Poland
German reparations: Morawiecki makes a comparison with Russia
Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at a press conference in Lask. photo
© Roman Zawistowski/PAP/dpa
An expert estimate put the damage caused by the Second World War in Poland at 1.3 trillion euros. That’s why Prime Minister Morawiecki is demanding reparations – and making a connection to the Ukraine war.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has drawn a comparison with Russia to reinforce demands for German reparations for crimes committed in World War II.
If the Germans wanted Russia to be punished for its war and to compensate Ukraine for the crimes committed there, then they would also have to answer for “the crimes and mass murders against Poles that their country committed during World War II,” he said Morawiecki of the “Bild” newspaper. “If you, as descendants, do not accept this responsibility, then Russia can never be held accountable for the crimes that Putin’s troops are now committing in Ukraine,” he said to young people in Germany.
In the past few weeks, Poland’s national conservative PiS government has put forward the long-standing call for reparations with renewed vigour. On the 83rd anniversary of the start of the Second World War on September 1st, a parliamentary commission in Warsaw presented a report in which the damage in Poland was estimated at more than 1.3 trillion euros.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier rejected the demands, as did Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. However, both emphasized the historical responsibility that Germany bears.