During a press conference in the city of Rumia (now Gdynia, near Gdansk) where she was born in 1943, Steinbach, the CDU MP who heads the Federation of German Expellees, said Poles living in Germany were mostly economic migrants, which is why they could not be labelled a national minority.
Steinbach began her trip to Poland on Sunday with other MPs from the Christian Democratic Party (CDU) by holding a meeting with members of the German minority in Poland in Gdansk on the Baltic coast.
Though a controversial figure in Poland, where many consider Steinbach’s role as head of the German expellees union has been one of trying to paint Germans as equal victims of Hitler’s murderous rule, couldn’t resist causing still more controversy yesterday when she claimed that Germany was home to only two ethic minorities: Danes, which stems from historical border shifts, and the Sorbs, who have been inhabiting the eastern parts of Germany for centuries.
Hundreds of thousands of Poles are currently in Germany with more set to follow after Berlin opened its doors fully to central and eastern European EU members on 1 May.
“There are specific regulations in Germany, and across Europe, that clearly stipulate, which community may be granted national minority status, which entails special privileges,” Steinbach continued.
The head of the expellees’ federation added however that German society is multicultural and open to foreigners.
“For instance, people of over 100 nationalities reside in Berlin, among them economic migrants from Italy, Portugal, Turkey and, of course, Poland. All these people have come to Germany of their own accord. If they live in Germany long enough, they may be granted citizenship, like native Germans. Naturally, though, this does not mean that they have a national minority status.”
Demonstrators held up banners saying “Persona non grata” in against the policies of Erika Steinbach.
“We, the Kashubians [an ethnic minority from northern Poland] do not want her here, nor her provocative actions taken against our motherland, Poland,” read another banner.
The trip of the CDU MP was organized by the German consulate in Gdańsk with the approval of Germany’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (pg/ab)