UPDATE - Poland to demand $1.3T war reparations from Germany

By Jo Harper

UPDATES WITH MORE QUOTES FROM POLISH RULING PARTY LEADER, ADDS DETAILS

WARSAW, Poland (AA) – Poland’s ruling party leader said on Thursday that Warsaw would officially demand reparations from Berlin for losses caused by Germany in World War II, which is estimated to be 6.2 trillion zlotys ($1.3 trillion).

“Although the road will be long, we are confident that one day we will succeed in the issue of war reparations from Germany,” Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of Law and Justice, told a news conference in Warsaw.

He said he expected a negative reaction from the German authorities, who long argued that such demands have no legal grounds.

“I have already heard from a very important German politician that no German government will agree to this," Kaczynski said.

“But such matters have to be fought for, sometimes for years. We do not promise it will be a quick success,” he stressed.

“We only say that it is a Polish obligation, the elimination of a certain gap in our activity as a sovereign state, the fact that we finally report something that should have been reported a long time ago,” he added.

The report on the losses suffered by Poland during World War II was presented on Thursday at the Royal Castle in Warsaw to mark the 83rd anniversary of the start of World War II.

It was prepared by the Parliamentary Group for the Estimation of Compensation Due to Poland from Germany for damages caused during the war.

The Law and Justice has called for compensation several times since it came to power in late 2015, but Poland has not officially demanded reparations before.

“The Germans invaded Poland and did us enormous damage. The occupation was criminal, extremely cruel and had effects that in many cases continue to this day,” Kaczynski said.

“We cannot let go of this just because someone thinks that Poland is in a special, radically lower position than other countries and Polish than other nations,” he added.

Germany insists the Polish government waived its right to war reparations in 1953.

Kaczynski argues this decision was not valid then or now under international law.

Nearly 6 million Poles were killed between 1939 and 1945 under German occupation.