Last week I wrote about the FBI's assistance to the Polish government in shutting down a website. But what President Lech Kaczynski would really like to shut down is a small leftist German newspaper.

On June 26 the Tageszeitung published a satirical piece titled "Poland's New Potato." President Kaczynski was so upset that he canceled a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Jacques Chirac. The Polish government then demanded that the German Chancellery condemn the article, which of course it didn't since "potato" is protected speech.

Monday the Warsaw Business Journal reported that—

Przemysław Gosiewski, a Law and Justice deputy ..., has asked the prosecutor's office to carry out a probe into the publication of the German left-wing paper Tageszeitung. According to Gosiewski, the paper insulted the Polish head of state, and he has also suggested that Poland could issue a European arrest warrant for Peter Koehler, the author of the article.

I thought it would be fun to post an English translation of the article, partly in hope that President Kaczynski might sever relations with the U.S. But my German isn't good for much more than ordering beer, so I thought I'd see what Google's translator could do with it. It produced a work of art!

Germany rubbed surprises the blue eyes and ears, when Lech Kaczynski came in March on proud hooves to Berlin and let in May the citizen of Berlin Federal President on the Warsaw book fair into emptiness smile simple.

Now that's poetry!

In the meanwhile, if any of you can translate the article, please send it and I'll post it. Inquiring minds want to know!

Related posts
U.S. government "blocks" a website (7/10/06)
Update on "U.S. blocks a website" (7/13/06)

Tags: * Poland Kaczynski Lech Kaczynski Tageszeitung censorship Germany freedom of the press translation German