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Pretty sad that a whole friggin' nation can't be bothered to just BUY the darn thing. I mean, times are tough, but I don't think they're so tough that Poland couldn't muster $65,000 for a "national treasure".
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Would you want to pay for something you thought was rightfully yours, especially if there was a way to get it back for free? In the end, this just may be a negotiating technique whereby they get the rifle for a lot less money. Right now, they know where it is and that it is secure.
At issue is the provenance, from the sounds of it. Nobody knows if it was a war trophy or not. Even if it is where the Germans got it, the Poles don't recognize that as a war trophy because it wasn't obtained "legally" and they don't consider that a war trophy can be had by an allied force. So it would appear that they are first rejecting the collector's ownership because war trophies can be by allies (hence recognizing trophies are okay) and then rejecting ownership because if it was a trophy taken by the Germans that it wasn't legal (now recognizing trophies as not okay). They are playing both sides of the argument.