Polish court evicts families from house owned by German

The unprecedented verdict read out by a regional court judge on Thursday means that the two families now living in the house, in the village of Narty, must be evicted. The order upholds a 2005 ruling that returned the house to the former owner.

Owner Agnes Trawny left the country for Germany in 1977. Her house, like all the property of more than 100,000 ethnic Germans who emigrated to Germany, was confiscated by the then-communist regime.

The Moskalik and Glowacki families moved into the house as tenants of the local council, but the property's ownership was never settled by the state. Until now, Polish courts routinely dismissed requests for property restitution.

"I've been living in this house for 33 years," said one of the current residents. "I have paid the rent, I have paid for home repairs. I have no intention of moving out. Ms. Trawny is doing us terrible harm. We Poles have suffered long enough."

Trawny said she is only asking for the return of something which is rightfully hers - something that was stolen from her by the communists.

"While I'm fighting for my own rights, it has turned into a nasty personal vendetta between me and the two families. I didn't want that," Trawny said.

"I've tried to keep talking to them, and to the local authorities about possible alternative accommodation. But now all the communication channels with the families are broken, and the only way is to go through the courts."

Playing on national anxieties

Because many people now live on property formerly belonging to ethnic Germans, the case has caused a lot of anxiety in Poland.

The leader of the conservative nationalist opposition party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who is Polish President Lech Kaczynski's twin brother, is among those who say the ruling could set a precedent and bring a flood of restitution claims from ethnic Germans who emigrated voluntarily and those who were resettled from former German lands given to Poland at the end of World War Two.

Kaczynski, who is known for using the past to play on nationalist sentiments, is accusing the Polish government of giving in to German demands.

"The government appears resigned to whatever Germany throws at it," said Kaczynski. "As an opposition we can't do much, but we'll try to help the eviction victims."

Legal experts note that his argument is flawed. They say the Polish government has had nothing to do with the eviction case, as it was handled solely by an independent court.

External and internal controversy

Relations between Germany and Poland have been strained in the past over some conservative Polish politicians' push for assurances that the German government would not support private individuals' claims for compensation.

Last year the European Court of Human Rights rejected a claim brought by ethnic Germans who lost their homes in Poland when the borders were redrawn in 1945. That court said modern Poland bore no responsibility for the expulsions of ethnic Germans because it was under Soviet control at the time.

Narty is located in the former East Prussia, which Germany had to give up after WWII

But commentators point out that the property restitution is a highly contentious issue in Poland, and not just when it comes to German claims. Victims of Nazi persecution during Poland's occupation by Germany and people whose land was appropriated by the government during communism are two groups that have also tried to reclaim lost property.

Poland has also accused the League of German Expellees (BdV), which seeks compensation for expellees' losses, of ignoring Germany's crimes in World War II, in which more than six million Poles died.

Konstanty Gebert, a columnist with leading newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, argues that in the past two decades, successive governments have done little to return confiscated property to former owners because they feared the political fallout.

"This mobilizes the nationalistic electorate, which is considerable in Poland, and allows people to sidestep the real issue, which really is that we don't want to pay compensation to anyone at all," said Gebert.

"The fact that this is still a live issue in Poland is shameful. Not incomprehensible, but shameful. But the reason that the Poles have been reluctant is - they don't want to restitute property, period."

Rafal Kiepuszewski/svs/AP
Editor: Kyle James