German-Polish Relations Hit a Rocky Patch

The first in a recent series of blows was a cutting commentary in Germany's daily die tageszeitung that called Polish President Lech Kaczynski a potato. Poland's politicians didn't laugh.

Then came the uproar over a Berlin exhibition on post-World War II German expellees, with Kaczynski calling the show "very unkind, unsettling and sad."

Add Günter Grass' recent confession to the tangle. The 79-year-old Nobel Prize winning author admitted to having served in the Nazi Waffen SS as a young man, leading officials in his birthplace, the Polish city of Gdansk, to consider revoking his honorary citizenship.

Positive experiences

Are the recent cross-border squabbles merely the result of sparring politicians and quick-penned journalists? Or have the countries' deep historical wounds -- despite years of reconciliation work -- only scabbed over and not fully healed?

Dieter Bingen, Poland expert and director of the German Poland Institute in Darmstadt said that Polish politicians and media reports have recently cast a shadow on Germany's traditional image as "a strategic partner and reliable friend in Poland."

But "the majority of Poles are more mature and even-tempered and have had a good deal of positive experiences with Germany," he added.

Dominik Ptak, the director of the Edith Stein Society in Wroclaw, differentiated between political relations and the general population and said that "normal interpersonal contact" between Germans and Poles is very positive.

"What politicians do and say has absolutely no influence on direct Polish-German relations," said Ptak, whose organization is dedicated to improving German-Polish and Christian-Jewish dialogue. "Politicians simply shouldn't try to score political points by brandishing their swords and looking for enemies."

According to Bingen, key Polish politicians are seeking to draw attention to their country by adopting a "friend-enemy, black-and-white" approach.

"This anti-modern, somewhat authoritarian way of thinking contradicts the experiences of the Poles," he said.

Partners in the European Union

A good part of what Poles and Germans know about each other can be attributed to cooperation projects that have increased over the past several years, especially in conjunction with Poland's accession to the European Union in 2004.

The German-Polish Year, a massive event initiated by Warsaw and Berlin and sponsored by dozens of cultural organizations, concluded in May 2006 after the completion of hundreds of projects aimed at strengthening the bilateral friendship.

"German-Polish relations are better than many people think, which doesn't mean that there's not a lot left to be done," said Doris Lemmermeier, the director of the German-Polish Youth Organization, which has established contact between some 1.5 million young Poles and Germans in its 15 years of existence.

Poles generally have a much more positive opinion of Germans than Germans do of Poles, Lemmermeier added. Though the German-Polish Youth Organization was founded by the governments of the two countries and receives state funding, it functions independently.

"We should keep ourselves as far away from day-to-day politics as possible," she said.

Passing the baton to the next generation

Rafal Solski, a 20-year-old artist from Wroclaw, is someone who already has had plenty of contact with young Germans.

"Frankly, the problem with Günter Grass and the exhibition in Berlin don't affect me at all," said Solski, who is the director of the art project "Wheelart" at the Edith Stein House.

"I know history," he said, adding that his grandmother labored in German work camps and his grandfather hid Jews in his house during World War II. "I don't have any complexes. I don't know any borders. Now I'm making history."

High hopes for new ambassador

One recent personnel change might also help to improve relations: Poland has decided to replace its ambassador to Germany. Marek Prawda will succeed Andrzej Byrts, who was found to have reported for the communist secret service during his time abroad as a student. Prawda, on the other hand, has already contributed to German-Polish dialogue.

"The Polish side has complained that the German media reports on Poland almost exclusively focus on the government leaders, which casts a shadow on the whole country," wrote the Süddeutsche Zeitung. The paper added that Prawda's strong command of German will allow him to reach the general public via media appearances and perhaps improve perceptions of his country.