Czech Republic to hand over 900 acres of territory to Poland in border dispute

Prague makes offer to end dispute dating back to 1950s when Soviets altered new border between Poland and Czechoslovakia

By Matthew Day

The Czech Republic is planning to hand over 909 acres of territory to Poland in a bid to end a border dispute dating back to the 1950s.

Citing a desire to maintain good relations with its northern neighbour, Prague has submitted the proposal to Warsaw to reshape a stretch of the border altered under Soviet pressure during the Cold War. The plan is now awaiting Polish approval.

"Poland will be given land back but at the moment the details are confidential so I can't make any further comment," said Bohuslav Sobotka, the Czech prime minister.

Poland has previously refused a Czech offer of financial compensation over the disputed land.

The precise location of the acres remains secret in order to sidestep any attempts at land speculation, but the Czech press has said areas involved are adjacent to the Polish border in northern Moravia and northern Bohemia.

Eva Pavlickova, deputy mayor of the small town Vidnava, which nestles in the rolling hills of Moravia just a stone's throw from Poland, confirmed that some "state land had been earmarked" to be returned to Poland.

Before WWII the areas involved straddled the then Czechoslovak-German border, and had a large German population. When the war was over the German population had left and Poland expanded westwards, meaning that a new border needed to be settled.

The border was later "shortened" during the Cold War in order to make it easier to guard, removing from Poland an area of land around two and a half times larger than Hyde Park.

All the land involved is uninhabited and owned by the state. While much of it is forested some has been rented out by local governments to farmers, and some earmarked for development.

This has prompted local authorities to complain they could lose revenue from lost rent and taxes, and that in some cases they have wasted money installing amenities such as water and sewerage on land that will soon become part of Poland.

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