Most Poles want war reparations from Germany: survey

Thirty-one percent of those surveyed by pollster Ipsos voiced the opposite opinion, while 6 percent were undecided.

Meanwhile, 68 percent of the respondents answered in the affirmative when asked: "Do you think that the Germans should pay Poland compensation for the crimes of genocide they committed against the Polish nation during World War II?"

Twenty-five percent of those polled said "no" when asked the latter question, and 7 percent responded "I do not know."

The debate on war reparations from Germany reignited after Jarosław Kaczyński, head of Poland’s ruling 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."

According to PiS deputy Arkadiusz Mularczyk, a group of parliamentary experts are working on a report on whether Poland can claim reparations from Germany. The report is due to be ready by 11 August.

Mularczyk has said that nearly six million Poles were killed during the war from 1939 to 1945, when their country was invaded by Nazi Germany.

He added that seeking war reparations from Germany was a "moral duty".

Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski has said that internal opposition in Poland to raising the issue of reparations for World War II was a barrier to potential negotiations with Germany.

"It will be very difficult to undertake talks with the Germans with this type of opposition in our own country, because the Germans will be able to take advantage of this opposition for certain political gameplay against those who will want to undertake substantive legal-political negotiations on possible reparations," Waszczykowski told Polish state broadcaster TVP on Wednesday.

Ipsos conducted its poll for TVP’s main news programme, Wiadomości, on 8-9 August on a sample of 1,002 respondents. (str/pk)

Source: Rzeczpospolita