The German occupation of Poland was one of the cruelest in European history; Millions of Polish citizens have never received compensation for the unimaginable human and material losses they suffered during World War II, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote in a text published Wednesday in the German weekly Der Spiegel.
The text of the head of government in the German press was announced on Twitter by the deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Paweł Jabłoński.
Why is Poland asking for compensation from Germany for the crimes of World War II? Because this case was never solved. Prime Minister @MorawieckiM reminds readers 🇩🇪 of the basic facts. A very important text in @derspiegel. One more step to change attitude 🇩🇪 public opinion
– he wrote.
In 1939, “the killings and looting began”
I read with interest how Germans continue to deal with the dark sides of their past. For example, in the current issue of SPIEGEL GESCHICHTE: an article entitled +Arisierung: Die Liquidation+ describes the carefully planned and rigorously executed expropriation of German Jews between 1933 and 1939. In this way, the National Socialists created an organizational framework for the persecution and murder of the Jews
– wrote Prime Minister Morawiecki.
German society – it seems to me – is well aware of what was done to the Jews
– noted the head of the Polish government, adding that it seems that what the Nazis did in Poland is barely visible. In 1939 “murders and looting began”.
The German invasion of our country and the six-year occupation left a wound that has not healed to this day. We ask the United Nations, our partners in Europe and, of course, the Germans to raise their awareness of this issue
he noted.
A whole generation of Polish artists, writers and cultural activists fell victim to the totalitarian war machine. Poland’s enormous cultural creativity has been irretrievably lost
– recalls Morawiecki in Spiegel.
It disappeared with thousands of stolen works of art, dozens of razed monuments, stolen paintings, broken sculptures, in burnt libraries and archives, in looted museums, in the ruins of Polish towns and villages.
Behind each of these lost works of art is a man with his education, his skills and his creativity. Culture, intellectual and artistic creativity is the thread which nations have been weaving for centuries and which connects them – and this was the goal of the Nazi total war: Poland was to be wiped off the face of the earth, erased from memory. The goal was total destruction
stressed the Prime Minister.
“The German occupation was one of the cruelest in European history.”
Mateusz Morawiecki recalls in his text that “the occupation of Poland by Germany and the systematic genocide have caused immeasurable suffering and material and immaterial losses. As a result of World War II, 5.5 million people died or disappeared in Poland. 21% of them were children under 10 years old. 3.7 million of these victims died in the death camps alone.
From the start of the occupation, the Germans considered works of art in public and private collections to be war booty. The first organized flights took place already in October 1939; The Germans ordered works of art, such as paintings, books, and sculptures, to be transported from Kraków to the Reich. Besides public cultural institutions, private collections were also looted. Occupation authorities and private individuals participated in the robbery; Wehrmacht soldiers stole, for example, Polish jewelry or paintings
– wrote Prime Minister Morawiecki.
He recalled that “the occupiers terrorized and murdered hundreds of thousands of artists, scientists, teachers and writers”. Within the so-called “Intelligenzaktion”, the state has lost half of its lawyers, 40% doctors, 20% university professors.
Towns and villages, historic architecture were demolished. Warsaw is the city in Europe which suffered the most during the Second World War. The capital of Poland lost 92%. its historic buildings
– we read in the text.
The “Report on Poland’s War Losses as a Result of German Aggression and Occupation in World War II”, published last year, describes the true extent of material losses suffered by Poles during the German occupation: the sum of these Polish losses was estimated at more than 6,220,609,000,000 PLN (about 1.3 trillion euros) – stressed Mateusz Morawiecki.
The German occupation was one of the cruelest in European history, depriving at least one generation of chances for the future. Millions of Polish citizens have never been compensated for the unimaginable human and material losses they suffered during World War II
– wrote the Prime Minister, stressing:
We are convinced that the 1953 agreement between East Germany and the Polish People’s Republic is invalid: so the Soviet Union forced the dependent government in Warsaw to forgo reparations.
“Germany did not pay any compensation.”
Prime Minister Morawiecki also pointed out that “attempts by individuals to seek compensation in German courts have also failed. The Germans paid – from our point of view – no compensation for the destruction of Polish lands or for the historically unprecedented plunder of a neighboring country.
We know how difficult it is to reach the modern world with this truth. But in relations between peoples and also between States, truth and justice must be the highest values. With this in mind, we demand that our German partners finally assume political, historical, legal and financial responsibility for all the consequences of the attack on our country.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki concludes.
kk/PAP
