Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk made the statement in an interview with Polish state news agency PAP on Thursday night.
He said: “There is no legally valid document concluding the issue of reparations, and there is no reason why the Nazi Germany’s immense crimes should remain unpunished.”
Poland puts its WWII losses at EUR 1.3 trillion, vows to seek reparations from Germany
Earlier in the day, Poland published a report estimating the country’s World War II losses at the hands of Germany at EUR 1.3 trillion.
The leader of the country’s ruling conservatives Law and Justice, Jarosław Kaczyński, said that a decision had been made to raise the issue of World War II reparations with Berlin.
He added: “It’s about securing compensation, maybe through a long and arduous process, for everything that Germany, the German state, the German nation, did to Poland between 1939 and 1945.”
Germany: issue of WWII reparations is closed
The German government responded by saying that the issue of reparations is closed, news outlets reported.
"The position of the German government is unchanged, the question of reparations has been concluded," a spokesperson for Germany's foreign ministry said on Thursday, as cited by the Reuters news agency.
"Poland renounced further reparations a long time ago, in 1953, and has several times confirmed this renunciation. This is a basic foundation basis for today's European order. Germany stands by its political and moral responsibility for the Second World War," the spokesperson added.
Poland: 1953 agreement is invalid
Poland’s governing conservatives say the 1953 agreement was invalid because Warsaw was unable to negotiate fair compensation.
Poland's then Soviet-controlled government relinquished all claims to war reparations under pressure from Moscow, which wanted to free East Germany, also a Soviet-controlled country, from any liabilities, according to officials.
Szynkowski vel Sęk said on Thursday: “The 1953 statement, which has been invoked again by Germany, has no legal force because it contains at least four significant legal flaws, as noted by the report.”
He added: “The lack of other justification besides extralegal statements by the criminal communist regime, demonstrates emphatically that Germany’s responsibility for reparations remains in force.”
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Source: PAP, niezalezna.pl, polskieradio24.pl