Wartime demands after 59 years

Ties with Germany likely to deteriorate after a unanimous vote in Parliament

BERLIN Polish lawmakers on Friday demanded that their government seek compensation from Germany for damage suffered by Poles during World War II, a decision diplomats said could lead to a rapid deterioration of relations between the two countries.
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The Polish Sejm, or Parliament, unanimously backed the resolution, with 328 deputies voting for it. There was one abstention.
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The resolution said Poland "has not received its due financial compensation or war damages for the enormous damages and material and non-material losses caused by the German aggression, occupation, genocide and loss of independence."
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Under the Nazi occupation, six million Poles, including the country's 3.1 million-strong Jewish community, were killed.
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The resolution added that Poland has "no financial obligations whatsover toward German citizens" for any property lost when Poland's borders shifted westward after 1945. An estimated 12.5 million Germans were expelled or forced to flee from Poland, what was then Czechoslovakia - now the Czech Republic - and other East European countries.
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A Polish diplomat said the decision by the Sejm was partly in reaction to the Prussian Claims Society - a group of former German property owners seeking restitution rights from the Polish government through the courts for property they lost when they were expelled from Poland after 1945, and which recently set up in the western German city of Düsseldorf. The Society said it would press ahead regardless of the Sejm vote and take its first claim to the courts this autumn.
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Although the Sejm resolution is not legally binding, Polish officials said Prime Minister Marek Belka would nevertheless come under huge pressure by deputies to raise the issue with German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. Schröder visited Warsaw last month to attend the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising. German officials said at the time that they hoped the gesture would pave the way for improved relations between the two countries badly damaged last December when Poland and Spain blocked a new constitution for the European Union, insisting that it should be given a bigger share of the voting rights.
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Despite Schröder's visit to Warsaw, during which he said he would advise the courts to reject any claims made by the Society, the issue of restitution and compensation has become a major political issue in Poland. Polish officials said it was being used by the nationalist parties, who are already positioning themselves for fresh parliamentary elections.

It is one of the Second World War's forgotten disasters, a disgraceful episode that is almost completely unknown.

When Mussolini took Italy into war on the German side, Italians living in Britain were rounded up and dispatched to internment camps overseas.

The first batch to leave, crammed into a luxury cruise ship, the Arandora Star, set off for Canada from Liverpool, with heavy weapons visible on deck but with no escort. On 2 July 1940 it was torpedoed by a German U-boat. Of 734 Italians on board, 486 died.

Now the president of a Tuscan province from which many of the victims originated is to write to Tony Blair asking him to make a formal admission of British responsibility for the tragedy, and to consider financial compensation for survivors and families of the victims, too.

"If guilt is acknowledged there may be financial consequences according to British law," said Andrea Tagliasacchi, the president of Lucca province.

"Many of the people on the ship were innocent civilians who had been living in Britain for years," Mr Tagliasacchi said. "This is a forgotten disaster."