"Lose money!" Poland again wanted to claim huge war reparations, but Germany refused

At a time when the EU's attention was focused on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Poland's "re-raising of old accounts" brought World War II back into the spotlight. On the occasion of the 83rd anniversary of Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1, Kaczynski, chairman of Poland's ruling Law and Justice Party, said that Poland estimated that Germany had caused 6.2 trillion zlotys (about 9 trillion yuan, $1.3 trillion) in damages to Poland during World War II, and Poland would formally demand compensation from Germany. However, Germany has rejected Poland's proposed request. The German Foreign Ministry said the German government's position remained unchanged and that "the issue of reparations is over."

"Most limited, most conservative" estimates

On September 1, Poland released a long-awaited parliamentary report. Germany owes Poland 6.2 trillion zlotys in reparations to compensate for the damage and losses Poland suffered during World War II, the report said.

On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded and occupied Poland, triggering a global military conflict. At that time, about 6 million people, including 3 million Polish Jews, were killed, accounting for one-fifth of Poland's total population. In 1944, Poland launched the Warsaw Uprising against Nazi Germany, and about 200,000 civilians were killed. After the war, Warsaw was reduced to rubble.

In announcing the report, Kaczynski said that in many cases, nazi Germany's influence on Poland has continued to this day. He claimed that the amounts proposed were calculated in the "most limited and conservative" manner and were likely to increase.

But he also admitted that demanding 6.2 trillion zlotys in reparations from Germany was their goal and "there is no guarantee that it will be successful quickly".

Reuters said the new estimate was higher than the $850 billion proposed by a Law and Justice MP in 2019. Since the party became the ruling party in Poland in 2015, it has repeatedly demanded compensation from Germany, but Poland has not formally filed a claim.

Historians and politicians point out that Poland abandoned its claim nearly 70 years ago, complicating the prospect of obtaining reparations.

After World War II, Germany was divided into East Germany (German Democratic Republic) and West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany). In 1953, the Soviet Union waived all claims for compensation against east Germany on the same camp. Under pressure from the Soviet Union, Poland also renounced its claim for war reparations.

But PKR claimed the deal was null and void because Poland was unable to negotiate fair compensation at the time.

Why is the high-profile compensation at this time?

Opinion believes that although Germany is Poland's largest trading partner, and both countries are also members of NATO and the European Union, Berlin and Warsaw have been in a period of diplomatic tension in recent years.

According to the US "Politician" magazine, the chairman of Poland's ruling party, Kaczynski, has always regarded Germany as an enemy in Polish history. He claimed that Berlin was using the European Union as a cover to try to "build a Fourth Reich."

The Financial Times said that the Polish side has repeatedly accused the Polish left opposition party of colluding with Germany to try to undermine Poland's national interests.

After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the relations between the two countries have suffered further blows.

In support of Ukraine, Poland has been very active, sending a large number of weapons and funds to Ukraine, and has also taken the lead in cutting off imports of Russian energy. Poland also expressed its displeasure with Germany, saying it was slow to help Ukraine, making relations between the two countries more tense.

There is also an analysis that Poland will hold parliamentary elections next year, and the Polish ruling party will further incite anti-German sentiment at this time, which is due to domestic political interests.

It is reported that in 2015 and 2019, the right-wing coalition led by the Law and Justice Party won two consecutive general elections in the Polish parliament and formed a cabinet independently. The party's candidate, Duda, was also elected president of Poland in 2015 and re-elected in the 2020 general election.

Tusk, chairman of Poland's largest opposition party, Civic Platform, said Kaczynski's statement was "not intended to pay reparations" but was motivated by domestic political purposes, "a domestic political movement aimed at rebuilding support for the ruling party."

Reuters noted that at present, in most polls, Law and Justice is still in the lead. But in recent months, the party's lead has narrowed as popular displeasure with its handling of inflation and economic slowdowns.

Germany: The issue of reparations is closed

For Poland's "old account re-raising", the German government said it would stick to its consistent position: refusal.

A spokesman for the German Foreign Office responded on September 1: "The position of the German government has not changed, and the issue of reparations is over." ”

The spokesman also said that Poland had renounced further compensation as early as 1953 and had repeatedly confirmed this, "which is the basis of the European order today".

Poland is not the only country to file a World War II claim against Germany.

In April 2019, the Greek parliament passed a resolution formally requiring the government to seek reparations from Germany. Although the resolution does not mention the specific amount of the claim, in 2016 a Greek committee of experts estimated that Germany had caused a total of more than 300 billion euros in losses to Greece in the two world wars.

In response, a Spokesman for the German Foreign Office said at the time that more than 70 years after the end of World War II and more than 20 years after the signing of the "two plus four" treaty, "the matter of compensation has been resolved at the legal and political level."

In the 1960s and 1970s, Germany reached reparations agreements with many European governments, when a total of 115 million German marks were paid to Greece, 1.4 billion marks to Poland, and the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and other countries were also compensated.

In 1990, the "two plus four" treaty was signed by East and West Germany on one side, and the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union as the other, which involved German reunification and affirmed that the new German government did not need to make war reparations. The German side has repeatedly reiterated that the issue of reparations has been resolved under the "two plus four" treaty.

Germany also said it has provided direct compensation in recent decades to war victims, particularly Holocaust survivors, including donating 60 million euros to the site of Auschwitz for maintenance.

But in the eyes of the war victims, Germany's debts have not been paid. Krzysztof Ruchniewicz, director of the Center for German and European Studies at the University of Wrocław in Poland, said that in Polish society, victims received little compensation and were far from enough.

(Edit email: [email protected])

Column Editor-in-Chief: Yang Liqun Text Editor: Liao Qin Title Image Source: Visual China Photo Editor: Xiang Jianying

Source: Author: Qiu Wenhan