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Lawsuit Reopens Old Wounds in German-Polish Dispute

In a sign of how badly German-Polish relations have frayed in recent months, a long-shot lawsuit by an obscure German claims group has prompted Poland to call into question a treaty meant to settle forever the borders between the countries.

The Polish foreign minister, Anna Fotyga, raised doubts about the treaty in a radio interview last Tuesday, a week after a group representing Germans expelled from present-day Poland after World War II filed suit at the European Court of Human Rights, seeking restitution of their property.

Though Ms. Fotyga has since backed away from suggestions that the treaty be renegotiated, she said Poland would push for a “legal solution” that “will respect the truth and the historical responsibility.”

In a statement issued Thursday, she condemned the German claims as “an attempt at reversing moral responsibility for the effects of World War II, which began with the German attack on Poland, and caused irreparable losses and sufferings to the Polish state and nation.”
Read entire article at NYT