Kaczyński denounces German response to reparations claim

Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of Poland's ruling conservative party, has called Germany’s dismissal of Polish attempts to claim reparations for WWII damages as “an attempt to build a barricade” that would have to be overcome.

On Monday, Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau signed an official diplomatic note outlining the country's demands for reparations from Germany for the damage caused by the Second World War.

A report, published on September 1, estimated Poland’s World War II losses caused by German aggression at EUR 1.3 trillion.

But speaking at a joint press conference with Rau on Tuesday, following bilateral talks in Warsaw, Annalena Baerbock, the German foreign minister, said: "The issue of war reparations from the point of view of the federal government is a closed issue."

Germany argues that Poland’s post-war government waived reparations, a claim that is contested by the Poles.

Reacting to Baerbock's statement, Kaczyński told a public radio station that "the first German response is an attempt to build a sort of barricade, now we will have to force this barricade."

"We will raise this matter, both in Germany and on an international forum, one can say on a global scale, because this response is, to put it mildly, unsatisfactory and completely unfounded," he added.

Kaczyński said that Germany had paid compensation in various forms for both world wars to over 70 countries, including Namibia while refusing to pay Poland by "referring to events that had no legal significance even from the point of view of the PRL (communist) law of that time."

"This is a completely non-substantive response and what is characteristic, if I understand correctly what Mrs Baerbock said, it applies to the whole note, which, after all, included many points," he added.