New Start Postponed
Poles, Germans, and the Shadow of War
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
In recent years, German-Polish relations have been marked by conflict and alienation. The election victory of Donald Tusk’s alliance in October 2023 raised hopes for a restart in relations. But this remains a long way off. The main reason for this is Germany’s inability to meet Polish expectations of an appropriate form of reparation for German crimes during World War II. This was evident at the celebrations commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising. The German government’s position that it no longer has to pay reparations is correct from a formal legal standpoint. But reparations are necessary for historical, moral, and political reasons. And it would be a pre-requisite for the German-Polish engine in the EU to gain traction, which in times of the war in Ukraine and Trump’s election victory in the United States is needed more urgently than ever.
(Osteuropa 11-12/2024, pp. 181–194)