Merkel ally resigns after implying Poland was jointly to blame for Second World War

An ally of Angela Merkel who was criticised for implying Poland was jointly to blame for the outbreak of the Second World War is to resign from her party’s leadership.

Erika Steinbach, who heads a league representing the 12.5 million Germans expelled from eastern Europe after the war, had come under fire in her own Christian Democratic (CDU) party for saying Poland mobilised its armed forces before Germany did.

Claiming that she had become an “alibi” as Mrs Merkel’s party shifted to the centre, she said she no longer had a place in the CDU....