Warsaw threatens Germany with €35bn bill
Warsaw will hand Germany a €35bn bill for the Nazi destruction of the Polish capital if Germans insist on the return of ancestral property they lost with the westward shifting of borders after the end of the Second World War in 1945.
“Taking money away from Poland as a result of the Second World War is absurd,” said the Polish capital’s mayor, Lech Kaczynski.
The damage estimate is “conservative,” and does not reflect loss of human life, museum losses or destruction of telecommunication lines, he said.
The investigation into the war damage, which took five months, was commissioned by the city in response to demands by a handful of Germans for the restitution of property.
Britain declared war on Nazi Germany after the invasion of Poland in 1939.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has told Poles his government will oppose restitution claims that Germans bring to court.
German and Polish legal experts said last week there were no legal basis for German claims.
