Poland’s ruling party hopes that Germany’s call for reparations could influence the election outcome. In turn, opposition leader Donald Tusk is “afraid of reopening historical wounds,” the Brussels website Politico wrote on Monday, pointing out that it is not known whether “the compensation campaign will help PiS win the elections next month.”
The Politico website recalls that almost 6 million Poles died during the Second World War, that is, almost 22 percent of the population. More than 90 percent of the dead were non-combatants; half were Jews.
Germany must pay
– said 64-year-old Agnieszka Majewska, a retired shop worker from a village near Lublin, in an interview with the portal. She has no doubt that it is high time for Germany to compensate the Poles for the destruction they caused during World War II.
This is one of the reasons why I will vote for PiS again
– he adds, referring to a party that has called for reparations since coming to power in 2015 and has done so with increasing enthusiasm over the past year in light of the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for October 15.
Post-election scenario
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Arkadiusz Mularczyk, a PiS member, wrote a letter to 3,000 municipal councils and local authorities, urging them to adopt symbolic resolutions in support of the call for German reparations. PiS representatives hope that there will be many more voters like Agnieszka Majewska.
A Politico poll shows that PiS will emerge from the elections as the largest party in four weeks, but will fail to win a majority in the Sejm, “meaning it will likely need help from the far-right Confederation” to form a government.
The portal recalls that last year, in a diplomatic note addressed to German authorities, the PiS government formalized a demand for reparations worth up to $1.3 trillion as compensation for the damage caused by the Nazi occupation.
Berlin repeatedly assured Warsaw that all financial claims related to the war had been settled, and German officials point out that Poland’s then-communist rulers relinquished all claims for compensation in 1953. Last year, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that while post-war Germany has an “eternal duty to commemorate the suffering that Germany brutally inflicted on millions of Poles, (…) the issue of reparations, as we know, is closed. “
German resistance
In January, Germany formally rejected reparations. Representatives of the PiS claim that the 1953 agreement cited by Berlin is invalid because it was reached under Soviet pressure on Warsaw. Moscow wanted to be sure that its East German satellite would be free of any obligations.
For opponents of the ruling party, the demand for reparations is a cynical electoral stunt. But they didn’t really know how to deal with it. When PiS announced plans to demand reparations from Germany last year, Tusk, a former prime minister and leader of the main opposition Civic Platform party within the Civic Coalition, warned that it was a “diverting maneuver” by PiS aimed at “rebuilding the support for the ruling party
– we read in Politico.
However, in September 2022, the Civic Coalition abruptly changed its position, arguing that both Germany and Russia should demand reparations. Nevertheless, Tusk is not indifferent, arguing that this demand is unrealistic and stating that “everyone would want Poland to get more money for different reasons.” He confessed that he was afraid of reopening historical wounds
– adds the portal.
Politico also notes that Germany lost about a fifth of its pre-war territory to Poland after the war, and the active debate over reparations raises concerns that Berlin will make discussions about paying reparations conditional on regaining its former lands.
Reparations cause deep emotions, not only among PiS voters, says Marcin Zaborowski, director of the Globsec think tank.
PiS skillfully exploits the feeling of injustice towards Germany
– he adds.
In fact, a similar method was used in the past by communists, who used anti-German sentiments to legitimize their power. The only way to address these feelings is for the German government to engage in genuine dialogue with all major Polish political parties on how to address legitimate grievances shared by the Polish public at large.
– said the expert.
Politico reports that the deputy minister, “Mularczyk, is doing everything he can to turn the feeling of regret into an electoral factor.”
I am convinced that if we rule for another term, Germany will pay reparations to Poland, and that the story of history will be closer to the story of Poland, and not to Germany.
– the deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Polish News Agency in June.
Publication of the case
Last month, the Wieluń City Council became the first in the country to respond positively to his request to adopt a resolution on reparations. Wieluń became the target of the first major attack of World War II when the Luftwaffe began bombing the city on the morning of September 1, 1939, destroying approximately 75 percent of the city. buildings into ruins, killing hundreds of people.
Also in August, the municipalities of Prudnik and Trzciana followed the example of the Wieluń authorities. Early this month, the Lublin City Council, as another local government body, passed a motion calling for German compensation. Of the 45,000 Jewish population in this city at the beginning of World War II, only 230 survived the German occupation, and most were murdered in the Bełżec extermination camp.
Mularczyk is also publicizing this issue abroad and has the support of US Republican Congressman Chris Smith, chairman of the Congressional Subcommittee on Global Human Rights. Smith urged the US government to encourage Berlin to negotiate with Warsaw, on the grounds that Poland “suffered the most under Nazi Germany” but was “among the least rewarded”.
While it is unclear whether the reparations campaign will help PiS achieve next month’s election victory, it is worsening already tense Polish-German relations, and some wonder whether a re-elected PiS could later try to tie German reparations to European efforts to secure Russian compensation. for Moscow’s war with Ukraine
– we are reading.
Mularczyk – as the portal writes – seemed to indicate such a connection in a recent article for the British “Daily Mail”.
The Politico article was commented on by Deputy Minister Mularczyk.
I am happy to see Politico’s article on reparations for Poland, which contains the latest information about Poland’s claims, especially comments from ordinary people – it shows that Poland’s losses and damage during World War II affected every Polish family affected and why we need to make these claims. However, it is impossible that Germany or Poland would ever discuss the border, because it is regulated in the treaty. There is also no waiver (of reparations – PAP) from 1953 – the German position is based on a fabricated defense
– wrote the deputy minister on the X platform.
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Mom/PAP/Twitter
Source: wPolityce
Emma Matthew is a political analyst for “Social Bites”. With a keen understanding of the inner workings of government and a passion for politics, she provides insightful and informative coverage of the latest political developments.