Case closed on Polish war reparations: German ambassador

He added that contemporary problems needed to be addressed.

“The world around us is in flames, let us focus on real issues,” Nikel said, pointing to Russian aggression in Ukraine, the war in Syria, Europe's migrant crisis and the future of the European Union.

Last year, an analysis by Polish parliamentary experts said that the Polish government is entitled to demand that Germany pay reparations for the massive damage it inflicted on Poland between 1939 and 1945.

Poland suffered the biggest losses in Europe during World War II and its right to reparations has not expired under international law, according to the study as reported by public broadcaster TVP.

Last September, then-Prime Minister Beata Szydło said Poland deserves reparations from Germany but indicated her government had not yet made a final decision on pressing claims.

German officials have said that the matter had been definitively settled with Poland in 1953.

In a resolution adopted in 1953, Poland's communist government of the time recognised that Germany had fulfilled its obligations with regard to Poland and decided against seeking compensation payments.

But Poland's ruling conservatives have said that decisions made by the country's communist-era authorities are not necessarily still valid because they were made under pressure from the Soviet Union. (vb/pk)

Source: PAP