Steinbach Eschews Post on Museum Board
Responding to considerable domestic and international pressure, the German Federation of Expellees said Wednesday it would withdraw the nomination of controversial politician Erika Steinbach from the board of directors of a planned museum that will document the expulsion of Germans from Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe after World War II.
The board of the Federation of Expellees said it had accepted a proposal from Steinbach that, for the time being, she not be named as a member of the board for the documentation center. The federation, which is the main group promoting the creation of the museum, said it would symbolically leave its seat on the board empty. With the withdrawal of Steinbach's nomination, the group said, "we want to eliminate a blockade that was not of our creation."
In a statement, the group wrote that "the seat will remain unfilled to make clear no one can dictate" how it fills the position. The group did not state, however, when it would fill its seat or whether it might reconsider Steinbach in the future, leaving open the possibility that the controversy surrounding her appointment might be reignited at some point in the future.
Steinbach has been a source of great agitation in German-Polish relations. The Poles suspect Steinbach's group of having revanchist views. They note that, in the 1990s, Steinbach questioned the legitimacy of the current German-Polish border, known as the Oder-Neisse line. And prior to its accession in 2004, Steinbach also questioned Poland's fitness for the European Union. Poles also tend to react strongly whenever Germans appear to be presenting themselves as victims of World War II.
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The board of the Federation of Expellees said it had accepted a proposal from Steinbach that, for the time being, she not be named as a member of the board for the documentation center. The federation, which is the main group promoting the creation of the museum, said it would symbolically leave its seat on the board empty. With the withdrawal of Steinbach's nomination, the group said, "we want to eliminate a blockade that was not of our creation."
In a statement, the group wrote that "the seat will remain unfilled to make clear no one can dictate" how it fills the position. The group did not state, however, when it would fill its seat or whether it might reconsider Steinbach in the future, leaving open the possibility that the controversy surrounding her appointment might be reignited at some point in the future.
Steinbach has been a source of great agitation in German-Polish relations. The Poles suspect Steinbach's group of having revanchist views. They note that, in the 1990s, Steinbach questioned the legitimacy of the current German-Polish border, known as the Oder-Neisse line. And prior to its accession in 2004, Steinbach also questioned Poland's fitness for the European Union. Poles also tend to react strongly whenever Germans appear to be presenting themselves as victims of World War II.