Tarik Demirkan – Budapest
Source, Getty Images
The 83rd anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War was commemorated with events in Poland.
On September 1, the start of the Second World War, Poland demanded compensation from Germany for the damage it had done in the war.
This demand of Poland was announced to the world in a report by Jaroslaw Kaczyinski, the leader of the ruling Law and Justice Party (PIS).
In the report introduced by the leader of the Polish ruling party, the amount of compensation demanded from Germany for the damage it caused during the war was 1.3 trillion Euros. This amount corresponds to about one third of Germany’s annual national income.
Germany refused Poland’s request.
According to Germany, the issue of compensation was closed in 1953 when Poland stated that it would not demand compensation, and it was finally terminated in 1990 with the Paris Agreement signed between the USA, Britain, France and the Soviet Union.
It is not the first time that a claim for compensation has come to the fore. Since 2015, when the Justice and Law Party came to power in Poland, it has repeatedly raised the possibility of claiming compensation against Germany, but has not made an official application to Germany.
Poland lost 6 million victims in the war
Kaczynski also said that the amount demanded for compensation was the most minimally calculated result of the damage Germany caused to Poland in the war, and that this figure could actually increase even more.
During the Second World War, which started with the attack of the German armies on Poland, and the occupation of Poland during the war, approximately 6 million Polish citizens, half of whom were of Jewish descent, lost their lives.
Poland, where more than 2 million of its citizens were sent to labor camps by the Nazis, was one of the countries that suffered the most in the war and whose cities were destroyed.
A spokesperson for the German Foreign Ministry said that Poland’s 1953 commitment to waive compensation is valid. The spokesperson stressed that Germany would assume the political and moral responsibility for the Second World War from now on, but would not pay compensation.
Source, Getty Images
The photo is from yesterday’s memorial. A Polish war veteran chats with a soldier on duty.
Why is the claim for compensation now on the agenda?
International political commentators think that it is not possible to pay such a high amount of compensation brought to the agenda by Poland and this is also known by the Polish leaders.
Then why was this demand brought up after all these years and during the crisis?
According to international political commentators, the main reason for bringing this demand to the agenda is that the structural transformation funds and aids given to Poland by the European Union are cut off due to legal violations in this country.
“Poland may be trying to re-open the tap for aid from the European Union by opening a second topic of discussion and negotiation,” commentators say.
According to the opposition in Poland, one of the reasons for the demand for compensation is the government’s efforts to gain support within the country.
On the way to the general elections to be held in the autumn of 2023, the number of those who think that the ruling party started its election campaign with a demand for compensation is not small.