The future of Germany’s new ambassador to Poland hangs in the balance amid a press storm over his father’s past as a senior officer under the Nazis.
Earlier in the summer, Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven, “a former Nato intelligence chief, well-regarded ambassador to Prague and capable jazz guitarist” was nominated to take up the post, The Times reports.
But Poland has delayed formalising the appointment, while right-wing press in the country have “lambasted” Freytag von Loringhoven over his father’s links to Adolf Hitler.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
His father, Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven, was a Wehrmacht officer under the Nazis and prepared Hitler’s daily military briefings towards the end of the Second World War.
After being absolved of war crimes, he became a senior figure in the West German armed forces and later worked as an adviser on the film Downfall. He died in 2007.
Najwyszy Czas (High Time), a conservative Polish magazine, described the nomination as “Merkel’s gift to the Poles - son of Hitler’s aide de camp will be ambassador to Warsaw”.
But German officals suspect that the Polish response to Freytag von Loringhoven has little to do with his family history and may in fact be politically motivated.
President Andrzej Duda frequently deployed “anti-German rhetoric” during his “protracted campaign for the Polish election” this year, the Financial Times notes.
Duda, who has the support of the ruling Law and Justice party, attacked coverage of the election by German-owned media, singling out the Polish tabloid Fakt, which is owned by German-Swiss publishing house Ringier Axel Springer.
The two countries have also “recently sparred over other issues such as the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which Berlin backs but Warsaw bitterly opposes”, the FT adds.
Both will want to resolve the dispute as quickly as possible, The Times suggests, as “there are also strong trade ties between the neighbours”. Germany is by far Poland’s largest export market, purchasing a greater amount of its goods than the next four countries combined.
-
‘Human trafficking isn’t something that happens “somewhere else”’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
What would a credit card rate cap mean for you?the explainer President Donald Trump has floated the possibility of a one-year rate cap
-
Is the American era officially over?Talking Points Trump’s trade wars and Greenland push are alienating old allies
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
-
Brazil’s Bolsonaro behind bars after appeals run outSpeed Read He will serve 27 years in prison
