- Poland’s nationalists said last month that Germany owed Poland 6.2 trillion zlotys ($1.26 trillion).
- Germany, which is Poland’s biggest trading partner, said that all war-related financial claims had been settled.
- Poland’s communist rulers gave up all claims to war reparations in 1953.
Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau signed a diplomatic note to Germany about reparations for World War II, he said on Monday. This made Poland’s demand for compensation official before the top diplomat from Germany came to Poland.
Poland’s nationalists, who are in power, said last month that Germany owed Poland 6.2 trillion zlotys ($1.26 trillion). Germany, which is Poland’s biggest trading partner, said that all war-related financial claims had been settled.
“The note says that the Polish minister of foreign affairs thinks that the parties should act right away to permanently and effectively settle the issue of the effects of aggression and German occupation,” Rau said at a news conference.
Lukasz Jasina, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, told reporters that Rau would talk to his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock about the issue when she came to Warsaw on Tuesday.
During the war, about six million Poles were killed, including three million Polish Jews, and Warsaw was destroyed after an uprising in 1944 in which about 200,000 civilians died.
Under pressure from the Soviet Union, Poland’s communist rulers gave up all claims to war reparations in 1953. The Soviet Union wanted to free East Germany, which was also a Soviet satellite, from any obligations.
Law and Justice (PiS), the nationalist party in power in Poland, says that the agreement is not valid because Poland could not negotiate fair compensation. Since it took power in 2015, it has brought back calls for compensation and made it a big part of its appeal to nationalism to talk about how Poland was a war victim.
PiS often uses a tough stance toward Germany to get its supporters excited, but this has made relations with Berlin worse.
A request for comment sent by email to the German foreign ministry was not answered right away.
[embedpost slug=”russia-shows-off-trophies-says-seized-us-uk-poland-weapons/”]
