Those jackboots come stomping again

Lawrenko signed up for 26 acres from the Polish communist authorities, land which had belonged to an old German called Wehry whom he remembered being sent into a field at gunpoint by Red Army officers to look for unexploded mines.

Later, Wehry was expelled, together with millions of other ethnic Germans. They were replaced mostly by Poles displaced when the Soviet Union annexed a large slice ofeastern Poland. 8220;For so many years we built up our farm,8221; said Lawrenko, aged 71, as he sat nervously with his wife in his living room. 8220;There was nothing, there weren8217;t even foundations here. During 50 years nobody tried to chase us away.8221;

When, from time to time, ageing German couples returned for a nostalgic walk in the land of their childhood, former enemies greeted each other politely. And when the couples asked for local stones or soil as a keepsake, Lawrenko agreed. Not until much later did they hear from Wehry8217;s son, Heribert, who was a child when he left for West Germany.

Heribert Wehry, a lecturer from North Rhine-Westphalia, first caught the attention of villagers when he began to measure land and peer into an old brick barn, a humble relic of his father8217;s 125-acre estate. But he came under the national spotlight this month when he wrote to a local politician, Adam Marciniak, who faxed his letter to newspapers 8212; and the story exploded.

Although united Germany has resigned claims toPolish soil, it considers private land claims open. Poles believe that this is because Bonn might face legal claims from expelled Germans if it were to absolve the Polish authorities of all responsibility. Some fear that Germans will flood into the regained territories to buy up land if Poland joins the European Union and restrictions on foreign land ownership are lifted.

In Mosiny, old wounds are reopening. 8220;Polish and German politicians may have kissed and made up, but what about the nations themselves?8221; said Boleslaw Mazur, aged 70, whose land is also subject to claims from Wehry. 8220;They started the war, they got their asses beat.8221;

Lawrenko8217;s wife, huddled up on the edge of the sofa, feared that even if Wehry8217;s claim failed, it would not be long before the Germans bought up the land. 8220;We8217;re all going to be farm slaves,8221;she said.

As for Marciniak, the owner of the famous letter, he was surprised that Mosiny8217;s villagers had not chased the German out of their village with pitchforks. In hisopinion, people such as Wehry were doing much to harm improving Polish-German relations. 8220;People want to build, invest here, treat this soil like their own,8221; he said. 8220;Such letters might mean that in future Germans will not be welcomed here.8221;