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Study finds Poland entitled to war reparations from Germany: report

PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki 10.09.2017 22:00
The Polish government is entitled to demand that Germany pay reparations for the massive damage it inflicted on Poland in World War II, an analysis by parliamentary experts has reportedly found.
Photo: pexels.comPhoto: pexels.com

Poland suffered the biggest losses in Europe during World War II and its right to reparations has not expired under international law, according to the study as reported by a Polish public television station.

The 40-page analysis, by a group of Polish parliamentary experts, will be officially unveiled in Warsaw on Monday, but TVP Info says it has already seen it.

According to TVP Info, the study cites international regulations including the 1907 Hague Convention and “postwar reparation practice” as justifying Poland's right to claim reparations from Germany.

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

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

On Friday, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert dismissed the idea of war reparations, saying the matter had been definitively settled with Poland in 1953.

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.

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. (gs/pk)

Source: TVP Info

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