Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski urged Germany on Tuesday to pay "financial compensation" for the losses his country suffered at the hands of the Nazi forces during World War II.
Sikorski's call came during his first visit to Berlin after a new government supportive of the European Union took power in Warsaw in December.
This call by Sikorski echoes a similar demand made in September 2020 by the leader of Poland's Law and Justice Party, which estimated that Germany should pay 1.3 trillion euros (1.4 trillion dollars) as "compensation for the death of more than 5.2 million Polish citizens."
In a statement to "Bild TV" after talks with his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, Sikorski said, "What Germany did to Poland during World War II was terrible and cruel."
He added that it would be beneficial for Germany to "find an innovative solution to express this suffering, express regret, and do something good for the people who survived this period."
He emphasized that "this moral review of the past should ultimately lead to financial compensation," without specifying any figures.
The issue of compensation for World War II damages has strained relations between Berlin and the previous Polish government led by Mateusz Morawiecki, a member of the Law and Justice Party, which insisted on Germany's "moral duty" in this matter.
Germany has repeatedly rejected demands for financial compensation, pointing to Poland's decision in 1953 to renounce any claims of this kind.
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