Kohl, Poles at Odds Over Church Visit

West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s long-delayed visit to Poland has been thrown into doubt again, this time by Kohl’s wish to attend Mass at a controversial site.

The visit, scheduled to begin Nov. 9, was conceived as a gesture of aid and reconciliation but has been postponed repeatedly because of wrangling here over the extent of the aid to be offered.

Now the West Germans and the Poles are at odds over Kohl’s plan to attend Mass at Annaberg, or St. Anne’s Hill, in German-speaking Silesia. Poland’s Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki opposes the idea.

Sources in Kohl’s office said Wednesday that Kohl had discussed the matter with Mazowiecki on Tuesday but that they had failed to resolve their differences.

Silesia is the area in southwestern Poland that was taken from Germany when the map of East Europe was redrawn after World War II. Annaberg, the site of a Polish uprising against German rule in 1921, is of symbolic importance to both countries. In the years since World War II, it has become a gathering place for ethnic Germans in Poland.

Bishop Alfons Nossol said that the church at Annaberg, which is in his diocese, is the only one in Poland that conducts Roman Catholic Mass in German. He has invited Kohl to attend.

The bishop, interviewed on West German television, said Kohl would be received warmly and would be expected to discuss the “complicated Silesian problem.”

Silesian refugees in West Germany have formed a lobbying association that meets regularly and encourages politicians to seek the return of Silesia to German sovereignty.

The idea of restoring Silesia to Germany has found support among West Germany’s right-wing political parties, including the Republicans party, and this will pose a threat to Kohl’s Christian Democrats in the next election.

Hans-Jochen Vogel, chairman of the opposition Social Democratic Party, has warned Kohl against including the visit to Annaberg on his itinerary.

“I am afraid,” Vogel said, “that this could cast a shadow over this important and necessary visit. I would advise the greatest care and sensitivity.”

A spokesman for Kohl said he will take up the matter with Mazowiecki again, but added, “The chancellor still wishes to go to Annaberg.”