Germans Poland

West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl's long-delayed visit to Poland has been thrown into doubt again, this time by Kohl's wish to attend Mass at a controversial site. The visit, scheduled to begin Nov. 9, was conceived as a gesture of aid and reconciliation but has been postponed repeatedly because of wrangling here over the extent of the aid to be offered. Now the West Germans and the Poles are at odds over Kohl's plan to attend Mass at Annaberg, or St. Anne's Hill, in German-speaking Silesia.

More than 2,500 people crowded the Wolf Creek Shooting Complex pavilion for the finals in the women's 10-meter air rifle competition Saturday. This was the first medal event of the 1996 Summer Olympics, and as the final round began, there was definitely a crowd favorite. Petra Horneber, 31, of Germany, had blazed her way through the qualification round with an Olympic-record score of 397 out of a possible 400. The spectators thought she was a shoo-in.

Chancellor Helmut Kohl, knuckling under to international pressure on the controversy over Poland's postwar borders, agreed Tuesday that a reunited Germany will recognize those borders.

If the slightly stooped old man held the official paper with some reverence, it was understandable. Duly stamped and dated by the regional authorities, the document did nothing less than give him back the name taken from him nearly four decades ago. Johann Kroll, German-born, German-bred and German still, was again officially a real person.

About 8,000 ethnic Germans waving banners demanding minority rights cheered West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl on Sunday as he visited a corner of Poland that was German territory before 1945. The public display of national fervor by Poland's German community was unprecedented since Poland absorbed eastern German provinces after Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II.

The West German Cabinet approved a special $1-billion spending package to cope with a record influx of ethnic Germans who are taking advantage of relaxed exit policies in Poland and the Soviet Union to return to their ancestors' homeland. The money will go to build apartments and provide German-language training and other services between now and 1990.

If the slightly stooped old man held the official paper with some reverence, it was understandable. Duly stamped and dated by the regional authorities, the document did nothing less than give him back the name taken from him nearly four decades ago. Johann Kroll, German-born, German-bred and German still, was again officially a real person.

They came by the hundreds Sunday, filling every pew and aisle and nook, then spilling outside into the chilly courtyard of the ornate 15th-Century shrine here on St. Anne's Hill. But they were different from all the other Poles who also honored the Sabbath in this overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country Sunday--even from the ones who attended five other services in the same shrine.

The West German government has called on the Polish authorities to grant Germans living in Poland ethnic minority rights, the minister of Inner-German Affairs said Sunday. Heinrich Windelen of the Christian Democratic Union said that if the Polish authorities are not prepared to let the Germans leave the country, then at least they should grant them ethnic minority rights, to which all ethnic groups of the world are entitled.

More than 2,500 people crowded the Wolf Creek Shooting Complex pavilion for the finals in the women's 10-meter air rifle competition Saturday. This was the first medal event of the 1996 Summer Olympics, and as the final round began, there was definitely a crowd favorite. Petra Horneber, 31, of Germany, had blazed her way through the qualification round with an Olympic-record score of 397 out of a possible 400. The spectators thought she was a shoo-in.

Chancellor Helmut Kohl, knuckling under to international pressure on the controversy over Poland's postwar borders, agreed Tuesday that a reunited Germany will recognize those borders.

About 8,000 ethnic Germans waving banners demanding minority rights cheered West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl on Sunday as he visited a corner of Poland that was German territory before 1945. The public display of national fervor by Poland's German community was unprecedented since Poland absorbed eastern German provinces after Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II.

They came by the hundreds Sunday, filling every pew and aisle and nook, then spilling outside into the chilly courtyard of the ornate 15th-Century shrine here on St. Anne's Hill. But they were different from all the other Poles who also honored the Sabbath in this overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country Sunday--even from the ones who attended five other services in the same shrine.

West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl's long-delayed visit to Poland has been thrown into doubt again, this time by Kohl's wish to attend Mass at a controversial site. The visit, scheduled to begin Nov. 9, was conceived as a gesture of aid and reconciliation but has been postponed repeatedly because of wrangling here over the extent of the aid to be offered. Now the West Germans and the Poles are at odds over Kohl's plan to attend Mass at Annaberg, or St. Anne's Hill, in German-speaking Silesia.

The West German Cabinet approved a special $1-billion spending package to cope with a record influx of ethnic Germans who are taking advantage of relaxed exit policies in Poland and the Soviet Union to return to their ancestors' homeland. The money will go to build apartments and provide German-language training and other services between now and 1990.

The West German government has called on the Polish authorities to grant Germans living in Poland ethnic minority rights, the minister of Inner-German Affairs said Sunday. Heinrich Windelen of the Christian Democratic Union said that if the Polish authorities are not prepared to let the Germans leave the country, then at least they should grant them ethnic minority rights, to which all ethnic groups of the world are entitled.

The East German Embassy gave 49 refugees documents allowing them to claim West German passports today under a new agreement to allow 1,400 East Germans in Poland to emigrate to the West. The 49 refugees renounced their East German citizenship at the embassy in Warsaw and were given documents allowing them to claim West German citizenship at Bonn's embassy as a prelude to their trip west. About 1,400 East Germans are in Poland seeking to travel to West Germany and more are arriving every day.

The leaders of Poland and Germany said today a treaty confirming their present border will be signed this month, settling decades of debate over the frontier and ethnic Germans in Poland. Chancellor Helmut Kohl made the announcement at his summit with Polish Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, their first meeting together since German unification on Oct. 3. Kohl said the treaty will be signed before the end of the month in Warsaw, but he did not give a specific date.