For Germany, the question of war reparations due to Poland is “closed”

The Polish government on Thursday estimated the financial cost of World War II losses at 1,300 billion euros and said it would “ask Germany to negotiate these reparations”.

“It’s a significant sum of 6.2 trillion” zlotys, Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the ruling Law and Justice party, told a conference, adding that the process before Poland receives such repairs would be “long and difficult”.

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In this total “a very serious part is the compensation for the death of more than 5.2 million Polish citizens”, he underlined. According to the report, the material losses are estimated at 800 billion zlotys (170 billion euros). Jaroslaw Kaczynski made these statements at a conference devoted to presenting a report on Poland’s losses in World War II.

But the German government rejected the Polish demands in stride, considering that this question was “closed”. “The position of the federal government has not changed, the issue of reparations is closed,” said a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Poland waived further reparations a long time ago, in 1953, and has confirmed this waiver several times,” he added.

A report launched in 2017

Since coming to power in 2015, PiS has often raised the issue of reparations. Work on this report began in 2017.

“We have not only prepared a report, which is an open document and which will certainly be completed, but we have also taken a decision, a decision on further action, added Jaroslaw Kaczynski, and this action consists of asking the Germany to negotiate these reparations. And it is a decision that we are going to implement”.

“The Germans invaded Poland and did enormous damage to us. The occupation was incredibly criminal, incredibly cruel and caused effects that in many cases continue to this day,” the PiS president said. According to Germany, Poland had waived war reparations from East Germany in 1953, which Polish conservatives dispute.