Zbigniew Rau, the foreign minister of Poland, announced on Monday that he had formalised Poland’s demand for restitution ahead of a visit from Berlin’s top diplomat by signing a diplomatic note to Germany over World War Two reparations.
The action follows last month’s claim by Poland’s ruling nationalists that Germany owed their nation 6.2 trillion zlotys ($1.26 trillion). The largest trading partner of Poland, Germany, has declared that all financial disputes relating to the conflict have been resolved.
The memo, according to Rau, ‘expresses the view of the Polish foreign affairs minister that the parties should take immediate efforts to permanently and effectively… address the question of the repercussions of invasion and German occupation.’
According to Lukasz Jasina, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry, Rau will bring up the matter with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock during her visit to Warsaw on Tuesday.
Three million Polish Jews and six million Poles were slain during the war, and after a 1944 rebellion that claimed the lives of around 200,000 civilians, Warsaw was completely destroyed.
Under pressure from the Soviet Union, which wished to release East Germany, another Soviet satellite, from any obligations, Poland’s then-communist leaders gave up any rights to war reparations in 1953.
Law and Justice (PiS), the nationalist party in power in Poland, claims that because Poland was unable to negotiate reasonable compensation, the agreement is illegal. Since coming to power in 2015, it has reignited calls for compensation and made the glorification of Poland’s wartime victimisation a key component of its nationalist appeal.
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