However, the ambassador, Viktor Elbling, told Polish state news agency PAP on Wednesday that time is needed to work out the details and talks between the two countries’ governments are ongoing.
During Polish-German intergovernmental consultations in early July, Berlin announced it was willing to support Poles who were victims of World War II and who are still alive, but the details of such aid remained unspecified.
Last week, during a meeting with journalists, the Warsaw government's pointman for Polish-German cooperation, Krzysztof Ruchniewicz, said “there is a proposal submitted by the German side” on the table.
‘Time needed’
Elbling said: “Intergovernmental consultations were held at the beginning of July... It hasn't been that long yet. We need time to work out the details.”
He added: “We are in the process of talks, but we should not expect any announcements in conversations with the media.”
According to estimates by the Foundation for Polish-German Reconciliation, there are between 60,000 and 80,000 victims of the Third Reich still alive in Poland, which is almost twice as many as assumed in earlier calculations.
The Warsaw government’s pointman for Polish-German cooperation pointed out that financial compensation is one of several elements of a potential overall compensation package, which could also include the construction of a German-Polish House in Berlin.
Polish PM’s perspective
Following a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in July, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said: “Will this somehow make up for the losses that Poland suffered as a result of World War II? Of course not.”
But he added: “I have the impression that the Chancellor is on the same side, regarding the conversation about repairing wrongs, about commemoration and our military cooperation, so that this builds good relations between Poland and Germany.
“We will look for solutions that will satisfy Poland, but not in the spirit of political confrontation, but of mutual understanding.”
Not enough?
In July, Polish media outlet Onet, citing sources in Berlin, reported that Germany was ready to announce €200 million in compensation.
However, Onet reported that Tusk, to the surprise of the German side, did not accept the proposal. Tusk allegedly considered the proposed amount to be too low and disproportionate to the payments made by Germany to still-living citizens of Israel.
The outlet added that Germany had offered to transfer a submarine to Poland, which the Polish side did not respond to.
In September 2022, the nationalist Law and Justice government of the time produced a report detailing Poland’s wartime losses at German hands in World War II, declaring that Poland should receive €1.3 trillion in reparations from Berlin.
Approximately one-sixth of Polish citizens died during the war.
