Poland's newly elected president, Karol Naurocki, made his first official visit to Berlin and officially demanded compensation from Germany for the enormous material and moral damage caused to the country during the Second World War.
According to German media, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier strongly rejected this demand. The Polish leader also raised this issue during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Mers, but the Chancellor also firmly stated that Berlin's position on this matter will not change.
Interestingly, the usual joint press conference held at the end of the negotiations was not organized this time. This situation was negatively assessed by German journalists and caused various discussions.
In a statement on social media, President Navrotsky stated that the issue of compensation has not been closed and that negotiations with Germany on this issue will continue in the future. Official Warsaw is demanding €1.3 trillion in reparations from Berlin. According to Navratsky, this figure was calculated based on deep and comprehensive scientific analysis.
As a reminder, the Polish parliament established a special commission in 2023 to demand compensation for war losses from Germany and Russia. According to a three-volume report published in 2022, Poland suffered losses of 6.2 trillion zloty (about 1.3 trillion euros) in 1939-1945 as a result of Nazi attack and occupation.
Berlin is offering security guarantees to Poland instead of compensation. Knut Abraham, the German government's representative on Polish affairs, stated that Berlin will not pay compensation, but is ready to ensure the security of Warsaw.
At the same time, the German side presents its arguments: in 1953, the Polish parliament admitted that the FRG had fulfilled its obligations to compensate for the damage caused by the war. In addition, 1.3 billion euros were allocated to Poland on the basis of the good-neighborly agreement signed between the two countries in 1991.
Previously, some Polish politicians raised the issue of compensation. For example, MP Janusz Shewczak estimated the damage at $900 billion, calling it a disgrace that the government did not make demands on this matter.
According to the Polish government's plans, after the German compensation issue is resolved, Warsaw could make the same demand to Russia. When the first reports about this appeared in 2023, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova warned Poland about the serious consequences of such a demand.
Undoubtedly, the issue of reparations remains one of the most controversial and extremely complex topics in Polish-German relations.
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