Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Does Poland Have a Right to Reparations from WW II....From Germany?

This is a curious question.

In late summer 1953....the Soviet-dominated in Poland and East Germany came to this agreement....if East Germany recognized the border of Poland...then the reparations business was ended.

This border business meant that roughly one-third to one-quarter of what was Germany's eastern region in 1937....disappeared, and were written into Poland. Whether the Germans agreed or not....this was the Soviet decision.  Same for the Poles.

So was this legal?  Some have come to question this decision, but the real question is....in 1953, who was the 'authority'?

Does this matter now?  In recent years, this reparations deal has come back up.  Some Poles believe they are owed something.  I would imagine that some folks in Poland might also think the 1937 border with Germany might be worth discussing and redrawn back to the 1937 standard.

Adding to this problem....could you come to a fair reparation for the six million Poles who died in this war period?  Who would get the money? 

Is the reparations game being played out for national agenda reasons?  More than likely. 

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