Polish parliament to prepare materials to seek reparations from Germany

Lawmaker from the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party Arkadiusz Mularczyk said that the Polish parliament will prepare materials on the possibility for Poland to demand from Germany compensations for the military damage of World War II.

The Polish parliament will prepare materials to gauge whether it is possible to demand World War II reparations from Germany, lawmaker from the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party Arkadiusz Mularczyk said on Wednesday.

Mularczyk said in the interview with the PAP news agency that he had already sent a request to the Bureau of Research of the Polish parliament and expected to get the response by August 11.

“The bureau must prepare information on the possibility for Poland to demand from Germany compensations for the military damage … I want to gather all the information on the issue and think about further steps. I want everything to be prepared professionally,” the lawmaker was quoted as saying by the media outlet.

The request submitted on July 12 calls on the parliament to reveal whether the demand would be in line with international law. In case of a positive response, Mularczyk asks the parliament to explain the procedure of seeking reparations.

On Monday, Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz said that while the “Soviet colony of the Polish People’s Republic” did refuse amends in 1953, the Republic of Poland had never refused to get reparations from Germany.

Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, after the so-called Gleiwitz incident. The invasion urged France and the United Kingdom to declare war on Germany. It took Germany a bit more than a month to occupy Poland, which was liberated by the Soviet troops in 1945.