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German historian urges WWII reparations for Poland: report

31.08.2022 21:30
Germany has “a historical responsibility” to compensate Poland for the damage wrought on the country during World War II, a German historian has said, according to a Polish website.
Germany has a historical responsibility to compensate Poland for the damage the Nazis wrought on the country during World War II, a German historian has said, according to a Polish website.
Germany has "a historical responsibility" to compensate Poland for the damage the Nazis wrought on the country during World War II, a German historian has said, according to a Polish website.Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The historian, Prof. Stephan Lehnstaedt of Touro College Berlin, said that Germany’s historical responsibility required paying war reparations for the destruction the Nazis inflicted on Poland, the interia.pl website reported on the eve of the 83rd anniversary of the start of WWII. 

However, “no Polish government has ever issued a written demand for reparations from Germany,” Lehnstaedt added, according to interia.pl.

According to Lehnstaedt, the issue should be "discussed at a bilateral level" between Warsaw and Berlin.  

“Germany should do it because the issue is so important to Poland,” he said, as cited by interia.pl.

‘Historical responsibility’

“It’s a historical responsibility, considering Germany’s legacy,” Lehnstaedt stated.

“In my view, Germany can’t reject these demands totally, for moral reasons,” he added. 

He described reparations as "part of good-neighbourly relations and cooperation.”

“It is through cooperation, not confrontation, that you can really achieve much,” Lehnstaedt said, as cited by interia.pl. 

“And it is entirely clear that Germany cannot respond to serious demands with some handouts, or the country would lose credibility,” he adde.

Push for war reparations

Poland’s conservative leader Jarosław Kaczyński said last month that a new report detailing the country’s devastation at the hands of Nazi Germany during World War II would be published on September 1.

Sixty-four percent of Poles say Germany should pay reparations for the damage it caused to Poland during WWII, according to a survey published in July.  

(pm/gs)

Source: interia.pl