World News

Germany ‘cowardly hiding’ over WWII compensation claims – Poland

Berlin’s reluctance to discuss reparations is creating a “schizophrenic situation,” Deputy Foreign Minister Arkadiusz Mularczyk has claimed

Nazi German troops in the suburbs of Warsaw during World War II. ©  Sputnik

is acting in a way by refusing to discuss reparations to Warsaw for the damage caused by the Nazi occupation during World War II, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Arkadiusz Mularczyk has claimed.

Mularczyk complained in an interview with PAP news agency on Wednesday.

Berlin is he added, insisting that 

Mularczyk, who visited Berlin earlier this week, said his trip was  

has been demanding that Germany pay up since last autumn, when the country’s parliament voted to seek 6.2 trillion zlotys ($1.36 trillion) over the damage suffered during World War II.

Read more Poland appeals to US in $1.3 trillion row with Germany

However, Berlin insists that the matter was resolved when Warsaw waived its right to restitutions in 1953 under a deal with East Germany, and that the issue was definitively settled under a 1990 treaty on German reunification.

Germany’s ambassador to Poland, Thomas Bagger, reiterated Berlin’s stance on Wednesday, telling Poland’s Radio 24 that “everything has been already said on the issue of reparations.”

“This topic is a Pandora’s box, and it’s better that this box remains untouched,” Bagger asserted.

Last year, Polish President Andrzej Duda suggested that Russia, as a successor state to the USSR, also owes reparations to Warsaw.

The Soviet Army completed the liberation of Poland from the Nazis together with local troops in 1945.

Duda’s idea was condemned by Moscow, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov calling it “unhealthy political extremism” and another sign of Warsaw’s “frenzied Russophobia.” 

READ MORE: Germany showing disrespect to Poland over World War II – Warsaw

Peskov noted that Russia has grievances with Poland dating to the 16th century, likely referring to the ‘Time of Troubles’ (or Great Smuta), when Russia was briefly occupied by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Source

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button