More than 72 years after the end of World War II, Poland is considering seeking further reparations from Germany, with ministers calling on lawmakers to assess possible avenues for compensation.
The analysis by the Polish parliament’s research office is to be presented on Aug.11, Arkadiusz Mularczyk of the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party told the PAP news agency on Wednesday in Prague.
In 1953, Poland waived its right to post-war restitution in order to “contribute to solving the Germany question in the spirit of democracy and peace.’’
Ulrike Demmer, Deputy spokesperson for the German government, referred to the historical agreement in response to Warsaw’s move to consider demands for more reparations.
While stressing that Germany assumed the political, moral and financial responsibility for the war, she said that the issue of restitution was closed.
However, Polish Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz rejected this assessment.
“It is not true that Poland waived reparations owed by Germany,’’ he told the broadcaster, TVP Info.
He said that the agreement was no longer valid since Poland was a satellite state of the Soviet Union at the time of the waiver.
Poland suffered massively at the hands of invading Nazi Germany; some 6 million people were killed.
The renewed debate over payments by Germany to its formerly occupied neighbour comes at a time of already tense relations between Berlin and Warsaw due to political differences.
The differences bothered on migration and an ongoing legal procedure against Poland by the European Union. (Dpa/NAN)