Poland pegs World War II losses at $1.32 trillion, wants Germany to pay reparations
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Germany has maintained that all financial claims linked to World War II have been settled and points to a 1953 decision by Poland to renunciate reparation claims against East Germany.
Poland's government on Thursday estimated the World War II losses caused by Germany to be $1.32 trillion and said Warsaw would officially demand reparations. "It is a major sum of 6.2 trillion zloty," head of the ruling Law and Justice party Jaroslaw Kaczynski said, adding that receiving reparations would be a "long and difficult" process.
Kaczynski was speaking at a conference dedicated to the presentation of a report on Poland's losses in the 1939-1945 war.
However, Germany has maintained that all financial claims linked to World War II have been settled and points to a 1953 decision by Poland to renunciate reparation claims against East Germany. Notably, Germany is Poland's biggest trade partner and a fellow member of the European Union and NATO.
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The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has taken up the issue of compensation several times ever since it took power in 2015, but Poland hasn't officially demanded reparations.
In 1953, Poland's then-communist rulers relinquished all claims to war reparations under pressure from the Soviet Union, which wanted to free East Germany, also a Soviet satellite, from any liabilities. PiS says that agreement is invalid because Poland was unable to negotiate fair compensation.
Kaczynski has since brought forth the matter again.
"We have not only prepared a report... but we have also taken a decision, a decision on further action. That action is to ask Germany to negotiate these reparations. And this is a decision that we will implement," Kaczynski said.
Some six million Poles, including three million Polish Jews, were killed during the war and Warsaw was razed to the ground following a 1944 uprising in which about 200,000 civilians died.
(With inputs from agencies)
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