Germany rebuffs Polish president’s demand for war reparations on Berlin visit

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Poland’s new president, Karol Nawrocki, renewed his calls for Germany to pay reparations to Poland for World War Two during a visit to Berlin. In response, German leaders have reiterated that they consider the issue legally closed and that no reparations are owed.

Nawrocki, who took office last month, today met with his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, as well as Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Afterwards, he headed to Paris for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Following the meetings in Berlin, Nawrocki said that he had spoken with Steinmeier and Merz about “the challenges of regional security, the future of the European Union, the prospects for Polish-German relations, and compensation for the wrongs inflicted on Poland during World War Two”.

“I clearly emphasised both the issues that unite us and Poland’s expectations toward the German side,” added the Polish president, who earlier this month, on the anniversary of the German invasion of Poland in 1939, had declared his demand for reparations.

Steinmeier spokeswoman, Cerstin Gammelin, also confirmed today that Nawrocki had raised the reparations issue when the two presidents met. But she reiterated the longstanding German position that the matter is closed.

“In response to the demand by the Polish president for reparations, the federal president emphasised that, from a German perspective, this issue has been legally resolved once and for all,” wrote Gammelin. “However, the promotion of remembrance and commemoration remains a shared concern.”

She also noted that the two presidents had expressed agreement on “that Ukraine must continue to be supported [against] Russia’s war of aggression…and that security along NATO’s eastern flank must be further strengthened”.

Germany is among the NATO countries that have pledged to send more military resources to Poland in response to last week’s violation of Polish airspace by Russian drones.

Zur Forderung des polnischen Staatspräsidenten nach Reparationen betonte der Bundespräsident, dass diese Frage aus deutscher Sicht rechtlich abschließend geklärt ist. Die Förderung des Gedenkens und Erinnerns bleibe aber ein gemeinsames Anliegen. 3/4

— Cerstin Gammelin (@BPrSprecherin) September 16, 2025

Around 6 million Polish citizens, 17% of the prewar population, were killed in World War Two, a higher proportion than in any other country. The German occupiers also laid waste to many Polish cities and plundered or destroyed much of Poland’s cultural heritage.

In 2021, Poland’s former government, led by the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party – with which Nawrocki is aligned and which is now in opposition – launched an effort to obtain up to $1.3 trillion in reparations that it claimed Poland is still owed by Germany.

Opinion polls indicate that most Poles support those efforts. Last year, one survey found that 58% of respondents agreed with the statement: “Poland should claim reparations from Germany for the Second World War”. Only 20% disagreed.

Successive German governments, however, have argued that the issue of reparations has already been legally settled and nothing further is owed. But they have also repeatedly expressed regret and remorse for the suffering of Poles under German occupation during the war.

However, in an interview with German daily Bild published today, Nawrocki argued, like PiS, that “the issue of reparations is not legally settled”. He also said that PiS’s claim for €1.3 trillion is still his “benchmark”.

By contrast, the German government’s plenipotentiary for cooperation with Poland, Knut Abraham, told RND yesterday that “the issue of reparations has been legally resolved”.

He added, though, that the two countries should find a “modern translation of Germany’s commitment” to Poland, in particular linking Berlin’s historical obligations to Poland with current security issues. “We must back this up militarily and financially,” said Abraham.

Poland’s current government, which is more friendly towards Germany than was the former PiS administration and which has regularly clashed with Nawrocki, argues that the issue of reparations is now effectively hopeless given Berlin’s position.

However, it has suggested that Germany find other ways to “compensate” Poland for historical wrongs. Yet talks on doing so have so far not yielded any commitments.

Ahead of today’s visit to Berlin, foreign minister Radosław Sikorski said that he “wishes [the president] luck” with his pursuit of reparations but noted that Nawrocki’s predecessor, Andrzej Duda, who was also aligned with PiS, “failed for ten years” to obtain them, as did PiS when it was in power.

After Gammelin’s announcement today, Sikorski sarcastically tweeted that “regarding reparations, the president achieved a moral victory in Berlin…Foreign policy is more difficult than it seems”.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Mikołaj Bujak/KPRP

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.