Go Poland!

No, no, you misunderstood me. What I want to say is that what is called a reason for their dislike of the Germans is based on what we call in dutch "oude koeien uit de gracht halen" meaning that you can wine and wine about who did this to whom.

I do think it exists, but I want to take it away. After all Germany is a longtime member of the EU and so Poland knew that they would meet Germany again. It's a union of countries, not a place to divide (and conquer).

Originally Posted by Bartacus
@zakhal + nessosin: The war is over for more then 60 years. I just fail to see why they can't move on.

You know, its just politics, its doesnt have to be reasonable . I think no one in Poland treats those demands( about WW2) seriously. Its just counter-attack against demands coming from Germany, from people who were banished from Poland after WW2 and maybe additional argument in disscusion, ridiculus but nevertheless an argument.

An Uncle of mine married a woman from Poland a few years ago.

So everyone's already mixing right now …

Originally Posted by nessosin
You know, its just politics, its doesnt have to be reasonable . I think no one in Poland treats those demands( about WW2) seriously. Its just counter-attack against demands coming from Germany, from people who were banished from Poland after WW2 and maybe additional argument in disscusion, ridiculus but nevertheless an argument.

1) You're right - nobody here treats that seriously. More votes in EU because 6 mln people died in war? "Oh god, our prime minister (or it was president ?) really said that ? Oh no, he could sometimes shut his mouth." People here felt rather ashamed because of his words. One of reasons that our former prime minister and his party lost election was relations with Germany under their rules. People want here good relations with our west neighbour/of course still expecting care about our interests but in reasonable/diplomatic way.

2) Yes, we are "sensitive" about WW2. Why? Because when west Europe had time to "recover" from this war, make new relations with former enemies ect., we during 45 years of communism couldn't deal with this experiance - we weren't allowed to talk about it openly, the former fighters against Nazi were presecuted by communists, send to prisons and the propaganda made allies of Hitler from them . Only Soviet Union fighted against Nazis and of course people who supported their vision of world. And East Germany was our friends, they didn't do us any harm. The society as a whole couldn't deal with their experiance from war - because it couldn't be discussed freely in literature, media or in national debate. And in the first years of our liberty, we were to busy - we were trying to rebuilt our country. Now people finally are starting to think about past. But our society wants money, special rights because of WW 2? No. Our society is sensitive but in aspect of memory about this events.

We plan our future, live in present but still rember about past like everybody else in the world.

The absolute number of people in Germany claiming old properties in Poland and Czechia is very very small. Even the hardcore "Bund der Vertriebenen" = "league of expellees" accepts all actual state frontiers.
The polish/german relations will normalize with time - I know some very nice polish immigrants and temporary workers in my hometown. They are integrated in the german society and clubs. I like their down-to-earth approach to living - we germans can learn a lot from them.