Deputy Minister Mularczyk recalled the Sejm’s resolutions of 2004 and 2022 on compensation for the losses caused by Germany during World War II. He underlined that the majority of Polish society shares this stance and added that there is also a moral aspect to this issue. “A generation of people who could not live in the safe times of prosperity and peace has been dying out. To those who may soon leave us forever, we owe making an effort to bring justice to Polish-German relations. May those who fought for our freedom and suffered humiliation, looting, and wrong for the mere fact of being Polish feel, towards the end of their lives, that justice is not an empty slogan,” underlined Deputy Minister Mularczyk. He hoped that during its new term, the Polish parliament will continue its work and efforts to obtain just compensation for Poland. In the diplomat’s opinion, the issue of damages and reparations should still be raised by parliamentarians in their talks with foreign partners, including German ones.

The deputy head of Polish diplomacy also encouraged the Senate to adopt a resolution on compensation from Germany, and noted that asymmetrical treatment of Poland after the Potsdam Conference must be brought up for discussion during the Sejm and Senate’s new terms. He emphasised that it is already over 140 local governments at the district and municipal levels that have adopted relevant resolutions expressing support for the government’s efforts to seek war reparations from the FRG. He went on to recall that Poland’s economy has still been affected by Germany’s failure to pay war reparations. For example, the costs of rebuilding Warsaw’s Saski Palace must be borne by the Polish taxpayers. 

According to the Polish MFA Secretary of State, it is the duty of the newly elected members of the Sejm and Senate to continue efforts to raise awareness of the sensitive and painful experiences of World War II among society, in particular among the young generation, as these experiences explain the origins of modern Polish-German relations. Such policy should also include as its key element insisting on the implementation of a Bundestag resolution in which Germany committed itself to building a monument in Berlin dedicated to the memory of all Polish victims of WWII and the German occupation.