Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the Polish ruling party PiS, at a commemoration in Warsaw on the anniversary of the German invasion of Poland
Image: dpa
Given the crimes committed by Germans in Poland during World War II, demands for reparations are understandable. But what Warsaw demands now cannot be fulfilled.
WThe crimes committed by the German occupiers against the Polish population during World War II largely correspond to the definition of genocide laid down in the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide. National Socialist ideology saw the Poles as slaves without education, and their elite were systematically persecuted and killed. The Wehrmacht and the SS razed hundreds of Polish towns to the ground and murdered their residents. Many crimes of a magnitude that is difficult to imagine are hardly known outside of Poland – such as the massacre in the Warsaw district of Wola, in which German troops shot 30,000 civilians within a few days in August 1944.
Against this background, it is difficult to coolly reject Polish claims for reparations. It is also understandable that many Poles consider it unfair that their country received less compensation than other neighbors of Germany after the war. Nevertheless, Berlin has to categorically reject the demand for reparations of 1.3 trillion euros – which is about three times the federal budget for 2022 – now put forward by the Polish ruling party PiS. And not just for legal reasons.
Morally, it is more than dubious, because several generations of Germans who were born after the war and who bear no personal guilt would have to pay. And it is political madness. Germany and Poland are partners in the EU and NATO. In times of peace, the close integration of their economies has brought prosperity to both peoples.
And now Poland and Germany must jointly make great efforts to support Ukraine against the Russian war of aggression. The security and freedom of both countries depend on this. If they fall out, only war criminal Vladimir Putin benefits.
