Polen verontwaardigd over Duitse tentoonstelling over verbanning Duitsers na WO II (en)

The increasingly frosty relations between Poland and Germany threatened to take a turn for the worse on Thursday (10 August) when a new exhibition on the plight of Germans after the second world war opened in Berlin.

The exhibition, which highlights the fate of the millions Germans expelled from their homes in Eastern Europe in the post war period, has met with criticism in Poland.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Poland's prime minister, said the transferral of Germans after the war was "sad, even tragic" but added that it should be remembered "who was the perpetrator and who was the victim".

"We would like everything that is linked to the name of Erika Steinbach to end as quickly as possible because nothing good will come out of it for Poland, Germany or Europe", he said.

Erika Steinbach, a Christian Democrat politician, and head of the German League of Expellees, believes the exhibition is the first step towards creating a permanent centre in remembrance of the 12 million Germans deported from Eastern Europe.

"We owe it to history and our collective memory", says Ms Steinbach.

But Warsaw has also spoken out against any permanent centre.

"It will be better for relations between our countries if this centre never comes into existence", said Lech Kaczynski, president of Poland and twin brother of the prime minister.

His words speak for many Poles who fear that it may re-write history to cast Germans as the victims.

The tensions caused by the exhibition comes hot on the heels of another diplomatic spat between the two countries after a German newspaper last month implied that the Polish president was insular and referred to him as a potato.

The satirical article caused the president to pull out of a governmental trip to Berlin with Warsaw demanding that the German government apologise.

The Polish prosecutor has already opened the case against the German newspaper for the jibe, while a Polish newspaper close to the government has disclosed the names of German correspondents in Poland encouraging readers to express their anger.

The two countries have also been at loggerheads over the planned Russian-German Baltic gas pipeline, which bypasses Poland.