During a speech given at Bialystok, the Deputy Prime Minister of Poland, leader of the Law and Justice Party and de facto president of his country, Yaroslav Kaczynski, said that his country should not buckle on the issue of war damages.

Germany considers that it has already overpaid for the damages it caused during the Second World War, but Poland deems it insufficient.

In Kaczynski’s words: “We cannot back down, we cannot be indulgent. One cannot give to others and demand nothing in return, simply because it always ends badly”.

The populations of Central Europe suffered greatly at the hands of the German and Russian empires. The war in Ukraine, led by the anti-Russians, has rekindled anti-German sentiments.