Polish FM Radosław Sikorski suggested that Germany should be able to invest in Polish defence capabilities instead of paying reparations, POLITICO informs.
“We are asking the German government to put together a package that will convince our public and show them: Aha, the Germans are ready to deal with the issue,” Sikorski said in an interview with Spiegel published Friday.
The foreign minister also noted that if Germany is willing to pay $1.3 trillion in compensation for the enormous losses Poland suffered by the Germans during the Second World War, Poland “will even grant a discount if the money is received by the end of the year,” but added that “money is a difficult issue in times of war and crisis.”
Sikorski said that the German government give a “visible sign” that Germany recognised the damage inflicted on Poland during the occupation, such as “a documentation centre, a centre for dialogue that recognises the suffering of the Poles and is also a memorial.”
“There could also be a second visible sign, for example by the Germans rebuilding one of the buildings they destroyed in Warsaw, perhaps the Saxon Palace.”
The Germans “could also finance medical care for survivors” or “invest in the defence capabilities of our countries so that we can defend ourselves together against Putin,” he added.
“The Germans have a fragile memory,” Sikorski said. “They know about the Holocaust and remember the blockade of Leningrad and Stalingrad. But they have forgotten what they did to the Polish civilian population.”
