“Now the Germans won’t recover; they’ll pay full reparations. After such a psychological gambit from Donald Tusk, it’s all settled… well, no. It was simply foolish. Prime Minister Tusk acted foolishly, and it would be good if he withdrew from it,” said Maciej Konieczny, an MP from the Razem party, on TV Republika, commenting on the prime minister’s “psychological strategy” and his statements on compensation for war victims.
During a Monday press conference with Friedrich Merz in Berlin, Donald Tusk said that about 50,000 people who suffered during the war are still alive. He added that when he discussed compensation with former Chancellor Olaf Scholz in recent years, the figure was about 60,000. “Hurry up if you really want to make such a gesture,” he said to the German side. He noted that if there is no quick and unequivocal declaration from Germany, next year he will consider the decision for Poland to meet this need with its own funds.
“I don’t want to say anything more about this,” he concluded. The proposal that Polish taxpayers pay for the harms inflicted by Germany shocked commentators.
“Poles were attacked and murdered by Germans, so compensation is owed by Germany. It runs counter to historical truth, to logic, to any values whatsoever that a nation which endured persecution should have to pay for that suffering itself,”
wrote President Karol Nawrocki on social media.
Today, in the “First Interview of the Day” on TV Republika, Razem MP Maciej Konieczny was asked about Donald Tusk’s remarks.
“Prime Minister Donald Tusk mixed up two things. One is compensation from the Polish state for people who may be entitled to it, and a fine; such a solution is needed, but it has nothing to do with reparations, nothing to do with justice. Reparations are Germany paying for the wrongs inflicted on the Polish nation, on Polish society. This is a question of justice, of redress not to specific individuals but to the Polish nation. These are two different matters, and conflating them – especially in Germany, by Prime Minister Tusk – was a huge mistake,”
the MP said.
“It is very unwise. First, Prime Minister Tusk is saying something unwise, mixing two different orders, and second, he fits perfectly into all the worst stereotypes about himself. It is very unwise, even at the level of political tactics. (…) In my view, he made a costly mistake; he should not have said this. We believe one should not mix potential Polish compensation, which may help specific individuals, with the question of justice related to reparations,”
he added.
Asked about Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz’s suggestion that Tusk’s words were part of a psychological strategy, Konieczny scoffed:
“Now the Germans won’t recover; they’ll pay full reparations. After such a psychological gambit from Donald Tusk, it’s all settled… well, no. It was simply foolish. Prime Minister Tusk acted foolishly, and it would be good if he withdrew from it.”