German post-war expellees insist on Berlin museum

BERLIN (Reuters) - The head of a group representing Germans forced out of eastern Europe after World War Two said on Sunday she was determined to go ahead with plans to open a Berlin centre on the expulsions despite objections from Poland.

Erika Steinbach, head of Germany's League of Expellees and a figure of hate in Poland, said she welcomed a Polish idea to open a World War Two museum in the northern port city of Gdansk but insisted it was not a substitute for Germany's own plans.

"It is certainly not an alternative because I think it is essential that each nation does its own mourning and deals with its own traumatic memories," Steinbach told German radio.

Germany's plans for a centre in Berlin which would document the suffering experienced by some Germans when they were expelled from parts of Europe after 1945 have long been a cause of tension between the neighbors.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk discussed the matter last week and in an effort to defuse the row, agreed that Germany would send a delegation to Warsaw to explain its plans in detail.

Poles are wary about what they see as German attempts to portray themselves as victims of a war they started.

Steinbach, a politician in Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) who has long fought for a permanent centre on expulsions, said she liked the Polish idea, which envisages getting several European countries to participate.

"It would be good if a lot of European countries could take part as (the subject) affects almost all European countries -- apart from Switzerland," she said in the interview.

She emphasized the Berlin centre was about reconciliation rather than differences.