In the article, which was published on the 84th anniversary of the German invasion of Poland, Arkadiusz Mularczyk said that even though Germany insists that the issue of war reparations for Poland was settled decades ago, Warsaw deserves compensation for the six-year occupation.
“As hard as it is, remembering the Second World War is essential,” Mularczyk wrote.
He added that Germany's attack on Poland on September 1, 1939 was followed by "six years of terror, culminating in the Holocaust, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and the attempted eradication of the Polish nation and Polish Jews.”
Mularczyk continued: “Remembering the Second World War means remembering not only the scale of destruction caused by the most brutal regime the world has ever seen, but also remembering the people and individuals who suffered at the hands of German barbarity. Many of these victims are still alive to tell the stories of what they witnessed, keeping alive the stories of those they saw murdered while still suffering material loss and physical harm. They never received the compensation they are owed.”
In his article for MailOnline, Mularczyk noted that the Polish government last year published its Report on the Losses Sustained by Poland as a Result of German Aggression and Occupation during the Second World War.
The report makes it clear that, over the course of six years of German occupation, over 5 million Polish citizens died, of whom 3 million were Jewish. A further 6 million were lost to deportation, displacement and slave labour, along with 196,000 Polish children who were kidnapped and taken to Germany in an attempt to "Aryanise" them. Of these, only 30,000 returned.
In closing, Mularczyk wrote: “As a consequence of the loss of life, financial damage, destruction of infrastructure, theft of state assets, and irreversible cultural devastation that Poland suffered, Germany caused the equivalent loss of £1.1 trillion."
He added: "Since the total was published in September 2022, this figure has not been contested … Recognising the role that closing historical chapters can play, Poland has tried, since the report was published, to open a dialogue with Germany to resolve this issue. However, Germany refuses to discuss the compensation the Polish people are owed, with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock stating the issue is 'closed,' and German ambassadors being instructed to ignore our ambassadors.”
Reconstruction of the Polish capital Warsaw after World War II. Photo: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
(mk/gs)
Source: dailymail.co.uk