At the end of , and following World War II , at least twelve million ethnic German Volksdeutsche or Reichsdeutsche fled or were expelled , Barbara Marshall estimates that the number of ethnic Germans fleeing or expelled from the Eastern Bloc was " about fifteen million . " mostly in and from Soviet-occupied territories becoming the Eastern Bloc , making it the largest movement of any European people in modern history . The expulsions had been agreed upon before the end of the war by the Allies . At least two million people perished due to flight and expulsion , 400,000 to 600,000 of whom by physical force . Almost all of these occurred between 1944 and 1948 . The total figures include a considerable exodus of Germans from areas near the front lines as the Red Army advanced towards German-settled areas . Many were aware of the Soviet reprisals on German civilians , such as Soviet soldiers committing rape and other crimes . News of these atrocities , like the Nemmersdorf massacre , were also , in part , exaggerated and spread by the Nazi propaganda machine . Many of these ethnic Germans also fled to the future East Germany , within the Eastern Bloc
Nemmersdorf massacre
Nemmersdorf massacre
Eastern Bloc emigration and defection