Wieluń City Council Announces Reparations Resolution Amid WW II Losses
During Tuesday’s session, the Wieluń City Council unanimously approved a resolution calling for reparations, compensation, and restitution for the losses Poland endured due to the German invasion and the subsequent occupation. This marked what appears to be the first city-level resolution of its kind in the country, with all fourteen councilors voting in favor.
The Impact of the Foreign Ministry Deputy Head’s Visit
As PiS councilor Tomasz Akulicz explained in an interview with PAP, the resolution is, in part, a response to Friday’s visit to Wieluń by Deputy Foreign Minister Arkadiusz Mularczyk and his appeal for local governments to back such initiatives.
At today’s session, a group including PiS councilors, PSL, and the Friendly Commune introduced a draft resolution on Poland’s losses caused by the German invasion and occupation, mirroring broader national discussions. The motion concluded with a favorable vote. The move holds symbolic weight, especially as Wieluń prepares for the next anniversary of the outbreak of World War II, given that it was among the first Polish cities struck by German bombs on September 1, 1939. Much of the city’s fabric was destroyed.
– noted Akulicz, who helped draft the resolution.
The motion references earlier national actions, including a Sejm resolution on Poland’s claim for damages caused by Germany during World War II and a Council of Ministers resolution urging consideration of reparations within Polish-German relations to address Poland’s wartime losses.
The document emphasizes support for efforts to secure compensation from Germany for the harm Poland suffered as a consequence of the war unleashed by the Third Reich.
The resolution also highlights that Wieluń, as the first wartime victim, sustained heavy damage from aggression and subsequent occupation.
It notes that the war inflicted substantial material and intangible losses, engulfing infrastructure, housing, public buildings, industrial plants, cultural monuments, and museum collections, along with significant human costs. The resolution calls on the German government to acknowledge moral, political, historical, legal, and financial responsibility for the damages and losses.
– stated the motion.
Arkadiusz Mularczyk: A Symbolic Decision
Deputy Foreign Minister Arkadiusz Mularczyk commented on X (Twitter) about the move, calling it symbolic in nature.
A symbolic decision!
– the deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Wieluń City Council may be one of the first in Poland to voice support for reparations and compensation for the damages Poland suffered due to the German invasion and occupation, a point he underscored.
Bombs on Wieluń
On September 1, 1939, around 4:40 p.m., the Luftwaffe dropped a devastating flood of bombs on Wieluń. By the end of the day, about 380 bombs weighing a total of 46 tons had fallen. Estimates of fatalities vary, with figures ranging from roughly 1,200 to beyond 2,000 people. The destruction was total in many areas, with about 75% of the town in ruins. Before the war, Wieluń’s population hovered around 16,000, and it lay just 21 kilometers from the German border. The city was not a military target, lacking Polish Army units or major air defense positions, and there were no significant industrial facilities or routes that would attract heavy Luftwaffe activity. Historians argue the bombardment also served to intimidate civilians and test air defenses rather than to strike strategic targets.
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Source: wPolityce