Poles wants minority status back

Authorized by Polish organizations in Germany, Berlin lawyer Stefan Hambura has officially asked Chancellor Angela Merkel to formally revoke a Nazi resolution depriving Poles of their minority status in the country, Warsaw dailyRzeczpospolita reports. The resolution, passed in 1940 by the Nazi Council of Ministers for 3rd Reich Defense, was signed by Hermann Goering, among others, and - according to Hambura - is still legally valid. It banned all Polish organizations in Germany and confiscated their property. "The Polish-German Good Neighborhood and Friendly Cooperation Treaty of 1991 in fact validates the Nazi law as it uses the term German 'minority' in Poland but persons of Polish 'origin' in Germany" - Hambura told the daily. The status of national minority is accorded in Germany to Danes, Frisians, Sorbs, Sinti, and Roma only. Under German law, the government is obliged to protect and financially support minority organizations. It is estimated that 1.5 to 2 million people in Germany have Polish roots. Commentators argue that granting minority status to Poles could open the door to similar claims from Germany’s much larger Turkish community in Germany, which makes the success of the appeal rather unlikely.