The purpose of the Council of Ministers resolution is to confirm, in a formal and officially binding manner, that the issue of reparations, compensation for material and non-material damage or other forms of redress for losses suffered by Poland and Poles during the Second World War was never closed is any way, neither during the communist period, nor after regaining sovereignty. The Council of Ministers resolution will constitute a binding legal act for other bodies, confirming a lack of settlement, by way of an international agreement between the Republic of Poland and the Federal Republic of Germany, of the issue of compensation for losses and damage caused by Germany during the Second World War and the need to conclude such an agreement.     

At the same time, the resolution will send an important message that the Republic of Poland demands in the strongest possible terms that Germany, a state that is the legal successor of the Third Reich, settle the outstanding balance of damage and losses suffered by Poland during the occupation. It should be reminded that Poland suffered the greatest human and material losses compared with any other European country. Mass extermination, large-scale exploitation of Polish society, and the unprecedented plunder and destruction of our national wealth by Germany left Poland in a disastrous state, the consequences of which have been severely felt by future generations.

The number of people killed by the Germans alone stood at 5.219 million. One in five among them was a child under the age of 10. Over 2.1 million Polish citizens were transported abroad as slave-like forced labour. Nearly 200,000 Polish children were taken away from their families to be Germanised. Only 30,000 of them returned. During the war, 590,000 Polish citizens were maimed as a result of pseudoscientific experiments and their stay in concentration camps.

Through German occupation, we lost cultural assets estimated at PLN 19.310 billion (approximately more than EUR 4.1 billion). Material losses alone are estimated at PLN 797.398 billion in current prices (that is EUR 170.1 billion at today’s exchange rate).

Polish bank resources were plundered. Polish citizens lost more than PLN 89 billion of savings and over PLN 34 billion in insurance companies. The Polish treasury lost almost 500 billion in tax revenues.

The total amount of losses estimated in the Report on losses suffered by Poland as a result of German aggression and occupation during World War II 1939-1945 is PLN 6.22 billion, an equivalent of USD 1.53 billion at the exchange rate as at 31 December 2021. This amount does not reflect the actual extent of damages and is only a mere estimation of costs.

We reiterate that, because of the Soviet bloc’s imposed policy, Poland has not received the due compensation awarded by the Potsdam Conference. Meanwhile, the German state, even though it greatly benefited itself from the American assistance after the Second World War and profited economically as a result of a full integration with Western political structures, has never assumed full legal liability for the actions of its legal predecessor during this period in Poland’s territory. Germany has enriched itself through plunder and forced labour.

Furthermore, the German state invokes the legal doctrine of state immunity which deprives victims of German military aggression and long-term occupation of their right to legally seek due compensation.

The Council of Ministers resolution is also a call for the German government to respect the principles of international law which provides that the country is fully liable for the war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity and systemic plunder committed on Polish territory which are not subject to a limitation period.

We believe that the Federal Republic of Germany should immediately start systemic actions to compensate for losses suffered by Poland and its citizens. 

 

MFA Press Office