Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Moravecki, during his speech on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II, demanded that Berlin compensate for the damage caused to the Eastern European country during the war.
Head of Government Moravecki noted that Poland’s losses due to Wehrmacht’s actions exceeded the costs of creating the Central Industrial Region in the country by the end of the 1930s (one of the largest economic projects of the Second Polish Republic. - RT ).
“Therefore, we need to talk about those losses, we need to remember, we need to seek the truth, we need to demand damages,” said the Polish prime minister, adding that these losses were “material, spiritual, economic, financial.”
Moravecki made such a statement at Cape Westerplatte, where on September 1, 1939, the battleship SMS Schleswig-Holstein fired at a Polish transit military depot.
Meanwhile, on August 31, an interview was issued by Polish President Andrzej Duda to the German edition of Bild, in which he announced his intention to “bill Germany” for the damage that was caused to the country during the Second World War.
“Nearly 6 million Polish citizens were killed, our cities were in ruins, our capital was completely destroyed. Most of those killed were innocent civilians, ”the Polish leader emphasized.
According to him, receiving reparations from Germany is “a matter of responsibility and morality” for Poland.
Commemorative events in Poland on the occasion of the outbreak of World War II became extremely politicized - the authorities of the country defiantly did not invite Russia to them, but received representatives from NATO, the EU and the Eastern Partnership.
Recall that the topic of compensation began to be actively discussed again in Poland in the summer of 2017. Then the leader of the ruling party "Law and Justice" Jaroslav Kaczynski said that Poland did not refuse reparations from Germany. The same point of view was expressed by the Minister of National Defense Anthony Matserevich, who noted that the country has legal grounds to demand reparations from Germany.
Soon, a working group on military reparations was established in parliament, which estimated the amount of damage at about $ 1 trillion. This figure exceeds the calculations made back in 1947, according to which the damage inflicted was estimated at $ 50 million, which in today's terms is approximately $ 850 billion.
In addition, Warsaw argues that the 1953 agreement, according to which Poland refused reparations, was signed under Soviet pressure and affected the German Democratic Republic and the Polish People's Republic (both were members of the Warsaw Bloc), which were not independent states.
A senior researcher at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vadim Volobuev in an interview with RT noted that such an attempt to revise history would not be taken seriously.
“The current Polish leadership does not consider that socialist Poland to be completely sovereign, but this is casuistry, which cannot be convincingly proved. These requirements exist exclusively in the context of historical politics, but nothing more, ”the expert explained.
Germany position
Berlin has repeatedly stated that the issue of paying reparations to Poland is closed. So, on August 1, the position of the German authorities was confirmed by the head of German diplomacy, Heiko Maas, who was on a visit to Warsaw. On August 19, this was stated by the representative of the German Foreign Ministry, Maria Adebar.
- Polish President Andrzej Duda (left) and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (right) at commemorative events in the Polish city of Wielune
- globallookpress.com
- © Bernd von Jutrczenka
In turn, Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Chaputovic to the German DPA agency said that when paying compensation from Germany after the end of World War II, Warsaw was discriminated against.
The foreign minister noted that although Warsaw was badly damaged by the occupying Nazi regime, the payment of monetary compensation to it was "minimal."
“At the same time, there are countries that have lost many times less, but received more compensation. Is this fair? ”The minister said. He added that he meant France and the Netherlands.
In an interview with RT, Vladimir Olenchenko, senior researcher at the Center for European Studies at IMEMO RAS, noted that the Polish authorities made a lot of statements that could not stand the test of history and logic.
“PR is important for current Polish politicians. Official Warsaw imagines itself to be a major European power, which is supposedly free to determine policy in Europe, and many such statements follow from this. Poland considers itself a country that can regulate relations in the EU, and these Polish fantasies are fueled by American support and financial assistance from Europe, ”said the expert.
Historical fallacies
The Poles will not receive any money and are unlikely to rely on them, because their claims have no legal basis, Volobuev believes.
“The previous government turned a blind eye to these issues, passed them in silence, preferring to develop economic, cultural, political relations with other countries. But the current Polish leadership raises these questions sharply and sharply, including the topic of reparations, ”said the expert.
According to him, all this is designed for the voter, since the Poles will hold parliamentary elections in the fall and, of course, the politicians of the ruling party will compete in who will defend Poland’s national interests louder. Raising the painful issues of history and posing as patriots, this is most conveniently done, he added.
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The expert suggested that if the Law and Justice party loses its leadership, the issue of reparations on the part of Germany will gradually be removed.
“Initially, this question was raised by Lech Kaczynski during his election campaign in 2005, but then it was regarded as a populist move, only after the death of the president did these demands sound seriously. Now the autumn aggravation is taking place in Poland, because the parliamentary elections are approaching, ”Volobuyev said.
After the Second World War, thanks to the Soviet Union, some German territories moved to Poland, Vladimir Olenchenko recalled, in turn.
“If the Poles are fighting for historical justice, then in this case they must return to the Germans the territory that belonged to Germany before the Second World War. Warsaw alone considers itself right in the fact that on the threshold of the war it took away a piece from Lithuania and the Czech Republic, ”the expert noted.
Poland believes that if it were not for the war, then Poland would be the main economic engine of Europe, but this is a dubious position, the expert added.
“Today, Germany and France continue to invest in it, and hers has only agriculture,” Olenchenko said.
“EU dependents, especially Poland, are constantly opposing themselves to the leading countries of Europe, trying to impose generated ideas about their greatness on them,” the expert concluded.