The Die Welt article from November 2008, 'Asafs Reise um die Welt,' received a lot of publicity. The text speaks about the father of a 16-year-old Israeli boy killed in a suicide bombing. Following his son's death, his father posted his photograph on the web, asking people to take it with them on their travels. Israeli students took the photo to the Majdanek camp museum. It is in this context that the phrase 'Polish concentration camp' was used in Die Welt.

The Polish Foreign Ministry's reaction was sharp. Deputy foreign minister Ryszard Schnepf pledged a 'serious lawsuit on a large scale, for big money.' The Die Welt editor in chief apologised for a 'phrase that slanders Poland' and the text of the report on the daily's website was corrected.

The Foreign Ministry lawsuit hasn't been heard of since. Instead, a personal rights protection lawsuit was filed by the grandson of a Stutthof prisoner. The man was demanding apologies for himself and for all Poles and guarantees that a 'situation like this never happens again.' The suit, filed without a lawyer's assistance, was promptly rejected, because it was wrongly brought against the 'editors of Die Welt' and the Polish branch of Axel Springer, the publisher of, among other titles. Fakt and Dziennik.

It was only yesterday that, with the assistance of the law firm of attorney Lech Obara, acting pro bono here, the defendant was correctly indicated as the German publisher of Die Welt and the suit was filed again, accompanied by a legal analysis according to which, in keeping with European judicature, the case can be heard before a Polish court.

'This is a precedential case,' says Mr Obara. 'The phrase "Polish concentration camps" has kept popping up in the foreign media, and disclaimers, apologies help nothing. Moreover, I have doubts whether diplomatic interventions make sense here because rather than the German state, the case concerns a private business - the publisher of a newspaper. The catalogue of personal rights is a non-exclusive one. Pride with Polish history can also enjoy protection and Mr Osewski has an additional reason - a personal, family-related one - to feel offended by the phrase in question,' said the counsel.

Of the PLN 500,000 ( 120,000) Mr Osewski is claiming in damages (lawyers say the court is highly unlikely to award a sum like that), he wants not a single zloty for himself. The funds would go to a special school for mentally handicapped children in Świnoujście, where the plaintiff lives.

Until Mr Osewski decides whether to extend his suit to include the author of the original report and the chief editor of Die Welt, judge Jacek Tyszka has adjourned the case.

Translated by Marcin Wawrzyńczak