President Karol Nawrocki during Monday's celebrations of the outbreak of planet War II at Westerplatte stressed the request to address the issue of reparation from Germany. He called for government support in demanding German war compensation from the state.
A historian from the Institute of past of the Polish Academy of Sciences said that this was the right time to discuss the matter. "It's surely the right time to mention it. Personally, I am skeptical about the effectiveness of these actions, due to the fact that there is no global institution that would order Germans to do certain activities on this issue" - he said in PAP Study.
Massive losses in Poland
The prof. emphasized that Poland suffered immense human and material losses during the war. He reminded that in Warsaw there were archive collections and works of art deliberately, without any connection with the war.
"It's all a reality and it's the right minute to remind. No 1 can prohibit this Polish diploma and no 1 can prohibit it from the head of our country" - said the historian. According to the expert, the reparation case is highly complicated.
Legal and political difficulties
Getting reparations by Poland would open the way to demands from another nations that suffered during the war. In addition, there is simply a "scandal and unheard" message by the government of the Polish People's Republic of Poland Bolesław Bierut of August 1953 on the resignation of reparations from the GDR, to which the German side refers.
During the regulation of the Law and Justice, the parliamentary squad estimated in September 2022 the compensation amount to PLN 6 trillion 220 billion 609 million. The then abroad Minister Zbigniew Rau signed a diplomatic note to the German side.
Current position
Germany replied that the reparation case was closed. In February 2024, the current deputy prime minister and head of the MFA Radosław Sikorski said that Germany admits that they have a moral debt towards Poland.
"We search that guilt should find its material expression" - said Sikorski. The issue of war reparations remains 1 of hard topics in Polish-German diplomatic relations.
Sources used: "PAP" Note: This article has been edited with the aid of Artificial Intelligence.
