There was an interesting article today in the NY Times on a German refugee family. At the end of WWII, they were driven out of their home in what was eastern Germany, but is now part of Poland. The Germans would like to recover their farm, but a Polish family has been there for over 10 years (not the original family who kicked them out). This is reflective of a trend in Germany of portraying the German people as victims of WWII, just as the Jews or Polish were victims. One hears about how the allied bombing campaign was as unjust as anything done by the Hitler regime.
I'm curious about how far to take these situations. Think of the following:
1. Poles wanting land back from Russians in the old eastern part of Poland taken over by Russia in 1939.
2. Latvians, Estonians, and Lithuanians wanting to kick out Russians from their territories.
3. Native Americans in both North and South America wanting compensation or land back from the European conquest.
4. The people dislocated upon the partition of India and Pakistan and Bangladesh.
5. Tibetans who were displaced when communist China took over their land.
5. The whole Palestinian and Israeli issue.
When do land or compensation claims become "outdated" for lack of a better word? Are the Germans "sore losers," or do they have a just claim?
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/04/international/europe/04GERM.html