Poland deserves WWII reparations: PM

"In my opinion, Poland deserves” reparations, Szydło told private radio broadcaster RMF.

“The Polish state has the right to seek these and we are prepared to conduct such proceedings,” Szydło said.

But she added that the official position of the government on the issue would be announced when a "political decision to claim reparations” has been made.

Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said earlier this week that the government in Warsaw was still preparing its official position on reparations. He did not say when a final decision could be expected.

In a resolution adopted in 1953, Poland's communist government of the time recognised that Germany had fulfilled its obligations with regard to Poland and decided against seeking compensation payments.

Pressure from Soviet Union

But Poland's ruling conservatives have said that decisions made by the country's communist-era authorities are not necessarily still valid because they were made under pressure from the Soviet Union.

Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz has described communist-era Poland as a "Soviet puppet state."

Jarosław Kaczyński, head of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, which came to power in late 2015, said at a convention in July that Poland never received compensation for the massive war damages it suffered in World War II, losses which "we have really still not made up for".

Officials in Warsaw have also noted that nearly six million Poles were killed during the war from 1939 to 1945, when their country was invaded by Nazi Germany.

(pk)

Source: PAP