On Monday, 3 October, Poland’s Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau signed a diplomatic note to Germany concerning reparations for damages committed by this state on Poland during WWII.

Based on this report published on 1 September by the Parliamentary Group for the Estimation of Compensation Due to Poland from Germany for Damages Caused During World War II, the Polish government demands €1.3 trillion from Germany.

The Polish and German visions are colliding. Warsaw argues that payment of reparations would allow for the strengthening of bilateral relations, while Berlin insists that the matter was closed long ago.

Foreign Minister Annalena Barboeck and President Frank-Walter Steinmeirer recently reiterated the German position. Last weekend, German state-owned broadcaster Deutsche Welle released a video reinforcing the German point of view.

Deutsche Welle’s video refers to the Potsdam Conference, where the Allies negotiated the type of sanction which would be the most appropriate toward Germany. The video explains that a large part of the German industry was redistributed amongst the US, the UK, France, and the Soviet Union. 

https://twitter.com/TVPWorld_com/status/1582438951503421440?s=20&t=hEn_nSOqiBdU6OcKopsQpQ

Given the fact that Poland was under Soviet rule, Germany considers that Stalin made sure Poland got its share in the process, which is definitely a questionable point of view. 

In fact, Poland was never provided with any major compensation, with the sole exception of the so-called retaken territories of Mazuria, Silesia, and Pomerania, although Poland could make use of it as it pleased only since the 1990s. 

Another argument against reparations provided in the German public broadcaster’s video is the signing in 1953 of a waiver on reparations by the then Polish Prime Minister Bolesław Bierut. Germans perceive this act as a definitive closing of the topic. 

Poland’s counterargument is that the Polish People’s Republic was not a sovereign state at the time and that Bierut had no other choice than to accept giving up reparations because of the threat of a potential Soviet invasion if he decided otherwise. 

In total, six million Polish citizens were killed during WWII, and the capital Warsaw was razed to the ground following the 1944 uprising in which about 200,000 civilians were murdered by the German invader. 

Image: Unsplash

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen