The deputy minister highlighted that over four million Poles who are entitled to compensation did not receive it as a result of an inaction in this regard by the government of Donald Tusk. Poland’s losses go far beyond a generation and have a civilisational and geopolitical dimension. As a consequence of the Second World War caused by Germany, Poland found itself under communist occupation for over 40 years, deprived of development opportunities. This widened the civilisation gap between the country and the developed world, a gap that Poland now has to bridge.  

Poland lost over 11.2 million citizens. 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. They performed a total of 4.881 million years of work at more than 200,000 German plants and farms. Nearly 200,000 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 and bank resources. We have irretrievably lost archives and scientific collections. Polish citizens lost more than PLN 89 billion of savings and over PLN 34 billion in insurance. The Polish treasury lost almost PLN 500 billion in tax revenues.

Minister Mularczyk reminded that the report that forms the basis for our activity at the international arena is not a “scrap of paper”, but a serious study that is the result of work carried out by more than 30 researchers and experts over the past five years. The report is currently presented at international fora and bilateral meetings, including the US and European countries. The MFA is conducting an extensive information and promotional campaign aimed at obtaining compensation due to Poland. We will not abandon our efforts until the German side sits down with us at the negotiating table.