On Thursday afternoon, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs gave a press conference during which he announced that he had sent a letter to all MPs of the 10th and 11th term of office with an appeal “to continue activities aimed at regulating the issue of reparations […] that Poland is entitled to from Germany due to the German aggression and occupation [of Poland] in the years 1939-1945.„

Minister Mularczyk recalled that on 14 September 2022, the Sejm adopted a resolution requiring the Polish government “to continue all possible political and diplomatic actions aimed at obtaining war reparations from Germany„. He also emphasised that a similar resolution was adopted in 2004.

„These actions aimed at achieving basic justice for Poland and Poles are undoubtedly a patriotic and moral element for all new MPs and senators,” he stressed, adding that there is a “political consensus in Poland on this issue” as there is “huge support for Poland’s claims towards Germany„.

Arkadiusz Mularczyk expressed his hope that during the upcoming term, the Sejm, the Senate, and the new government will “effectively raise this issue in bilateral relations [with Berlin], as well as on the forums of international organisations„. 

“For the past year or so, we can observe an increase in the awareness of the international community when it comes to our [Polish] situation when it comes to the issue of reparations. Germany has an unsettled debt toward us. We do have a political, moral, and legal right to obtain reparations from Berlin,” – Minister Mularczyk told British Poles back in October.

“We are on the right track. Poland is making its voice heard among international organisations, and sooner or later, Germany will have its reputation harmed if it continues to ignore our claims. Poland is the country that suffered the most during WWII, yet it is virtually the only one that received no war compensation whatsoever,” – he stressed. 

On 1 September 2022, the “Report on the Losses Suffered by Poland as a result of the German Aggression and Occupation During the Second World War, 1939-1945” was published. The latter was prepared by the Parliamentary Team for Estimating the Amount of Compensation Due to Poland from Germany for Damages Caused During World War II, led by Minister Arkadiusz Mularczyk. A group of 30 scientists, including historians, economists, property appraisers, and reviewers, contributed to the large document. The abridged version of The War Report in English is available here.

Between 1939 and 1945, 6 million people were killed in Poland alone, most of whom were civilians. 200,000 Polish children were deported to the Reich to be Germanised by force. Nearly a quarter of the country’s priests were assassinated, as well as all the rabbis. Hundreds of cities and thousands of villages were destroyed and looted, as well as countless monuments (churches, palaces, libraries, etc.) were burned. 

Berlin considers that the reparations issue was settled 70 years ago, in August 1953, when the government of the People’s Republic of Poland declared its willingness to resign from war reparations from Germany. Yet many on the Polish side emphasise that in the 1950s Poland wasn’t sovereign and that such a decision had been taken by Moscow without the consultation of Poles. 

A Social Changes poll conducted in early June revealed that more than one in two Poles (54%) are in favour of further efforts aimed at obtaining war reparations from Germany.

Image: X (@tvp_info)

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen