Poland is asking for 1.3 trillion. euro German reparations

The report was kept secret for a long time. On yesterday’s 83rd anniversary of Germany’s invasion, Poland published the amount it is asking Berlin for war reparations: 1.3 trillion. euro!

By presenting an expert report on the extent of the damage it suffered during World War II, Poland wants to emphasize demands for reparations from Germany. The parliamentary committee report is voluminous, covers three volumes and states specifically how much for the estimated damage, 1.3 trillion. euro. The leader of the ruling PiS party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, speaking in Warsaw, spoke of “enormous damage”. But what exactly are the Polish demands?

The 2+4 Agreement of 1990

The German invasion of Poland on 1 September marked the start of World War II with at least 55 million dead, other estimates put it at 80 million. Polish human losses were between 4 and 6 million – up to a fifth of the population. The degree of destruction caused by the Nazi war of extermination was also comparatively high. For example, the capital Warsaw was almost completely destroyed. No refunds given?

In the Potsdam Agreement of 1945, the four victorious powers agreed that the Soviet Union would be compensated by the Soviet occupation zone in eastern Germany and that Poland would receive its share. According to estimates, by 1953 about 3,000 companies were dissolved and additional products removed from their current production. However, the Warsaw government maintains that Poland had to compensate for its share by supplying coal to the Soviet Union. In addition, Western countries such as France and the Netherlands were treated better.

For the German government, the issue of reparations was legally and politically closed with the 1990 2+4 Agreement on the Foreign Policy Consequences of German Reunification. However, reparations are not explicitly mentioned in the agreement reached between West and East Germany and the four former occupying powers, the US, the Soviet Union, France and Great Britain. In addition, many states that were attacked and occupied by Nazi Germany, such as Greece and Poland, did not participate in the negotiations. Most recently, Chancellor Olaf Solz rejected Poland’s demands for war reparations and pointed out that Germany contributes by paying high contributions to the EU budget. It is worth noting that Poland is the biggest beneficiary of German contributions. But why is Poland publishing this report now?

Kaczynski: “Long and difficult process”

Representatives of the conservative populist PiS party, which has ruled Poland since 2015, have repeatedly raised the issue of reparations. In 2017, at the initiative of PiS, a parliamentary committee was established to draw up a report on the estimated amount of damage from the war. The publication of this report was announced many times, but repeatedly delayed. Last November, Poland also established a war damage research institute. At the time, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the issue of reparations was still relevant, “because Poland was treated very badly, as it did not receive reparations.” It is not yet clear whether the Polish government will use the report to make a specific request to the German government with the amount. Kaczynski himself admitted at the presentation of the report that it would be a “long and difficult process”.

“But the publication of the report alone will put a strain on German-Polish relations,” says Anieska Landa Konefal from the German Institute for Poland in Darmstadt. “The PiS government’s anti-German rhetoric will then intensify for mainly domestic reasons. PiS has already turned to parliamentary elections in autumn 2023 and hopes to retain its core electoral potential by campaigning against Germany.”

In German politics but in German public opinion, there is no climate of understanding around all this. “This does not create confidence in Germany, which in German-Polish relations is urgently needed at the moment in order to help Ukraine together,” says Landa Konefal. Greece is also asking for reparations. In early June, Greece verbally invited Germany to negotiate reparations. The government of Athens – then still under leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras – had calculated the cost after parliamentary committee processes at 289 billion euros including the forced loan. The current conservative Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis even asked for negotiations to take place.

Doris Hymen, Michael Fischer/dpa

Editor: Irini Anastasopoulou

Source: Deutsche Welle