The German arrogance could be spread to several nations and much of it would remain. It comes from our western neighbors, especially when they have to face their crimes and their victims don’t want to be silenced by gibberish.
The Germans started their bandit game regarding compensation for war losses inflicted on Poland during World War II. First they waited two months to send a brutal, terse reply to a memo from the Polish government they requested conversations begin in this case. They don’t want to hear about negotiations, they consider the topic closed (although it was never opened), they didn’t even want to stutter about the three-part report they received from Warsaw, or the legal arguments put forward by Poland. They could sum up their answer in one word: “nein!”. Or even better: raus!
Next week, the German ambassador in Warsaw is organizing an “off the record” meeting for selected Polish journalists. I have no doubt that it is primarily about reparations and will be used to filter the German narrative into the minds of the Poles. It is worth carefully following the media coverage of the Vistula River around January 10-11 and the influence of German diplomacy on Polish journalists.
And today an example of this story is brought by Die Welt, probably the most opinion-forming German daily (published by Ringer Axel Springer) and its leading publicist Jacques Schuster, who tells a fairy tale how “the German government, and with it the majority of society would be open to negotiating certain fees with the Poles. Interestingly enough, there is no hint of such an attitude in the response to the note. According to Schuster, “the diplomatic note from Warsaw to Berlin also contains numerous demands that could be fulfilled, but one question remains: for what purpose?”
The mere fact that a major commentator asks such an idiotic question proves that they have no intention of facing their responsibility over the Oder, that they do not understand the term “justice”, that they refuse to admit their own crimes . And we’re talking about a respected publicist. Schuster is a historian and political scientist by training, and during his studies he led the organization of Jewish students in Berlin. In “Die Welt” he was the head of the foreign department, today he heads the political department. It could be argued that his views are largely in line with the federal government’s foreign policy line. What does he have to say to Germany about Poland and its call for reparations?
For example, that “PiS needs the image of a repulsive German who sees Slavs as slaves in order to maintain its weak self.”
Implicitly it should be the other way around – the German loves Slavs, especially Poles, only those ungrateful people still want something from him.
Schuster is angry that “the crimes of the National Socialists against Poland are indisputable”, that “Germany in the years 1933-1945 turned Europe into the death zone of the Third Reich.” And that “it is known who is responsible for these beastly deeds.”
And he remembers Adenauer’s words in 1946: “In my opinion, the German people, as well as the bishops and clergy, bear great guilt for what happened in the concentration camps”, and the public could not help but know what the government and the military was doing.
Herr Schuster, German crimes were not limited to concentration camps and the murder of Jews. Almost every Polish town and village, almost every Polish family has experienced them. You burned, murdered, raped and stole on a scale where only the Soviets equaled you (they continue this so faithfully in Ukraine today). And even understanding this and admitting it loudly does not complete the matter. No court is satisfied with admitting the guilt of the perpetrator, it also imposes punishment and awards damages. You missed it. But only for now.
Schuster ends almost poetically:
Adenauer’s vision was deeply rooted in the German consciousness. To this day, it forms the state of the soul here. (…) So it is almost meanness on the part of the Polish government to insinuate that its neighbors west of the Oder have forgotten about Poland’s suffering.
A German accusing Poland of going rogue in the discussion of unexplained German crimes? It wasn’t there before. Until now, such words could have been used by Erika Steinbach or the rising power of German neo-Nazis. It’s good to see where the apparently serious German press is going and how much they don’t want reconciliation with Poland.
If the government in Berlin decides to go down this road, it will end up in much more poverty than it could have imagined today. Instead of washing away one disgrace, they want to cover themselves with another. As you wish.
Source: wPolityce