Overview
- German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul publicly backed making payments to still-living Polish victims of Nazi-era crimes and said he wants the issue included in consultations on the 2027 federal budget.
- Wadephul gave no concrete sums and stressed that any payments would need approval from the Bundestag, leaving the proposal subject to parliamentary debate and budget trade-offs.
- Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski pressed for rapid moral and material restitution, warning that the pool of surviving victims is shrinking and is estimated at around 40,000–50,000 people.
- The move drew quick political reactions in Germany with Greens welcoming a reopened discussion and the AfD opposing payments, while commentators described Wadephul’s stance as breaking a long-standing taboo.
- The demand revives a long-running dispute rooted in postwar settlements that many German governments have treated as legally closed and raises sensitive fiscal and identity questions if a new compensation program is pursued.