Poland Claims Germany Refused to Talk About World War Two Reparations

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WARSAW — Germany has rebuffed the latest push by Poland’s nationalist government for vast reparations over World War Two, saying in response to a diplomatic note that the issue was closed, the foreign ministry in Warsaw said on Tuesday.

Poland has claimed reparations for World War Two losses to Germany of 6.2 trillion Zlotys ($1.40 Trillion). However, Berlin repeatedly stated that all claims related to war were settled.

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“This answer, to sum it up, shows an absolutely disrespectful attitude towards Poland and Poles,” Arkadiusz Mularczyk, Poland’s deputy foreign minister, said in an interview with the Polish Press Agency.

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“Germany does not pursue a friendly policy towards Poland, they want to build their sphere of influence here and treat Poland as a vassal state.”

Mularczyk responded to questions about further dialogue with Germany over compensation. “through international organizations.”

A total of six million Poles were killed in the war, which included three million Polish Jews. Warsaw was destroyed by the Nazis after a 1944 uprising that claimed the lives of around 200,000 civilians.

In 1953, Poland’s then-communist rulers relinquished all claims to war reparations under pressure from the Soviet Union, which wanted to free East Germany, also a Soviet satellite, from any liabilities.

Poland’s ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party says that agreement is invalid because Poland was unable to negotiate fair compensation. It has revived calls for compensation since it took power in 2015 and has made the promotion of Poland’s wartime victimhood a central plank of its appeal to nationalism.

PiS’s combative stance toward Germany, which is often used to mobilize its constituency has caused tension between Berlin and PiS.

Germany did not immediately confirm the diplomatic exchange.

($1 = 4.4324 Zlotys). (Reporting by Alan Charlish. Additional reporting by Victoria Waldersee. Editing by Andrew Cawthorne.