Friday, November 26th, 2021
New Institute for War Damage
Poland insists on world war reparations
Millions of Poles lost their lives in World War II; The country estimates the economic damage caused by the war at 800 billion euros. After it had been quiet for a long time about Poland’s claims to world war reparations, the government in Warsaw is now making it clear: the issue is not closed for them.
With a new research institute, Poland wants to underpin its claims for reparations for the damage caused by the German occupiers in World War II. The Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in a dpa interview that last Wednesday he signed a document establishing the Institute for War Damage named after the Polish resistance fighter Jan Karski.
“The issue is not off the table because Poland was treated very badly by not receiving any reparations,” said the politician of the national-conservative PiS party. The institute should institutionalize efforts to research all war damage and also deal with the further pursuit of reparation claims.
Report ready in February 2022
Morawiecki also announced that a parliamentary commission to investigate the war damage would finalize its report in February. How the government will then deal with it is still unclear. “The decision as to what to do with this report and when and how has not yet been made,” said the Prime Minister. “But we are preparing everything to present this report to the world out there.”
The parliamentary commission was set up in 2017 to determine the war damage in Poland, which was attacked by Nazi Germany in 1939 and occupied until 1945. Its chairman Arkadiusz Mularczyk had already declared the work over last year. According to Morawiecki, however, the Commission has been asked to add more information. The report will be ready by February, he said.
Poland estimates damage at 800 billion euros
According to earlier Polish estimates based on an inventory of 1946 plus interest, the damage amounts to 800 billion euros. Four to six million Poles were killed in World War II.
On the 80th anniversary of the start of the war, Warsaw had significantly increased the pressure in the reparations debate in 2019. After that, however, the topic became quieter. That should change again when the parliamentary report is presented in February.
For the federal government, the issue is legally and politically closed. It mainly refers to the Two-Plus-Four Treaty on the Foreign Policy Consequences of German Unity of 1990. In the treaty between the Federal Republic, the GDR and the four former occupying powers USA, Soviet Union, France and Great Britain, reparations are not expressly stated mentioned. In addition, many states attacked and occupied by Nazi Germany, such as Greece and Poland, were not involved in the negotiations.