It is Poland that has claims toward Germany

Poland's Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga on Thursday said a German newspaper had used "reversed logic" by requesting the return of Prussian Library collections, which have been under Poland's preservation since the end of World War II.

"It is Poland that has claims toward Germany. Germany can hope for our gesture but certainly not in such an atmosphere and by questioning the post-war order," Fotyga was quoted as saying by Polish PAP news agency in a radio interview.

Last week the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung blamed Poland for its refusal to talk about the restitution of the library collection. They were taken out of Germany during World War II and were brought to Poland after 1945, the paper said.

"The cultural property in question is the property of Poland under a decree of March 8, 1946," Fotyga said, adding that Poland had for itself suffered "enormous cultural damages" during the plunder by Nazi Germany.

On Tuesday Poland's Foreign Ministry repeated in a statement that German cultural property assets in dispute "were taken over by the Polish state on the basis of legal acts."

German cultural property restitution claims "must arouse astonishment" in the light of the huge losses suffered by Polish culture as a result of the German occupation," the ministry said.