Germany's delicate relationship with Poland, long overshadowed by memories of World War Two, has undergone a change for the better but some lingering tensions and new worries over jobs remain. The warm welcome given by Polish Catholics to the German who succeeded their revered countryman, the late Pope John Paul II, underscored the changed climate. For years, the defining image in German-Polish relations was former Chancellor Willy Brandt kneeling in contrition in 1970 before the monument to the Warsaw Jewish ghetto, site of one of the most brutal Nazi atrocities in wartime Poland.
Poland's entry to the European Union a year ago, with strong German support, gave a new dimension to their relations and the new pope has given them another unexpected boost.
For Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and his German counterpart Horst Koehler, opening a "German Polish year" on Saturday, relations will be as warm as they have been in years.