Repressed, Remitted, Rejected: German Reparations Debts to Poland and Greece, by Karl Heinz Roth and Hartmut Ruebner. 2022. Berghahn Books, New York and Oxford
Reviewer: Jan Peczkis
Germany Screws Poland. 1953 Excuse False. Do Not Single Holocaust Out. GENERALPLAN OST Exterminatory
This work presents a German point of view on reparations due Poland. It largely confirms Polish sources. For details on outstanding Polish reparations claims on Germany, see:
GERMANY SCREWS POLAND BECAUSE ONLY JEWS CAN FORCE GERMANY TO PAY THEM. AND THIS IS OK!
Roth and Ruebner realize the fact that Germany has shafted non-Jewish victims, but then–incredibly–say that this is proper German policy because only the Jews have acquired the capability of forcing Germany to pay them. You cannot make this stuff up!
The authors make these cynical comments, “The focus on the Western world and the fact that other persecuted groups have been widely overlooked has been problematized on several occasions. There is no doubt that this criticism is partly understandable. However, from the perspective of a reparations policy based on international humanitarian law, this criticism would have to be countered by the fact that many other lobbies representing the interests of those persecuted by the Nazis would have been well advised to adopt the Jewish world’s soberly pragmatic and illusion-free view of their German negotiating partners, and to develop a long-term negotiating strategy.” (p. 193. Emphasis added).
The Germans effectively blame non-Jewish victims for not having the power and influence that Jews enjoy. That is what excuses the discriminatory German reparations policies. Might makes right. This is whose idea of justice?
In other words, the Germans pay only when they are strong-armed into doing so. And this is OK. They say, “We won’t pay you unless you force us to pay you.” Some German repentance for Nazism! Some German compassion for the victims of the Third Reich!
THE SOVIET UNION SCREWED POLAND, AND NOW GERMANY SCREWS POLAND
The authors acknowledge that the Soviet-era German reparations to Poland were not real reparations. The Soviet Union engineered the whole deal, and cynically recouped the German payments though artificially low coal prices imposed on Poland. (pp. 158-159). For further details, see the first link above.
THE FALSE POLISH “WAIVING OF REPARATIONS” OF AUGUST 1953
Authors Roth and Ruebner freely acknowledge the falseness of recurring German arguments that Poland renounced all further reparations in 1953. She most certainly did not. The 1953 policy was a Soviet-driven initiative in support of East Germany. The Polish government’s proclamation of 23 August 1953 was “a mere declaration of intent” (p. 163, 266)[which was not binding under international law (p. 266)] that was predicated on a reunification of Germany and a peace treaty with the victorious Allied powers. Because the West rejected this, the Polish declaration of intent also lapsed. (p. 163, 266).
GERMANY SCREWS POLAND: CONTINUED GERMAN EXCUSES FOR NOT PAYING REPARATIONS TO POLISH VICTIMS
At one time, Germany complained about the “tremendous avalanche of costs resulting from the estimated 18 to 20 million Nazi victims–those persecuted and their surviving dependents…” (p. 212). How convenient for Germany to get out of paying them!
The two-faced Germany policies continued. After 1987, “…the Polish concentration camp victims continued to come away empty-handed…” (p. 217).
After Communism “ended” in Poland 1989, she began to seek reparations anew. Helmut Kohl cynically disavowed his earlier unilateral support of the Oder-Neisse border. He tried to get Poles to waive reparations in exchange for united Germany’s recognition of the finality of the Oder-Neisse border. (p. 261). This raised a political ruckus but, when the dust settled, Poland was still denied reparations. (p. 261).
Germany trotted out lame arguments against paying, such as the one that “so much time has passed”, even though there is no statute of limitations for compensation claims involving war crimes or crimes against humanity. (p. 265). And, needless to say, Germany never makes “so much time has passed” arguments to the Jews!
GERMANY SCREWS POLAND: IMPOSING GERMAN NARRATIVES ON POLAND
In the early 1990’s, there were some initiatives that were supposed to “replace” German reparations to Poland: The purported “German-Polish Youth Office”, “Foundation for German-Polish Cooperation”, “Foundation for German-Polish Reconciliation”, etc. These turned out to be German-serving farces. The authors admit, “With these three funds, as well as half a dozen other bilateral governmental commissions, Germany asserted its dominant influence on Poland’s further development–including how its culture of remembrance would develop in the future. The services Germany rendered in return were extremely meager.” (p. 271).
In other words, not only did Germany not compensate Poland: She assumed the role of a Trojan horse inside Poland.
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DO NOT SINGLE OUT THE HOLOCAUST!
Following the dogmas of Holocaust supremacism, Germans generally treat the Holocaust as an absolute singularity and religiously refuse to equate it with other Nazi German crimes. The HISTORIKERSTREIT disallowed the comparison of Communist and Nazi crimes (against Jews that is).
This Judeo racist policy is also imposed upon other nations. Poles are excoriated if they mix, or even juxtapose, their genocidal sufferings with that of the Jews and their sacrosanct Holocaust.
German authors Roth and Ruebner break ranks with this dogma, “In the historiography of the transatlantic region, a tendency has prevailed that detaches the mass extermination of the European Jews from the surrounding context, and treats this phenomenon as self-sustaining and self-determined. I do not share this view.” (p. 105).
Bravo! Finally some common sense.
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POLISH SERVICE IN GERMAN-APPOINTED ADMINISTRATION WAS NOT COLLABORATION!
Many Jews have falsely portrayed the Polish Blue Police (POLICJA GRANATOWA) as collaborationist. It was not. Its members were merely order-fulfillers. Nor was the German-appointed Polish administration collaborationists. The authors write, “Even the Polish employees of the city councils, district captains, country councils, Jewish councils, communist leaders and local police authorities (the ‘blue’ Polish police) that were deployed in the basic units of the German occupation were mere recipients of orders. They had no opportunity to negotiate compromises in favor of the social groups they represented.” (pp. 28-29. Emphasis added).
GERMANY SCREWS POLAND: MASSIVE GERMAN PLUNDER OF POLISH PROPERTIES
All we usually hear about is the Jews and the Nazi German confiscation of Jewish property. These was also a massive Nazi German confiscation of Polish property. Consider just the first several months of the German occupation of Poland, “In the district of Warsaw and in central Poland, they dismantled 187 factories and factory installations. Twenty-five thousand wagons of looted goods rolled into the Reich, with an estimated value of 750 million pre-war zloty, whereas the damage caused by the war was estimated at 500 million zloty.” (p. 34. Emphasis added).
Germany, quit stalling. Pay up!
PLANNED EXTERMINATION OF POLES: GENERALPLAN OST EXTERMINATORY
Some Jews have tried to downplay Generalplan Ost as “merely a resettlement plan”. It was not. It foresaw the near genocidal wipeout of the Polish population. The German authors write, “For this leap in development dictated by the occupiers, 80-85 percent of all Poles–16 to 20 million people–were supposed to be killed.” (p. 60).
They also allude to, “…the prospect of the mass extermination of two-thirds of the Slavic population, which was to follow the genocide of the Jews.” (p. 94).
Enough on how Germany screws Poland.
