'Reconciliation' in Katyn May Not Be Enough

For the first time, Russian and Polish leaders on Wednesday commemorated the Katyn massacre together on the 70th anniversary of the tragic event. Despite optimism for improved relations between the two countries, however, many German commentators are not entirely impressed by Russia's effort to confront its own difficult past.

Relations between Warsaw and Moscow have been consistently patchy, but more often downright sour in the two decades since the fall of the Iron Curtain. But events on Wednesday brought a spring thaw that could bring positive developments for ties between the two countries in the years to come. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin broke with the past and invited Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to a join him for a joint memorial ceremony in the Russian town of Katyn, where Soviet soldiers massacred up to 22,000 Polish officers, officials, priests and intellectuals during World War II.

Read more: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,687934,00.html