Polish President Andrzej Duda, speaking today at an event dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the entry of the Wehrmacht into Poland, again demanded reparations from Germany for the damage caused during the Second World War, DPA reported.
“Forgiveness and acknowledgment of guilt are one thing, reparations for damages are another. And this issue has not yet been resolved,” said Duda in the small Polish town of Velun, which at the time was located near the German-Polish border, BTA reported.
The German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 is considered the beginning of World War II.
Duda comes from the ranks of the national and conservative Law and Justice party, which ruled the country between 2015 and 2023. The PiS government then broke relations with Berlin over anti-German remarks and demands for 1.3 trillion euros in reparations.
The current center-left government of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, in power since December, has also not ruled out the issue of World War II reparations.
At German-Polish government consultations in early July, Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke of aid for surviving victims of the German occupation in Poland, but did not specify specific amounts.
Meanwhile, Tusk recalled the events off Gdansk in the early hours of September 1, 1939, when the German warship Schleswig-Holstein entered the then-named city of Danzig.
The vessel’s visit was then planned as a friendly one, but Germany began shelling the Westerplatte peninsula off the port of Gdańsk at 4:45 am. The Polish army maintains a fortified ammunition depot there.
“Today the war comes from the east,” Tusk declared, referring to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“Today we are not saying, ‘No more war.’ Today we must say: “We must never be alone again.” “Never again in its history should Poland stand alone against the aggression of one or another of its neighbors,” he declared.
German Foreign Minister Analena Berbock emphasized today in her profile on the X social network the reconciliation between Germans and Poles in recent decades.
“Our German-Polish friendship is supported by all Poles who have retained the strength to be human for each other. It is our responsibility and duty to live out our friendship in the heart of Europe, realizing our past,” she stated.
dnes.bg
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