THE CASE OF GERMAN REPARATIONS AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN RELATIONS BETWEEN POLAND AND THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY UNTIL 1991

Abstract

The government of the Polish People's Republic, under pressure from the USSR, renounced reparations from Germany in a declaration dated August 23rd, 1953. Since that time the Federal Republic of Germany consistently holds the position, that the case of reparations for Polish victims of German occupation has long been closed legally. Nonetheless, the Federal Republic of Germany was trying twice (in 1970 and 1990) to obtain from Poland a confirmation of the validity of the declaration from the year 1953. All the benefits paid out in accordance with the Polish-German agreements concluded in the period in question (1972 and 1991) were presented by the Federal Republic of Germany as humanitarian aid, on the principle of "ex gratia".