Ostgebiete

German

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

From Ost +‎ Gebiet n. Short for deutsche Ostgebiete (“German territories in the East”).

Noun

Ostgebiete n pl (plural only)

1. (historical) the pre-1938 territories of the German Reich east of the Oder-Neisse line, from where the German population was expelled after World War II, and which are now parts of Poland and Russia
2. (sometimes also) the even vaster pre-1918 territories of the Reich as well as, possibly, the Sudetenland, which was German between 1938 and 1945 (areas conquered during WWII are never included)

Usage notes

• In 1990, the Federal Republic of Germany officially dropped its claim to the territories (having generally not referred to the claims since the normalization of relations in 1970). Since then, and even sometimes before, they have often been referred to as ehemalige (deutsche) Ostgebiete (“former German territories in the East”).

Declension

Declension of Ostgebiete [pl-only, neuter]

	plural
	def.	noun
nominative	die	Ostgebiete
genitive	der	Ostgebiete
dative	den	Ostgebieten
accusative	die	Ostgebiete

Related terms

• Ostgebiet n
• Ostsiedlung
• Vertriebener

Etymology 2

Inflected forms.

Noun

Ostgebiete n

1. nominative/accusative/genitive plural of Ostgebiet
2. (archaic) dative singular of Ostgebiet