According to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, compensation announced by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for victims of the Nazi occupation of Poland during World War II will be paid out soon.
“This is not a matter of years, but of months,” Tusk said in Warsaw after talks between the German-Polish governments, in which ministers from both sides participated.
Scholz had promised compensation to the approximately 40,000 victims of the German occupation of Poland who are still alive. However, he did not say when and how much compensation would be paid.
Tusk described Scholz’s announcement as a step in the right direction. “There is no amount of money that could compensate for everything that happened during World War II,” he said.
He acknowledged that the issue of reparations was formally and legally closed. Nevertheless, the aid promised by the German government to the victims of the occupation could improve German-Polish relations, “because good gestures are also very important in politics,” Tusk said.
The previous nationalist conservative government of the Law and Justice party (PiS) demanded reparations totaling €1.3 trillion ($1.39 trillion). Since the change of government in Poland in December, the tone towards Germany has become friendlier.
Tusk said Germany’s commitment to security in Europe is an important issue at the moment. “For me it is important that Germany is prepared to take much more responsibility for the security of the continent, to ensure that there will be no war in Europe,” he said.