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British MP urges Germany to pay Poland reparations for WWII

PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk 11.10.2017 15:21
A British MP of Polish descent has sent an open letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel urging her government to pay reparations to Poland for World War II.
Photo: image4you/pixabay.com/CC0 Creative Commons
Photo: image4you/pixabay.com/CC0 Creative Commons

Daniel Kawczynski, an MP from Britain’s governing Conservative party, called on the German government to “drop its opposition to the payment of reparations to Poland for the immense death and destruction during World War II”.

Kawczynski said that Poles “suffered grievously” in the war and more than six million Polish citizens were killed during the Nazi German occupation of their country, including over 200,000 during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.

Calling for “mutual respect and understanding”, Kawczynski wrote that to do any less than pay reparations would be “a travesty for the final few war veterans whose entire lives were defined by the horrors unleashed by Adolf Hitler”.

A recent analysis by parliamentary experts concluded that the Polish government is entitled to demand that Germany pay reparations.

Jarosław Kaczyński, the head of Poland’s governing Law and Justice (PiS) party, has previously accused Germany of trying to “wriggle out” of paying Warsaw damages.

Prime Minister Beata Szydło has said that Poland deserves reparations, but indicated her government had not yet made a final decision on pressing claims.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has reportedly rejected claims voiced in Poland that Berlin should pay damages.

(pk)

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