Polish survivor groups urge German public for direct financial aid
Approximately 50,000 living survivors of Nazi occupation are asking for private donations after government talks stalled.
By Ethan Cooper ·
The relationship between Warsaw and Berlin remains strained over the cost of World War II. On November 5, Polish victims' organizations published an open letter calling on German civil society to provide immediate humanitarian support to survivors living in Poland. The appeal was distributed in German, Polish, and English on the website of the Foundation for Polish, German Reconciliation.
The letter states that about 50,000 survivors of Nazi persecution remain in Poland. These individuals include former concentration camp inmates, forced laborers, and others who endured repression during the German occupation. The signatories noted that many of these survivors are over 90 years old and face rising living costs alongside illness. They warned that further delays in government decisions mean assistance may arrive too late for many.
While the German federal government has acknowledged its moral responsibility, it has not yet made a formal decision on reparations. The letter therefore directs its plea toward businesses, foundations, and private citizens. The authors argued that every donation matters in this effort to help those in daily need.
This dispute has affected German-Polish relations for decades. After the 1989 democratic transition, Germany provided 500 million deutschmarks to Holocaust victims, which supported over one million people. The EVZ Foundation also paid former forced laborers. However, many in Poland view these past payments as insufficient given that an estimated 6 million Polish citizens died during the war, including 3 million Polish Jews. Approximately 2.5 million Poles were also deported to Germany for forced labor.
The issue became central to Polish policy when the right-wing Law and Justice Party took power in 2015. In October 2022, the government demanded 6.2 trillion zloty, or about 1.58 trillion dollars, from Berlin. The current center-left government under Donald Tusk has moved away from that specific figure but still expects a creative solution from Germany. Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said Poland is waiting for such a move.
In the summer of 2024, former German Chancellor Olaf Scholz offered 200 million euros, or 224 million dollars. Tusk rejected the amount as insufficient. Subsequent talks between the two capitals have not produced a final agreement. In December 2025, the German government promised to analyze possibilities for additional support. Josef Hinterseher, a deputy spokesperson for the Federal Foreign Office, told reporters on September 23 that the draft budget reflects the lack of a decision on a humanitarian gesture.
Germany's Greens party is still pushing for action. Franziska Brantner, a co-chair of the party, said in Warsaw on Thursday that her group submitted a request to the budget committee to secure funding. That request was rejected. Brantner described the committee's final review session this week as a last chance for the coalition to change its position. She said the party would do everything in its power to ensure the change happens.
Public opinion in Poland remains divided on how well Germany acknowledges the suffering of its citizens. A recent German-Polish Barometer survey found that 53% of respondents believe the suffering is not sufficiently acknowledged, while only 18% felt Germany had done enough. Jakub Deka, chairman of the Foundation for Polish, German Reconciliation, said the recent appeal has begun to mobilize private donors. More than 35,000 euros have been deposited so far. Deka quoted Jerzy Tarasiewicz, a survivor who died in September at age 84, who once said the Germans were waiting for the victims to die.
