Poland creates research institute to calculate losses during the Nazi occupation | News from Germany about Germany | Dw

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Poland is creating a new research institute with which it intends to reaffirm its claims for reparations for the damage inflicted on it by the Nazi occupiers during World War II. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in an interview with dpa, excerpts from which were published on Friday, November 26, that last Wednesday he signed a document establishing an Institute for War Damage, named after Polish resistance fighter Jan Karski. “This issue is not removed from the agenda, since Poland was treated very badly, since it did not receive any reparations,” the politician said.

A special parliamentary commission will present its report

The new research institute will conduct research that will make it possible to assess the amount of damage inflicted by the occupiers. On the basis of these data, the Polish leadership will be able to substantiate the size of its claims against Germany. Morawiecki also announced that a parliamentary commission set up in 2017 to study the damage caused by the war will complete its report in February. However, how exactly it will be used by the Polish government is not yet clear. “The decision on what we will do with this report, when and how, has not yet been made,” the prime minister said. “But we are preparing everything to present this report to the whole world.”

Member of the Seimas from the Law and Justice party Arkadiusz Mularchik, who heads the parliamentary commission that studies the damage inflicted on Poland during World War II, announced the completion of the commission’s work last year. However, according to Prime Minister Morawiecki, the commission was asked to add additional information to its report. The final report should be ready by February, the head of the Polish government told dpa. The exact date of publication is still unknown.

Warsaw: damage including interest is 800 billion euros

According to earlier statements by Warsaw, based on what it claims to be on the results of the 1946 inventory, the damage inflicted by the Nazis, including interest, amounts to 800 billion euros. The Nazi occupation of Poland lasted from 1939 to 1945. According to various estimates, during the Second World War, from four to six million Poles died – up to one fifth of the country’s population.

The German government considers the issue of reparations closed

In 2019, on the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of war, Warsaw significantly increased pressure on Germany over the issue of reparations. “More than 1000 Polish villages were wiped off the face of the earth by the Germans. We will seriously decide on the amount we will demand,” Morawiecki said in an interview he gave then to journalists. Then this issue was not raised for some time. The situation appears to change again when the parliamentary report is presented in February.

The German government considers the question of reparations to be closed both from a legal and a political point of view. In doing so, she primarily refers to the Treaty of Final Settlement with Germany, concluded on September 12, 1990, better known as the Two Plus Four Treaty, which was signed by the Foreign Ministers of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, as well as the foreign ministers of allied countries in World War II. war – the USSR, USA, Great Britain and France. Meanwhile, it did not clearly say about reparations. In addition, many states attacked and occupied by Nazi Germany, including Greece and Poland, were not involved in the negotiations.

Greece also demands reparations

Greece also set up a parliamentary commission to study the damage inflicted on it by Nazi Germany during World War II. It is estimated at 289 billion euros. This amount also includes the unpaid debt on compulsory loans, which Greece was forced to provide to the Reichsbank – the central bank of the “Third Reich”. In 2019, the then Prime Minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, raised the issue and even sent a diplomatic note to the German government calling for negotiations on the issue. The government in Berlin, however, rejected this demand.

The current government of Greece continues to demand payment of reparations. Athens made this clear in April, on the 80th anniversary of the Nazi German attack on Greece during World War II. “The question remains open until our demands are met. These demands will be defended by all means,” the Greek Foreign Ministry said at the time.

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