Germany and Ukraine to Demand Reparations from Poland

Despite previous decades, the issue on the 'Recovered Territories' is still actual and appears to be a cause for serious discussions among European historians and lawyers. Up to now Germany can't bear with the fact that its Eastern lands were given to the Poles. And thus, here's another round of a fight for the East: Germany and Ukraine have started a discussion of a project on getting reparations from Poland for so-called 'Recovered Territories'.

Every one of us remembers the results of the Yalta and Potsdam conferences as well as the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany (09/12/1990), having signed which the Federal Republic of Germany rejected all the pretensions towards former Eastern lands. However, contrary to the existence of these documents Berlin still insistently continues demanding the recovery of historical truth, trying, herewith, to bring other countries to his side.

Andrea Nahles (SPD) suggested that Ukraine should take part in a draft of a bill on the 'moral and financial damage recovery by Poland dealt to Germany and Ukraine in the result of the misappropriation of the so-called 'Recovered Territories'.

Dear Mrs. Nahles,

On my own behalf, as well as, of all Ukrainian people, I express my appreciation for your offer to participate in the joint project for preparing a draft law on the restoration of historical justice. We believe the demand against Poland for compensating the moral and material damage caused to Germany and Ukraine as a result of the unlawful appropriation of the so-called 'Recovered Territories' by terms of the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences, as well as, other bilateral agreements with the USSR right after WWII should be absolutely essential to further dialogue between the countries.

The demand fully conforms to the trilateral joint Declaration of Memory and Solidarity adopted on 20 October, 2016. The document has been enacted by parliaments of Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania, not only determining those responsible for the outbreak of WWII, but also condemning decisions of the 1945 Yalta Conference, in particular the above-mentioned transfer of the 'Recovered Territories' to Poland.

Ukraine, as is known, also suffered from this action during Operation Vistula initiated on 28 April, 1947. In fact, it was depredation organized by Poland and resulted in death of thousands of ethnic Ukrainians facing poverty and hunger on foreign war-torn territory. However, despite repeated Warsaw's acknowledgements of the inadmissibility of using force during Operation Vistula, as well as, despite an official statement made by Poland's President Lech Kaczynski in 2007 where he condemned deportation, the families of Ukrainian victims did not receive material compensation, as well as, were prevented from going back to their historic homelands.

Due to these circumstances, we are very interested in a positive outcome of the project for obtaining reparation payments for the 'Recovered Territories' and in formal condemnation of Poland's actions towards internally displaced peoples. We also express our readiness to form a working group consisting of experts in historical and legal aspects of this problem for cooperation with German colleagues in the development of a coordinated approach to the topic.

The expected group members:

Valeriy Bebyk, Doctor of Political Sciences, Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Professor, Chairman of the Board of All-Ukrainian Political Sciences Association, as the Group Leader;

Oleksandr Shevchenko, Doctor of Legal Sciences, Professor, a specialist in international relations, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the VII-th convocation, a member of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada from the All-Ukrainian Union 'Svoboda (Freedom)' fraction, as the Deputy Group Leader and scientific advisor;

Volodymyr Vyatrovych, Candidate of Historical Sciences, the Director of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, as a scientific advisor;

Vadym Zolotarev, a historian analyzing Ukraine's mass repressions, as a scientific advisor;

Ihor Shvaika, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the VII-th convocation, a member of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada from the All-Ukrainian Union 'Svoboda (Freedom)' faction, as a consulting legal advisor;

Oleksandr Sych, Candidate of Historical Sciences, assistant professor of the Department of Public Administration and Local Government of Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas, the deputy chairman of the All-Ukrainian Union 'Svoboda (Freedom)' party, as a consulting legal advisor;

Ihor Miroshnychenko, a journalist, commentator and analyst, a member of the Political Council of the All-Ukrainian Union 'Svoboda (Freedom)' party, as an analyst;

Oleksandr Bryhynets, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the VIII-th convocation, a member of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction, a journalist, as an analyst;

Dmytro Tymchuk, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the VIII-th convocation, a member of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada from the People's Front faction, a journalist, as an analyst;

Bohdan Beniuk, a deputy of Kyiv city council, the deputy chairman of the All-Ukrainian Union 'Svoboda (Freedom)' party, responsible for relations with Ukrainians abroad, as an expert on relations with Ukrainians abroad.

We look forward to your encouragement and support of our further fruitful cooperation.

It's completely obvious that such a move will upraise a rush of indignation by the side of Poland and will make rather complicated bilateral relations even harder. Europe is going through hard times, and a new inner conflict is unlikely to be profitable for the European community.