Official condemns German lawmaker reported comment that Poland provoked Nazis before WWII

Official condemns German lawmaker comment on WWII

BERLIN — A deputy foreign minister has condemned a lawmaker’s reported comment that Poland provoked Nazi Germany as “very dangerous,” becoming the first official in Angela Merkel’s government to wade into the controversy.

Cornelia Pieper said Thursday that remarks seeking to diminish responsibility for the outbreak of World War II could endanger German-Polish relations.

Pieper’s statement came after Erika Steinbach, a member of Merkel’s Christian Democrats who heads a group representing ethnic Germans expelled from Poland, was quoted as saying that Poles were mobilized against Germany in March 1939.

The Nazi invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, triggered the outbreak of WWII.

Opposition lawmakers have demanded Merkel and her party distance themselves from Steinbach’s words.