WUI (Writing under the influence)

Germany attacked Poland, killed many of its citizens and almost completely destroyed it. If that wasn't enough, Soviets took Poland under its control after winning the war so Poland suffered for another 44 years. Germany did pay some reparation after the war but it's only fair that Poland can keep the lands won in a war it didn't start. But some people have different ideas.

German group files restitution claim against Poland
A German group called the Prussian Claims Society has filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights calling for restitution from Poland for Germans kicked out of lands lost to Poland after Europe's boundaries were redrawn following WWII.

The group claims its members human rights were violated when Germany's eastern lands became part of Poland after the War and they were driven from their homes.

The group, which represents about 1,000 people - a small number compared to the 2.5 mln Germans expelled from Poland after the War - has filed 22 individual complaints and eventually plans as many as 50, according to its deputy leader Gerwald Stanko.

This has put a renewed strain on already cold Polish-German relations.

The claim stems from territorial changes made by the victors of WWII - the U.S., Great Britain and the Soviet Union - at the 1945 Potsdam conference. The Potsdam agreement gave large parts of eastern Germany to Poland, and the Germans living there were forced to leave. Large parts of eastern Poland were annexed by the Soviet Union.

In 2004, a joint Polish-German commission ruled that there was no legal foundation for claims by Germans to property in today's Poland.

Germany's main group representing those expelled from Eastern Europe, the Federation of Expellees, also expressed its opposition on Friday to the Prussian Claims Society's move. "We have already distanced ourselves from this a hundred times," said the federation's president Erika Steinbach.

While many legal analysts feel the Prussian Claims Society's lawsuit has no chance of success, it is viewed with great trepidation in Warsaw for any precedent it may set.

Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has been critical of the German Government's failure to repudiate such claims through a treaty. Kaczynski that "Germany hasn't fully explained its legal position faced with property in Poland. Its declarations in this area remain insufficient."

For now the German governemnt seems to support Poland's side. Let's hope it stays that way. Otherwise, there may be more trouble coming.