PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 36137/04) against the Republic of Poland lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a Polish national, Mr Roman Krosta (“the applicant”), on 27 August 2004.

The Polish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr J. Wołąsiewicz of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The applicant alleged a breach of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention in respect of the proceedings before the Polish-German Reconciliation Foundation.

On 24 January 2007 the President of the Fourth Section decided to give notice of the application to the Government. It was also decided to examine the merits of the application at the same time as its admissibility (Article 29 § 3).

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicant was born in 1922 and lives in Nowe Brzesko.

In March 1940 the applicant was deported to Germany where he was subjected to forced labour on three different farms until the end of the Second World War. He worked on the same farm as M.P., his future wife. On 30 April 1945 their daughter was born in Germany. After the end of the war they all returned to Poland. They registered their daughter as having been born in Poland on 13 May 1945, for fear of negative consequences had they revealed that she was born in Germany.

A. Proceedings before the Polish-German Reconciliation Foundation concerning the applicant

On 9 June 2001 the applicant applied to the Polish-German Reconciliation Foundation (“the Foundation”) for compensation on account of his forced labour during the war. That request was made under the scheme for slave and forced labourers (“the second compensation scheme”) established under the Joint Statement of 17 July 2000, the German Law of 2 August 2000 on the Creation of the “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” Foundation (“the German Foundation Act”) and the subsequent Agreement of 16 February 2001 between the Remembrance, Responsibility and Future Foundation (“the German Foundation”) and the Polish-German Reconciliation Foundation.

It appears that on 1 July 2004 the Foundation’s Verification Commission found that the applicant was eligible for benefits, as his persecution fell under the 4th category, which included persons who had been deported to Germany and subjected to forced labour in agriculture. It consequently awarded him the sum of EUR 1,124.84. The applicant did not appeal against that decision.

B. Proceedings before the Polish-German Reconciliation Foundation concerning the applicant’s daughter

On an unspecified date the husband of the applicant’s daughter applied to the Polish-German Reconciliation Foundation for compensation on account of her birth at a time when her parents had been forced labourers in Germany. That request was made under the second compensation scheme. On 28 August 2003 the Foundation’s Verification Commission refused the request by the applicant’s daughter. The applicant appealed against that refusal. He relied on a number of statements provided by his fellow forced labourers. On 23 July 2004 the Foundation’s Appeal Commission upheld the refusal. The applicant was informed that during the negotiations in the framework of the so-called “openness clause” it was agreed that children born to parents deported to Germany and subjected to forced labour there were eligible for benefits. However, according to the documents in the file, including his daughter’s identity card, she had been born on 13 May 1945 in Poland. Furthermore, there were no other documents in the file to confirm the applicant’s assertion that his daughter had been born in Germany and had returned with her parents to Poland.