The Economist on the German Reparations for Poland issue

                A picture of President Duda meeting President Steinmeier

 Following an article in The Economist the previous week about the abortive attempt by Kaczynski and his acolytes in the Polish government to demand wartime reparations from Germany, I wrote the following letter to the editor of The Economist.

Dear Editor,

In relation to your description of Polish strongman Jaroslaw Kaczynski "Frenemies on the Oder" (07.01.23), it is a sad thing that a good case for raising again the issue of proper German reparations to Poland, undermined previously by Soviet intervention, has been hampered this time by the counterproductive loudhailer diplomacy of Mr Kaczynski and his government. Initially the 1.3trn euro claim was intended as a failed pre-electoral tactic against the Polish "unpatriotic" liberal opposition, who actually endorsed the principle of reparations and even asked why a similar claim was not being made against Russia. The Polish leader's lack of "polish", made worse by his ignorance of any Western foreign language, should not be a reason for not trying to heal the intense buried national trauma, with its 6 million dead, that previous Polish governments had neglected. I would  hope that, despite the negative German reply, the opportunity would not be lost, by this, or a future Polish government, to remake the case for reparations on a more financially realistic basis, aimed as an information campaign for newer German generations to encourage more cultural exchange and further investment in Poland's economy and in its defence. 

Yours faithfully

Wiktor Moszczynski

Needless to say, they did not find space to print my letter in the magazine which came out today, but I did receive the following helpful response from the Economist's German correspondent:

Dear Mr Mosczczynski

Many thanks for your letter, which was forwarded to me as the author of the article in question. 

I agree with you completely. It is tragic that Poland's perfectly legitimate grievances should be so counter-productively expressed. I suspect plenty of Germans would be open to some sort of dialogue on the whole tangled issue of reparations. But when demands are presented as threats, the obvious German response is to roll up in a ball. The biggest fear in Berlin is not of "angry Poles" but of giving ammunition to Germany's own right wing loonies.

In any case, I have recommended that your thoughtful letter should be published.

All the best

Max Rodenbeck