During a joint press conference of the foreign ministers of Poland and Germany, Zbigniew Rau raised the issue of reparations. “We look forward to good cooperation with the government of the Federal Republic of Germany in this regard”, he stressed. A short while later, Annalena Baerbock made her statement. “The reparations issue from the point of view of the Federal Government is a closed issue”, she replied firmly.

The ministers’ meeting occurred a day after the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a diplomatic note on reparations, with the aim of a ‘just, comprehensive, material and legal settlement of the damage and losses suffered by Polish citizens and the Polish state as a result of the Second World War’.

“We look forward to good cooperation with the government of the Federal Republic of Germany in this regard”, Minister Rau said.

The Foreign Minister added that Polish society is still traumatised by the German armed attack on Poland in 1939, the German occupation and their negative consequences on social capital, economic potential and national heritage.

“The issue of reparations from the point of view of the federal government is a closed issue”, said Annalena Baerbock. ‘The good news is that we have a common future with our European Union, it is not only our life insurance, especially in these times, but it is our instrument for the future’, she declared.

The head of the German foreign ministry stressed that Germany feels its historical responsibility without any limits.

“It will remain our eternal task to remember the suffering inflicted by Germany on millions of Poles”, Baerbock said.  She added that this was quite different kind of suffering from that inflicted by Germany in other countries. Suffering associated with a “campaign of oppression, Germanisation, outright destruction”, she pointed out.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński