Arkadiusz Mularczyk, a member of Parliament from the now-opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, has called on Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski to bring up the contentious issue of World War II reparations from Germany during his forthcoming visit to Berlin.
This appeal comes in the wake of a detailed report published in 2022 thanks to the efforts of MP Arkadiusz Mularszyk, former deputy foreign minister, estimating Poland’s material losses from the Second World War at a staggering EUR 1.3 trillion. The report was part of a broader initiative by the PiS party to demand compensation from Germany.
Germany, however, has consistently held the stance that the matter of reparations was settled in the past. German officials point to agreements made during Poland’s communist era, asserting that Poland relinquished any claims against Germany at that time. The PiS party rebuts this claim, arguing that Poland was not in a position to make fully independent decisions during the period in question, as it was under the influence of Moscow.
Mularczyk emphasized the importance of this issue ahead of Sikorski’s meeting with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. He highlighted that the Sejm, Poland’s lower house of Parliament, had almost unanimously passed a resolution in the previous term, urging Germany to acknowledge and compensate for the extensive harm inflicted on Poland.
The MP’s appeal to Sikorski was forthright, urging the Foreign Minister to “boldly raise the issue of reparations” during discussions at the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mularczyk underscored the pursuit of reparations as being in line with Poland’s national interests, signaling a continued effort by PiS to keep this historical and significant topic in the international dialogue.