__NOTOC__ The Prussian Trust, or Prussian Claims Society, () is a corporation registered in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

, founded in 2000 as ''Preußische Treuhand GmbH'' by some descendants of

German expellees The German Expellees or ''Heimatvertriebene'' (, "homeland expellees") are 12–16 million German nationality law, German citizens (regardless of ethnicity) and Volksdeutsche, ethnic Germans (regardless of citizenship) Flight and expulsion of Ge ...

, and supported by some officials of the

Landsmannschaft Schlesien The Landsmannschaft Schlesien - Nieder- und Oberschlesien e.V. ("Territorial Association of Silesia - Lower and Upper Silesia", "Homeland Association of Silesia - Lower and Upper Silesia") is an organization of Germans born in the former Prussian pr ...

organization. It seeks to claim compensation from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, among others, for property confiscated from

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

expelled from territories which after World War II became parts of

and

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. The chairman of the supervisory board is Rudi Pawelka, who also is president of the Landsmannschaft Schlesien, and vice president is

Hans Günther Parplies Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi a ...

, also vice president of the

Federation of Expellees The Federation of Expellees (; BdV) is a non-profit organization formed in West Germany on 27 October 1957 to represent the interests of German nationals of all ethnicities and foreign ethnic Germans and their families (usually naturalised as Ge ...

. The Trust probably has fewer than a hundred members.

Compensation claims against Poland

Rudi Pawelka told the ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

'' on 15 February 2004 that: The then-

German chancellor The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, is the head of the federal government of Germany. The chancellor is the chief executive of the Federal Cabinet and heads the executive branch. Th ...

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German former politician and Lobbying, lobbyist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (S ...

stated on 1 August 2004 that the German government will not support these claims. Also, the Polish

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

declared that Poland will demand war reparations from

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

if the German government does not end the press for compensations. Some German politicians stated that the claims by the Sejm were ridiculous and had no legal basis. The corporation's activities have been repudiated by some German politicians who have addressed the issue, including the president of the Federation of Expellees,

Erika Steinbach Erika Steinbach (, born 25 July 1943) is a German right-wing politician. She previously served as a member of the Bundestag from 1990 until 2017. She was a member of the Christian Democratic Union from 1974 to 2017, and served as a member of t ...

. In December 2006, the corporation filed 23 individual claims against Poland in the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

, an action which has been condemned by both the Polish and German governments. The Polish government decided that the submissions warranted a comment by

Anna Fotyga Anna Elżbieta Fotyga (; ; born 12 January 1957) is a Polish politician who currently serves as a Member of the European Parliament, and is the Secretary-General of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party. She has served as Minister of ...

, the Polish Minister of the Foreign Affairs who "express erdeepest concern upon receiving the information about a claim against Poland submitted by the Prussian Trust to the European Court of Human Rights". On 9 October 2008 the European Court of Human Rights declared the case of ''Preussische Treuhand v. Poland '' inadmissible, because of the non-retroactivity of the

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is a Supranational law, supranational convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Draf ...

Notes

References

English language homepage
of the Die Preußische Treuhand GmbH & Co. KG a. A. Official comments * — Polish Minister of the Foreign Affairs (2006–2007) * * Journals * In the news * * * *

Compensation claims against Poland

See also

Notes

References

Further reading