Germany rebuffs Polish demand for huge WWII reparations

The German government on Thursday [September 1] turned down a Polish call to negotiate reparations for the financial cost of World War II losses that Warsaw estimated to be 1.3 trillion euros ($1.29 trillion) and had said it would ask Germany to discuss.

Germany has often rejected Poland's claims, pointing to a 1953 decision by Poland to renounce claims against East Germany, The Times of Israel reports.

"The German government's position is unchanged, the reparations issue is closed," a foreign ministry spokesman said in an email to AFP.

He cited the 1953 decision, calling it a "significant foundation for Europe's order today".

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the Law and Justice party, announced the huge claim at the release of a long-awaited report on the cost to the country of years of Nazi German occupation as it marks 83 years since the start of World War II.

"It is a major sum of 6.2 trillion Polish zloty," Kaczynski said.

Most of this sum "is compensation for the deaths of more than 5.2 million Polish citizens", he added.

Kaczynski said that receiving reparations would be a "long and difficult" process.

"It is a decision we will implement," he said, speaking on the anniversary of Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939.

Kaczynski was speaking at a conference dedicated to the presentation of a report on Poland's losses in the 1939-1945 war.