Poland asks Germany for war reparations of 1.3 tln euros
01 Sep 2022 11:40pm
Deputy Prime Minister and head of the ruling Law and Justice party Jaroslaw Kaczynski - AFP Photo
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"It is a major sum of 6.2 trillion" zloty, Deputy Prime Minister and head of the ruling Law and Justice party Jaroslaw Kaczynski said adding that receiving reparations would be a "long and difficult" process.
Kaczynski was speaking at a conference dedicated to the presentation of a report on Poland's losses in the 1939-1945 war.
Since coming to power in 2015, Poland's governing Law and Justice (PiS) party has often championed the issue of war reparations.
Work on the reparations report began in 2017 when the conservative government insisted that Germany had a "moral duty" in the matter.
Germany has often rejected Poland's claims pointing to a 1953 decision by Poland to renunciate reparation claims against East Germany.
On Thursday, Kaczynski brought the issue back front and centre.
"We have not only prepared a report but we have also taken a decision. A decision on further action," Kaczynski said.
"That action is to ask Germany to negotiate these reparations. And this is a decision that we will implement," he added.
"The Germans invaded Poland and did us enormous damage.
"The occupation was unbelievably criminal, unbelievably cruel and caused effects that in many cases continue to this day," the PiS president said. - AFP
