IThis is not a hoax: on the occasion of 83e anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, the Polish government demands from Germany the payment of a staggering sum in war reparations. Jarosław Kaczyński, the president of PiS, the ultra-conservative party in power and a real strongman of the regime, demanded what he calls “compensation for everything the Germans did in Poland between 1939 and 1945”. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki then formalized the request to open negotiations with Berlin. “Germany has never really been accountable for its crimes against Poland,” claimed Jarosław Kaczyński.
Poland relies on the work of a commission of scientists (historians, economists, real estate experts) who published, on Thursday, a huge report in three volumes, posted online in Polish and English. “The sum presented as the value of the losses suffered has been adopted in the most limited way, one could say a conservative method. It could be increased”, insisted, without laughing, Jarosław Kaczyński who explains that it is a question of repairing the death of 5.2 million Polish citizens, including 3 million Jews.
Poland denies waiving reparations in 1953
The subject is not new for Berlin, accustomed to this kind of demands, let’s say, opportunistic. In 2017, the Polish government was demanding 840 billion euros at the time. Obviously, inflation has been there… At the time, Poland was already relying on a parliamentary report. As early as 2004, the Polish Parliament asked the government to enter into negotiations with Berlin.
In fact, the question of war reparations between Poland and Germany has already been the subject of several agreements. The first dates from 1953, but it is controversial. Poland confirms that it renounces reparations following a declaration by the USSR which considers that Germany’s debt is liquidated in its respect. In fact, Warsaw is acting under pressure from Moscow. The PiS considers that this agreement is worthless since it is a communist government, not legitimate in its eyes… The USSR paid for itself by taking from the German industrial heritage (in its area of occupation). However, the USSR is supposed to have transferred part of this compensation to Poland. But the figures put forward by Russia are subject to caution.
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The “German expellees” relaunch the case after reunification
Then, in 1975, within the framework of “détente”, the Chancellor of the FRG, Helmut Schmidt, signed an agreement with his Polish counterpart Edward Gierek granting 1.3 billion Deutsche Marks to cover reparations for damage caused to non- jews.
But after reunification, it was the “German expellees” who brought the question of reparations back to the table. Indeed, when Poland recovered territories, it made the settled Germans leave… The “expelled” organized themselves within the Preussische Treuhand after reunification. The German government never took up its claims. But in reaction to the demands of the “German expellees”, the Polish government reformulated new demands for compensation… In 2004, the German and Polish governments decided to defuse this conflict through a common approach. A commission of experts is supposed to assess the merits of the complaints and, above all, the respective governments undertake to stop brandishing the threat of reparations. We see how successful…
This request for compensation comes in an already tense context between Poland and Germany. On August 16, the Polish Prime Minister published a murderous op-ed in several European newspapers questioning Germany’s policy towards Russia. “The position of the federal government has not changed, the issue of reparations is closed,” a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry said Thursday. “Poland waived further reparations a long time ago, in 1953, and has confirmed this waiver several times,” he added.
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