Status: 01.09.2022 2:40 p.m
Poland wants to demand reparations from Germany. The damage caused by the Second World War is estimated at 1.3 trillion euros, said PiS boss Kaczynski. He refers to a report that has now been presented.
The Polish government will demand reparations from Germany for the damage suffered in World War II. This was announced by the chairman of the national conservative governing party PiS, Jaroslaw Kaczynski. According to him, the damage in the Second World War is estimated at 6.2 trillion zlotys (1.32 trillion euros). One wants to negotiate with Berlin about compensation in this estimated volume, he said.
“Today the decision will be made in Warsaw’s Royal Castle and the final announcement will be made that Poland will seek war reparations for everything that the Germans did in Poland between 1939 and 1945,” Kaczynski announced. However, until Poland receives reparations, it will have to go through a “long and difficult” process.
Federal government rejects reparation claims
The sum he mentioned is based on a report that was kept secret for a long time and was presented in Warsaw today. The report was prepared by a parliamentary commission convened in 2017. He was supposed to substantiate claims for reparations and estimated the amount of damage caused by Nazi Germany in Poland during World War II.
The federal government rejects any claims for reparations. For them, the question of the two-plus-four treaty on the foreign policy aspects of German unity is closed.
anniversary of the invasion of Poland
The day the report was presented has high symbolic value: the German invasion of Poland began on September 1, 1939. It was the beginning of the Second World War with at least 55 million dead – other estimates even go up to 80 million. There are no exact figures. It is estimated that up to 6 million people died in Poland alone.
The place where the report is presented is also symbolic: the Warsaw Royal Castle is considered a symbol of the city that was largely destroyed by Nazi Germany in World War II and later rebuilt.
Tusk: Government backs anti-German campaign
Before the report was presented, the Polish opposition leader and former EU Council President Donald Tusk had criticized the project. The national-conservative governing party PiS is not concerned with reparations payments from Germany, but with a domestic political campaign, he said at an appearance in Pomerania. “PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski makes no secret of the fact that he wants to build support for the ruling party with this anti-German campaign.”
The PiS government has recently tightened its rhetoric towards Germany. Poland’s Environment Minister Anna Moskwa recently warned against false reports (“fake news”) from Germany in connection with the fish kill in the Oder. This caused considerable irritation in Berlin.