Germany rejects Poland’s demand to pay World War II reparations

First modification: 01/03/2023 – 23:52

1.3 trillion euros. This is the amount that Poland claims from Germany for the losses and damages suffered by the country during World War II. But on Tuesday, January 3, the Polish Foreign Ministry announced that the German government had formally rejected their claim.

According to a statement from the Ministry, for “the German government, the issue of reparations and compensation for war damage remains closed and the German government does not intend to open negotiations on it.”

The press service of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed to Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the federal government had “responded to Poland’s note verbale of October 3, 2022”, specifying at the same time that it could not publicly disseminate “the (…) contents of (a) diplomatic correspondence”.

This Tuesday, Polish diplomacy made the decision to take the case to the United Nations, asking its high representatives for their “cooperation and support so that Poland can receive compensation for the damages caused by the German aggression and occupation in the years 1939- 1945”.

“A Moral Duty”

Berlin relies on the argument that Poland renounced war reparations in 1953 and that it confirmed this abandonment of reparations on several occasions. The German government has also used this same argument in response to past Greek reparation demands. However, the Polish nationalist conservatives in power are challenging the validity of the 1953 agreement, alleging that Warsaw then acted under pressure from the Soviet Union.

During her visit to Warsaw at the beginning of last October, the German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, had already pointed out that “from the point of view of the (German) federal government, the issue of reparations (was) closed” , however assuring that his country assumed “its historical responsibility”.

According to a report on Polish losses during World War II, released in early September, some 2.1 million Polish citizens were deported to work in Nazi Germany, with each person working there for an average of two years and nine months.

Furthermore, the report stresses that as a result of the war, experiments on people and detention in concentration camps, 590,000 Polish citizens became disabled. In the years 1939-1945, Poland lost 50% of its lawyers, 40% of its doctors, and 35% of its university professors, among many other lives.

On the other hand, the material losses were estimated at 800 billion zlotys, which is equivalent to 170 billion dollars. Loss and damage related to cultural and artistic property was estimated at $4 billion. Losses in the banking sector were assessed at $18.9 billion and in the insurance sector at $7.3 billion.

Since coming to power in Poland in 2015, the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has not ceased to defend the issue of World War II reparations, insisting that Germany has a “moral duty” in this regard.

AFP