Berlin rejects the application for minority status for Poles – Onet.pl

             
                  Photo: Thinkstock
             
             
                  Berlin rejects the application for minority status for Poles
             
 
             

According to the German Ministry of Internal Affairs FRG citizens of Polish origin residing in Germany did not meet the conditions necessary for its recognition as a national minority without – according to the German side – population “native and” traditionally sedentary “in these areas.

More than a month ago Hambura directed to the Government Plenipotentiary. displaced persons and minorities, Secretary of State MSW Hartmut Koschyka application for entry in the register of the Polish national minority.

The explanatory memorandum pointed out that the existing of 1922 years the Union of Poles in Germany was closed after the attack of the Third Reich against Poland in September 1939. The Gestapo arrested nearly 2 thousand. Polish activists, some of them were deported to concentration camps. February 27, 1940 the German government banned the activities ZPwN and confiscated his property. After the war activities ZPwN reactivated.

“To this day in Germany inhabited by persons belonging to the Polish minority, which meet criteria established by the German government, “- writes Polish lawyer. As pointed out, these are the descendants of members of the Polish minority before the war living in the Ruhr, Berlin, Hamburg and other parts of Germany. The German authorities should recognize this fact, regardless of the size of the minority.

In response to the request of the German Ministry of the Interior ZPwN notes that the German parliament, ratifying the 1997 Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, included them only Danes, Fryzyjczyków, Sorbs and Roma. The inclusion of another minority would require amendments to the act of ratification by parliament.

The treaty of good-neighborliness and friendly cooperation 1991 year, which is still legal basis for Polish-German relations, speech is – in contrast to the German minority in Poland – about the “people in Germany, with German citizenship who are of Polish origin or admit to language, culture or traditions of Polish”. The authors of the Treaty acknowledged the two groups of similar rights, including the right to preserve their identities without any attempt at assimilation against their will.

German Polonia was in the period of the formation of a very diverse group of the Treaty. In addition to having German nationality “old” Polish, whose roots date back to the nineteenth century, in Germany, there were hundreds of thousands of Poles from the “new immigration”, often irregular stay.

The largest group were people who had emigrated from Polish, mainly in the 70s and 80s on the basis of ethnic options as “Germany”, while retaining a sense of Polish identity. The creators of the Treaty of 1991 argued that thanks to the adopted solutions of the rights available to all categories of persons associated with the Polish. The size of all these groups is estimated at two million.

In response to the request of the German Ministry of the Interior Polish notes that the provisions of the Treaty of 1991 are proof that both Berlin and Warsaw have recognized that in Germany there is no Polish minority. Hambura announced further action, including the entry of a lawsuit.

(jam)

Berlin rejects the application for minority status for Poles – Onet.pl