Poland names amount of WWII reparations it seeks — Analysis

Warsaw believes that Germany should be paying up after it has calculated its World War II loss at $1.32 Trillion.
Polish leaders provided an updated assessment of Germany’s destruction of Poland in World War II. It was estimated at $1.2 trillion and 6.2 trillion Zlotys respectively.
During a news conference on Thursday, which marked 83 years since the start of World War II, the leader of the country’s ruling nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS), Jaroslaw Kaczynski, announced the release of a report on the costs Poland suffered during the years of Nazi occupation.
“We not only prepared the report but we have also taken the decision as to the further steps,” Kaczynski said during the report’s presentation, announcing that Warsaw intends to officially request reparations from Germany, which he described as a “long and not… easy path.”
Warsaw believed Germany can pay the bill and he said that the move would be in the best interests of the country. “true Polish-German reconciliation,”This would then be the basis of “truth.”Kaczynski said that damages estimates may change.
“The sum that was presented was adopted using the most limited, conservative method, it would be possible to increase it,”The politician stated.
Polish legislators had previously calculated the WWII damages at $850 Billion in 2019. While the PiS repeatedly calls for Germany to compensate it since 2015, Poland has never requested any reparations.

Germany’s Foreign Ministry responded to Kaczynski’s request by stating Berlin’s position is unwavering and that it considers the matter of reparations long closed.
Berlin argues that Poland had forfeited claims to reparations while it was still part of the Soviet Bloc, and that Berlin already paid out compensation to members of the bloc in the years following the war – and that lost Polish territories were compensated with some of Germany’s pre-war lands.
Kaczynski, however, maintains that “Germany has never really accounted for its crimes against Poland,”It is important to note that Germans convicted of war crimes lived with impunity after World War II.
It’s estimated that around 6 million Poles, including three million Polish Jews, were killed by Nazi Germany during World War II, while much of the nation’s industry, infrastructure, and culture suffered huge losses during the six-year conflict.
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