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Poland - the least liked German neighbour. [210]
There's quite a few reasons Germans tend not to like Poles, just for the same reason that many Poles tend not to like Germans. There are many Germans that are descendants of the
Vertriebenen der Ostgebiete (Expellees from the Eastern Territories), my indirect family included. They generally do NOT have a terribly positive outlook on Poland, and generally for good reason. Many Germans still see Poland as a rather aggressive state, especially due to Poland's pre-WW2 aggression (Soviet-Polish War, Upper Silesia annexation). The expulsions destroyed German-Polish relations (other than Soviet East Germany, which was rather forced) for a rather large amount of time. I personally know Germans and descendants of Germans who were expelled from Breslau (Wroclaw) and Stettin (Szczecin). They are not too fond of Poland.
Poles, on the other hand, still generally remember Germany's invasion during WW2 and the partition of Poland in general before that. I know many Poles who dislike Germany on those grounds.
Of course, if both countries want to play the "Who was there first?" game, the order is: Poland (today), Germany, Poland, West Slavic tribes (not just Poles, mind you), East Germanic tribes (Gothic), and before that, Celts... so it makes the most sense to give the entire region to Ireland, methinks. Or, before that, it was likely inhabited by pre-Indo European peoples related to the Basque, so we could definitely create a new Euskara there.
For the record, I'm half Polish, one quarter Ashkenazim (Jewish German), and a quarter Prussian, and am an American citizen. My family hails from Danzig/Gdansk, both Prussian and Polish sides, so I generally know the issues fairly well. And no, my two sides of my family do not get along at all :D.
