Poland’s new right-wing President Karol Nawrocki marked the anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War by renewing calls for Germany to pay reparations for its 1939 invasion.
Eternal shame to the German and Soviet murderers … if you have killed and stolen, you must confess your sin, you must apologise, and you must make amends.
Speaking at Westerplatte in Gdańsk, Nawrocki stressed that “to build a partnership with our western neighbour based on the foundations of truth and good relations, we must finally settle the issue of reparations from the German state, which I unequivocally demand.”
Former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki supported Nawrocki’s message, recalling Germany’s brutal attack on Poland: “
On September 1, 1939, Germany began the most terrible war in world history. They were the perpetrators of the unimaginable crimes, suffering, and destruction that befell Poland and all of Europe.
Morawiecki emphasized that reparations have never been paid; $1.3 trillion (€1.11 trillion) is still owed by Germany.
”Those guilty of the crimes must bear responsibility, and their successors have the duty to make amends for the damage,” he wrote on X.
Nawrocki’s call differs from Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s approach. While Tusk stressed the need for a ”united Europe,” Nawrocki insisted that a partnership with Germany requires the issue of reparations to be finally settled.
Nawrocki—who took office less than a month ago and previously led the Institute of National Remembrance—has long argued that Germany owes Poland reparations.
