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Poland to unveil report on WWII damages on September 1: ruling party leader

29.07.2022 13:00
Poland’s conservative leader Jarosław Kaczyński has said that a new report detailing the country’s devastation at the hands of Nazi Germany during World War II will be published on September 1.
Polands conservative leader Jarosław Kaczyński has said that a new report detailing the countrys devastation by Nazi Germany during World War II will be published on September 1.
Poland’s conservative leader Jarosław Kaczyński has said that a new report detailing the country’s devastation by Nazi Germany during World War II will be published on September 1.Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Kaczyński, who leads Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, made the remark in an interview with state news agency PAP. 

He said: “The date of September 1 for the publication of the report has been agreed upon with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki; in fact it was the prime minister who suggested it.”

Kaczyński added: “September 1 is when the first, most important volume of the report will be published. But there are more to come.”

The issue of war reparations

The study is expected to focus on the issue of war reparations for the damage inflicted on Poland by Nazi Germany, according to officials. 

Kaczyński said that after the release of the report, which would be translated into several foreign languages, Poland would take “further steps, in a certain sequence and according to a plan.”   

'A big operation'

According to Kaczyński, the government will mount “a big operation” to seek war reparations from Germany, which “should eventually bring results … maybe after a generation; even if I’m not alive to see it.” 

He referred to his conversation earlier this week with Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany’s opposition CDU party. 

He said the German politician had insisted that “at the moment, no German government will agree to pay out war reparations.”

Kaczyński told the PAP news agency: “I replied that history is dynamic and that we’ll be pushing the issue, because it is about material losses and also about dignity. Why can’t they pay us war reparations if they paid them to 70 other countries?”

The soon-to-be-published study into Poland’s World War II losses was drawn up over four years by a parliamentary team led by ruling party MP Arkadiusz Mularczyk, officials said.    

In 2018, Mularczyk said that Germany could owe Poland USD 850 billion in war reparations.

Sixty-four percent of Poles say Germany should pay reparations for the damage it caused to Poland during World War II, according to a survey published earlier this month.

(pm/gs)

Source: IAR, PAP