Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the ruling Law and Justice party, had warned that the process before Poland won its case would be "long and difficult".
It may be a little more than that.
The German government has formally rejected Warsaw's request to negotiate compensation for damages suffered by Poland during World War II.
"According to the German government, the case of reparations and compensation for war damage remains closed and the German government has no intention of opening negotiations on this subject," the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs underlined. Foreign Affairs in a statement released after receiving an official response from Berlin.
Poland, it should be remembered, is claiming compensation from Germany in an amount it estimates at one thousand three hundred billion euros.
For Berlin, the question of reparations is "closed"
The press service of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Tuesday that the federal government had "responded to Poland's note verbale of October 03, 2022", while recalling that it does not publicly disseminate "the various contents of the correspondence diplomatic”.
Polish diplomacy took the case to the United Nations (UN) on Tuesday, asking its senior representatives for their "cooperation and support so that Poland can receive compensation for the damage caused by the aggression and occupation. Germans in the years 1939-1945″, according to another official press release.
Germany considers that Poland waived war reparations in 1953 and confirmed this waiver on several occasions.
Berlin has raised the same arguments against claims for reparations raised in the past by Greece and Italy.
During her visit to Warsaw on October 4, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had already indicated that, "from the point of view of the federal government, the question of reparations was closed", while assuring that her country assumed "its historic responsibility, without 'if' or 'but'”.
Polish nationalist conservatives in power dispute the validity of this 1953 agreement, saying that Warsaw acted at the time under pressure from the Soviet Union.
Since coming to power in Poland in 2015, the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has often championed the issue of war reparations, insisting that Germany has a "moral duty" in the matter.
