INFORMATION CAMPAIGN ON COMPENSATION FOR DAMAGE CAUSED BY GERMAN AGGRESSION AND OCCUPATION IN 1939-1945

On 16 March, a meeting was held at the headquarters of the Polish Embassy in Berlin with the participation of ambassadors and diplomats from Berlin-based missions accredited to Poland entitled, "Compensation claims from Germany. Polish activities related to the matter of war damage inflicted by Germany's invasion and occupation of Poland in 1939-1945". This was part of an international information campaign through which the Government of the Republic of Poland wishes to draw attention to the important issue of losses suffered by nations invaded and occupied by Germany during the Second World War.

Among those present were representatives from Monaco, Nepal, Cambodia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Malawi, Jordan, Brunei, Sudan, Bolivia, Zimbabwe, and the German Foreign Ministry.

The seminar presented the genesis of the problem of the German state's non-payment of reparations to Poland, described the political implications of Berlin's failure to pay reparations to Poland, and presented the scale of damage caused by the German occupation of Poland during the Second World War. The origins and methodology of the calculations of losses and reparations were explained, as well as the political significance of the report. 

Speeches and presentations were given by Dr Jacek Rosa from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Warsaw, and Dr Paweł Pońsko, an economist at the Warsaw School of Economics, member of the Jan Karski Institute of War Losses in Warsaw and co-author of "The Report on the Losses Sustained by Poland as a Result of German Aggression and Occupation during the Second World War, 1939-1945".