The Polish government is looking into whether they can demand reparations stemming from World War II from the German government. An official confirmed this on last Wednesday, saying that Poland was considering the option due to the massive losses that Germany inflicted on them over seven decades ago.
Polish government exploring legal right to do so
Apparently, the research office of the Polish government's parliament is looking into the reparations matter and making a report on it. The man who requested the reparations report is lawmaker Arkadiusz Mularczyk, who is a member of the ruling Law and Order Party in the Sejm (the lower house of parliament).
Mularczyk said that the report should be ready by August 11 and it will be an analysis on if Poland can legally make a claim to demand World War II reparations from Germany.
This all came days after Jaroslaw Kaczynski said on Radio Maryja (a Polish radio station) that the “Polish government is preparing itself for a historic counteroffensive.” Kaczynski is the leader of the ruling Law and Order Party and was Prime Minister of the country from July 2006 to November 2007. When he was Prime Minister, he called for reparations, which caused tension between the two countries.
Germany's response to possible Polish reparations
Ulrike Demmer, a spokeswoman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, started in regards to this news that “Germany stands by its responsibility in World War II, politically, morally and financially.” Demmer went on to state that Germany has already paid for the general damage it causing during the war, to Poland and other countries.
In 1953, the Communist People's Republic of Poland under pressure from the Soviet Union agreed to waive its rights to any further reparations claims from Germany. Since then Germany has argued that the matter of more reparations for Poland has been dealt with, while Poland says that the decision may not have been valid since Poland was a puppet state of the Soviet Union.
History of Poland and Germany during WWII
On September 1st, 1939, the Germany army invaded Poland and started World War II. On September 17th, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from its western front. On October 6th, the two sides divided the country as agreed to in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. During the war, Poland lost about 16% of their population, 62% of their industry and 84% of their infrastructure.
This all comes up as last week Poland honored the anniversary of the start of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, which resulted in about 200,000 Poles being killed and the city almost being completely destroyed. During the observance, the Polish defense minister, Antoni Macierewicz, said that Germany “needs to pay back the terrible debt they owe to the Polish people.”
