The Problem of Memory Policy in Polish-German Relations

Abstract

The main idea of upon article is the pragmatic vision to an understanding of the “historical problems” role led to solving some challenges, which took place in the early stages of Polish-German understanding. But is needed to mark, the history had one of the leading roles in this process. Of course, the negotiation on the signing of the German-Polish Border Treaty was hard. The legacy of the World War II influenced the process. The legacy was rooted in a few unsolved questions: the question of demands of expelled people to the Polish Government and the question of indemnity for Polish victims of Nazism. For the new democratic Polish Government, the question of indemnity was “highly ranked”. For many years, Polish society tried to take financial compensation for the crime of Nazism. But, due to ideological reasons, it can’t reach it. On the other hand, the economy of Poland was in deep degradation, which had caused by transformation to the new market economy. And the Polish Government planned to take some advantages in the process of the negotiation. Germans Chancellor H. Kohl had a strong linkage with the expelled environment. Due to this reason, the Head of the Western German Government had fear about the future of the Polish-German Border Treaty. He feared the worth – a voting failure for ratification of the Treaty. In this case, H. Kohl tried to avoid this question in the negotiation process. During the negotiation, German understand clearly, it needs to avoid treatment compensation for Polish people as reparations for Poland. The roots of this reason located in the Moscow Treaty by 1953. According to the Moscow Treaty, Polish People Republic has abandoned from reparations demands on behalf of the German Democratic Republic. Moreover, Polish People Republic proclaimed on behalf of the whole German, including the Federal Republic of German. H. Kohl understands the significance of this decision and tried to support avoiding historical questions from the negotiation process. But, the problems of indemnity for victims of Nazism were discovered with new power at the end of the 90th. During the international negotiation, Germany commonly with German business created Special Fund “Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft” for payment of compensation for a wide range of victims, including for Polish victims.