Polish reparations effort expands beyond Germany into future discussions
The expectation is clear: if the team functions well, a report on requests for reparations from Russia will be prepared in the new term of the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, and the process will continue under the new administration, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Arkadiusz Mularczyk.
At Thursday’s press conference, he announced that a letter had been sent to all members of the new Sejm and Senate, urging ongoing actions aimed at addressing the issue of reparations, compensation, and redress that Poland asserts it is owed by Germany for the aggression and occupation during 1939-1945. The Deputy Foreign Minister also raised the prospect of pursuing reparations in the future, including from Russia, after the forthcoming report is completed.
Regarding the current stage of the report, Mularczyk described it as a preliminary document. He noted that the team behind the report on German war losses spent nearly five years on their work, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused two-year interruptions. He expressed optimism that, with continued effort, a comprehensive report could emerge in the next term of the Sejm.
He emphasized that this investigation is ongoing and that historians from Poland, Ukraine, and Lithuania are examining archival material in both Polish and foreign archives. The Deputy Minister reminded that approximately half of pre-war Polish territory now lies within the borders of Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania, which presents challenges in collecting and summarizing material for the report. Still, the work is active and progressing.
Referring to the call for decisive continuation of reparations work, Mularczyk recalled two Sejm resolutions—one from September of the previous year and another from 2004—on which the Sejm obligates the Polish government to take actions aimed at obtaining reparations, compensation, and redress from Germany.
In his view, this issue should be discussed in parliamentary meetings and international forums alike, including in bilateral Poland-Germany relations, as well as in settings like the Council of Europe, the United Nations, and the OSCE. He suggested that it is important for the issue to reach the international agenda through ministries of foreign affairs and the Prime Minister’s Office.
When asked about promoting awareness of the Second World War’s painful lessons among society, especially younger generations, the Deputy Minister stated that there is a need to address defective memory codes that have emerged over time.
Knowledge about the war
He noted that knowledge about the Second World War is fading in many places, including awareness of victims, the aggressor, and the war’s consequences. The world often views the war through the lens of the Holocaust, while the losses suffered by Poland are not as widely understood.
He added that in Germany itself there is limited awareness of how German occupation affected Poland. Some Germans even believe that the reparations issue has already been settled, which means they lack knowledge of specific facts and realities. This gap can contribute to a misinformed memory on a global scale, where references to Nazi crimes or Polish suffering are sometimes repeated without full context.
Mularczyk warned that such misperceptions can foster a false image of Poland and Poles internationally, and can be exploited as part of German soft power in some discussions.
On the topic of losses during German aggression and occupation, a prior report placed Poland’s wartime losses at 6 trillion, 220 billion, 609 million PLN. The ongoing research continues to refine and expand these findings as archives are searched and historical analyses are updated. Attribution: wPolityce.