Getty Beata Szydlo has lead the calls for reparations from Germany for atrocities committed against Poles

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The issue of reparations was revived by Poland's eurosceptic ruling party Law and Justice (PiS) after decades of improving relations with Germany. But there are fears the reparations could escalate tensions between the two European Union governments - despite Poland's foreign minister saying that no immediate claim would be made. Mr Waszczykowski said further analysis was needed before any claims were lodged. However he said “they should take place to inform the German side about the enormity of destruction it has caused”.

Arkadiusz Mularczyk, a PiS deputy commissioned the study into whether Poland would be eligible for reparations. He said: “[The communist government] was forced into this by the Soviet Union, and Poland was not a sovereign state at the time. Poland has a legal basis to demand reparations." The PiS government – deeply distrustful of Germany – has raised calls for wartime compensation in recent weeks but it has yet to officially demand reparations. The study read: "It is legitimate to say that the Republic of Poland is entitled to compensation from the Federal Republic of Germany and the assertion that the claims have expired or are statute-barred is unfounded."



It claimed a statement made by the Polish government in 1953 on the waiver of reparation payments had been unconstitutional and was carried out only by the Soviet Union. In addition, it had only affected the GDR, it states in the reasoning. Six million Poles, including three million Polish Jews, were killed during the war, and the capital Warsaw was razed to the ground in 1944 after a failed uprising in which 200,000 civilians died. Relations between Germany and Poland had warmed following the 1989 collapse of communism, particularly under the previous centrist government in Warsaw.

Getty Witold Waszczykowski said further analysis was needed before any claims were lodged

But they have sunk to a decade low since the nationalist-leaning PiS won a parliamentary election in 2015. It says Berlin wields too much influence within the EU. German parliamentary legal experts said last month that Warsaw had no right to demand reparations. The German government said on Friday that the question of paying reparations to Poland for World War Two has been resolved for over 60 years and there's no reason to reopen it. Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman told reporters that while Germany "stands by its responsibility for WWII" it has already paid reparations to Poland. Steffen Seibert said Germany also considers Poland's relinquishment of further reparations in 1953, 1970 and 2004 to be legally binding. Seibert said that "in our view this question has been completely resolved legally and politically”.

Getty World War II began with the German invasion of Poland in 1939, killed nearly six million Poles

He added that Germany is grateful for its current good relations with Poland. In Poland, the government's plan to seek reparations met with opposition from the influential Catholic Church, whose leaders said that "ill-considered decisions and rash words" can easily destroy the "great value" that is the hard-won reconciliation between Poland and Germany. In a letter addressed to "persons responsible for our country and for international relations," five leading bishops said that the issues that have not been settled between the two nations should be approached through "wise diplomacy" that can help avoid negative emotions. Poland's church is considered to be a powerful ally of the conservative ruling party and the words were seen as a friendly check on its policies.

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