Warsaw: A poster by the Polish artist Wojciech Korkuc is intended to emphasize the demands for reparations.
Image: dpa
Germany reacted with a lot of diplomacy to Poland’s demand for reparations. Berlin rejects financial demands, but not the responsibility for keeping the memory of the suffering alive.
DWarsaw made known the controversial content of the diplomatic letter that the Polish government sent to Berlin at the beginning of the month, but not the wording. Months ago, the Polish ruling party PiS publicly raised a reparation claim of 1.32 trillion euros from Germany. The demand for material reparations was undoubtedly also included in the formal message, the sending of which was marked by the Polish foreign minister with a press conference on October 3, the German reunification holiday. However, the Polish side did not want to explain publicly how exactly the demands for compensation were formulated and justified in that formal letter – curiously referred to as a “note verbale”.
Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, who met German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Warsaw the day after the letter was sent, gave the reason that this was not in line with general diplomatic practice. If Warsaw attached importance to the observance of such customs when drafting the note, it can at least be assumed that they used the courtesy formula “the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland has the honor of reporting to the German government . . .” began and ended with a phrase in which the phrase “excellent consideration” must have appeared. And in fact, the German side has been trying for many weeks not to damage the “excellent respect” in mutual relations with the Polish reparations bill. As soon as the Polish demands became known at the beginning of September, the German side merely responded with the dry phrase that the matter had been “taken note of”.