Posted on 10/19/2006 1:02:58 AM PDT by Schweinhund
The version of Radio Polonia:
German cruiser kidnaps Polish customs officers
A German cruiser refused to submit to the control of Polish border guards and escaped detaining three Polish customs officers on board. They were later arrested in the German spa of Hergisdorf .
On Tuesday the German cruiser Adler Dania was nearing the Polish port of Swinoujscie, after it had entered Polish territorial waters the customs officers who were on board presented their documents and demanded to check whether there was no illegal transport of alcohol carried.
The ship suddenly turned and began sailing away. The customs officers contacted the port authorities which banned the German ship to leave Polish waters. The Adler Dania refused and despite various demands from the Polish side continued the escape. When the ship arrived in Germany the Polish customs officers where arrested on charges of illegal activities. After the intervention of the Polish side the officers were released. The affair is now being dealt with by the Polish Foreign Ministry.
The version of Tagesspiegel Online (quick and bad translation by me):
Poland's border patrol fires at German cruise ship
During a conflict about customs controls, polnish border patrol fired warning shots at a german cruise ship.
Warsaw/Usedom - The crew of the 'Adler Dania' had refused to be controlled, said a speaker of the polnish customs office. The shots were supposed to prevent the ship from returning to german waters. A speaker of the Bundespolizeipräsidium in Bad Bramstedt confirmed that there was an incident with the 'Adler Dania' on tuesday and that three poles were questioned by the police in Germany. Because of running investigations the speaker would not give more details.
According to the polnish speaker, three plain-clothes customs officers were on the ship, they were to reveal themselves, when the ship reached polnish waters. Their mission was to control whether the cigarettes and alcoholica sold aboard had been imposed with polnish taxes. But the captain of the 'Adler Dania' had refused to be controlled or to steer for the next polnish harbor.
Then the customs officers had alarmed the border patrol which had fired some warning shots at the 'Adler Dania'. In spite of the shots, the captain returned to the close german waters. The customs officers had been questioned for some hours and were then set free. The neubrandenburgian 'Nordkurier' reports that polnish security forces had shot over the 'Adler Dania' before Swinoujscie and Ahlbeck, citing crew members.
Obviously polnish customs suspected the german ship tp elude the EU-wide ban on duty-free shopping. Before the entry of Poland into the EU, the shipping company Adler specialized in so-called Butterfahrten to Poland, wheere they sold goods like alcohol, cigarettes or perfume. Since the entry of Poland into the EU these goods are still sold on the cruises because they are still cheaper in Poland. The incident in the East Sea could further strain the already damaged relations between Poland and Germany.
As I heard they fired a flare.
Nothing to worry about. As I said law enforcement vs. criminals. With the rising level of integration in the EU, the Polish custom officers can soon hunt the offenders also in German waters.
Yes, and that hatred is passed down, however, with that being said, the Prussians (Germanic Poles in (Upper Silesia and Pomerania)) were terribly treated by the Russians as they drove West from the Oder River. 1945 saw the worst fighting of the eastern front and probably the most dying in the Red Drive to Berlin. Millions of Germans, Poles, and Eastern Europeans were displaced, raped, killed, plundered, and terrorized by the Reds. They front army troops were well manored, but the REMFs did atrocious things.
Pick up "Red Storm on the Reich" by Kansas University Press (forgot author) and Anthony Beevors "Fall of Berlin" for better perspective.
Prussians consisted of medieval Baltic tribes inhabiting the lands of the southeastern Baltic Sea (mainly near the Vistula River). They had been Germanized/Polonized over the ages. They had nothing to do with Upper Silesia.
Thanks! Who inhabits Upper Silesia then?
Well, currently Poles...
Upper Silesia was inhabited by Prussians, but not those Prussians...
Check here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Prussians
and here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussia
Butterfahrten?
It was not a battle cruiser, but a cruising boat (looks like a ferry).
Butter trips...trips whose primary goal is to buy goods, either because it can be done duty-free, because price differences make it cheaper or because of local specialities that can't be bought at home. Normally one of the first two reasons.
Customs officers not in uniform?
On boat as it sails, then present papers to Captian.
It smells of a setup - for taxes of course.....
I guess Poland really is now part of the EU.
Thanks again! ...always looking to become more knowledgable!
That was a joke. But a strange slip of tongue anyway...
Yes, "Butterfahrten" (literal translation: butter trips), not to be confused with "Kaffeefahrten". A "Butterfahrt" is a trip onboard a boat just beyond the territorial waters, so one can buy items like liquors etc. tax-free. Long, long ago (probably at the time of the Kaiserreich, or German Empire), butter was also a highly taxed item, that's what they got the name from.
A "Kaffeefahrt" on the other hand is bus tour with a sales show (usually overpriced blankets, pots and pans). In German a Kaffeefahrt is usually synonymous with "rip-off".
Yes, there have been more of these strange slips. When the German navy accidentally crossed over into Polnish waters some months ago during a maneuver, websites from Poland reported this and some of them (at least one) placed pictures from German navy soldiers during port maneuvers next to the reports. Because of this, some Polnish FReepers first assumed that the Navy had purposefully landed in Swinoujscie during the maneuver, without previously communicating this to Poland.
Thanks I'll read them.
Sort of like how the Koreans and Chineese still feel about the Japaneese I'd guess.
Lets set up the scenario correctly. The Captain is very likely cheating on smokes sales and tax-free booze (you have to be a certain distance out to sea and away from the coast...and he wasn't...nor has he ever been). The Poles figure this out...its just a quick cheap trip on the ferry and $30k worth of sales occur within a 45-60 minute trip. The captain pockets 10 percent of the profit for himself...I'm betting.
The Poles can't catch them, nor can they interest the German customs dimwits in watching the whole game. So they bring out a team of plain clothing guys. The Captain realizes the whole thing is unfolding and says "no way", and heads back to the German port...never mind the upset passengers onboard. Some shots are fired...flares or blanks, depending on who you talk to.
In the end...you still have an illegal customs situation going on, with no German authorities interested in the situation. Ask yourself why? And then ask who gets paid off? Corruption within the German government....yet again. And sadly enough...the Poles are trying to point this out.
Nothing agasist the Poles - I am generally not for this kind of 'tax enforcement ' - someone could get hurt.
How can you say this and spoil the day for those waiting for german tanks in poland....
There's always trouble with polish coast guard - if you don't have the correct stamp in your passport they will send speed boats after your sailing ship shooting flasres in your direction once you leave the marina.
They are really a bit over motivated (Maybe that's a residual behaviour from iron curtain times ?)
A short remark via FM radio would have done...
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