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A deputy Polish foreign minister, in Washington to drum up support for Poland’s campaign to make Germany pay reparations for World War Two damages, has said he was “surprised” by the amount of interest.
A report published last year put the cost of the material and human damage Germany inflicted on Poland during the Second World War at EUR 1.3 trillion.
“We believe there is room for discussion and study on this historical and political matter which affects our country today,” Arkadiusz Mularczyk told reporters after a meeting with US Congressmen and a representative of the US Department of State. “I must say that I am surprised by the amount of interest expressed regarding this issue and report.
“We see some opportunities here for cooperation in the future with congressmen and senators from both parties,” he said.
The minister added that he had held discussions with over a dozen politicians from both the Republican and Democratic parties. He also said many politicians were unaware of the scale of the problem and that “we are only at the beginning of the road” when it comes to cooperation on the reparations matter.
Mularczyk added, “many of the Congressmen were shocked that Germany had plundered Poland and to this day had not settled the matter.”
“I do see room for manoeuvring here, because the behaviour of Germany does not meet the standards of rule of law or the protection of human rights,” he mentioned. “So I have a lot of hope that this matter… will be the subject of our cooperation, but this will take some time.”
The German Foreign Ministry has rejected Poland’s claims and stated the matter was closed and that the German government would not enter into negotiations on the subject.