When it comes to Germany's relationship with Poland, few play a greater role than the parliamentarian Erika Steinbach. A member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats, Steinbach heads up the controversial Federation of Expellees, a group dedicated to commemorating the suffering of those Germans who were thrown out of Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe following World War II.

The project is hardly free from controversy. For decades, Steinbach and her group have been promoting the creation of a center in Berlin documenting the fate of the millions expelled from their homes. For just as long, Poland has protested, horrified that some Germans might see themselves as victims of Nazi Germany.

The conflict recently came to a head once again. Even as Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has dropped Warsaw opposition to an expellee documentation center being built in Berlin, Steinbach's nomination to the center's board proved to be too much. Many in Poland have long been skeptical of Steinbach, and Tusk joined other Polish politicians in protest. Once again, Polish-German relations threatened to suffer.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,612131,00.html