Republic and Germany - any assessment of the violence and inequities that the German population [of Czechoslovakia] fell victim to in 1945-46. "My friends often ask me what motivated my position that can be briefly called a resolute criticism - legal, political and social - of the expulsion of the German inhabitants from Czechoslovakia," Uhl said. He called the event "an expulsion by the Czechoslovak state bodies, in which part of the [Czech] population and its representatives at town halls assisted, actively or by giving their passive consent." Uhl said he has been in a long-term contact with Sudeten Germans, mainly those from the Christian-oriented Ackermann Community. "I've got convinced that Sudeten Germans are not only consistent anti-Nazis, but they are also genuine democrats," Uhl said. He said Posselt, SL spokesman and a CSU MEP, is his friend and a genuine European. The European Charles Prize is named after Charles IV, the 14th century King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor.
The SL has awarded it annually since 1958. Uhl is the second Czech to be given the prize, after Josef Koukl, former bishop of Litomerice, north Bohemia, who received it in 2005. According to Posselt, the very first Czech to receive the prize was general Lev Prchala in the late 1950s, who, however, lived in exile at the time. Posselt said that Uhl and Charles IV have several qualities in common. Both can be described as "Czech Europeans" sticking to values that ensue from patriotism, the awareness of national diversity and Europeism. Both were polyglots, but Charles IV did not speak Polish, unlike Uhl. For all his life, Uhl has focused on human rights protection. In his previous capacity as the Czech government human rights commissioner, he sought a dialogue with minorities, Posselt said. He recalled Uhl's role as a leading Czechoslovak dissident under the communist regime. Sudeten Germans have repeatedly challenged the decrees Czechoslovak President Edvard Benes issued after World War Two, under local ethnic Germans in the country were stripped of property and citizenship, which set the basis for their transfer from Czechoslovakia. The Czech government says it considers all matters ensuing from the past closed under the Czech-German Declaration of 1997.
(Ceske Noviny)
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