Opinions About War Reparations
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POLISH PUBLICOPINION Solid and Professional 1 1/2017 ISSN 2083-1714 CONTENTS Perception of Polish-German relations Perception Over half of Poles (56%) perceive current Polish-German relations as average, i.e. neither good nor bad. The rest slightly more often define them as good than bad. of Polish-German Current assessments of Polish-German relations are among the worst since relations January 1987, when for the first time CBOS asked Poles about this issue. Polish- German relations were worse than currently perceived only in July 2007, at the Opinions about war end of the term of government of Jarosław Kaczyński. reparations Generally, public opinion about relations between Poland and Germany is characterized by high volatility. In CBOS surveys, they were best assessed in Subjective vs. objective February 1991, shortly How do you assess current Polish-German relations? indicators of the state after the signing of the Good Neither good nor bad Bad Don't know of the economy and Polish-German border 70% 59 57 57 60% 55 56 52 52 54 treaty. We also recorded 49 50 48 material living conditions 50% 46 47 41 positive assessments of 38 38 40% 35 33 35 29 29 Social ties mutual relations at the 30% 26 24 26 25 22 end of the PO-PSL (Civic 20% 18 18 13 14 16 18 9 10 10 9 6 10% 5 6 10 P l a t fo r m – Pea s a n t 1 3 8 1 8 6 0% 5 4 6 3 5 4 7 7 7 6 8 9 8 5 5 5 91 P a r t y ) c o a l i t i o n 90 011 98 01 01 00 00 98 01 IN ADDITION 01 I 1 I 2 II 19 II 19 X 2 X 1 VI 2 VI 2 IV 2 IX 2 XI 2 VII 200 TO THE REPORTS REFERRED TO ABOVE, government in 2015. XII 200 THE FOLLOWING HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED RECENTLY (IN POLISH): In the last few years, i.e. from June 2011, the perception of the community of interests of Poland and Germany in Europe has clearly deteriorated. While earlier · Economic Patriotism · Parents' Spending on Education of the interests of both countries were described by the largest group of Children in School Year 2017/2018 respondents as partly similar and partly different, the opinion is currently · Evaluation of Government's prevalent that they are mostly divergent. The percentage of respondents who Achievements after Two Years of Activity Do you think that the interests of Poland are of the opinion that both · Relations Among Neighbours and Germany in Europe are similar or divergent? countries currently have · Political Party Preferences in November divergent interests has VI 2011 19% 27% 39% 15% · Opinions about Parliament and increased by as much as 22 President percentage points since · Social Moods in November X 2017 11% 49% 25% 15% 2011 (up to 49%), while the · Attitude to Government after Two Years Mostly Mostly Partly similar, Don’t of Activity similar divergent partly divergent know p e r ce n ta ge o f p e o p l e · Trust in Politicians in November noticing the community of interests has decreased from 19% to 11%. · Monologue, Dialogue or Quarrel – Talking Politics More information about this topic can be found in CBOS report in Polish: "Perception of Polish- German Relations", November 2017. Fieldwork for national sample: October 2017, N=1033. The · Trade Restriction on Sunday random address sample is representative for adult population of Poland. · Attitude to Gender Equality – Poland vs. Muslim Countries · Evaluations and Forecasts of Economic Opinions about war reparations Situation and Living Conditions of Households in Visegrad Group Countries · A policy That Does Not Build The question of war reparations from Germany has appeared in the Polish public Community debate after 1989 several times. In September 2004, the Sejm unanimously · Primary Care Physicians and Their adopted a resolution in which it stated that Poland had not yet received war Competencies reparations from Germany and called on the Polish government to take action in this matter. That resolution of the Sejm was a reaction to success of any attempts to obtain reparations. Almost property claims of German citizens against Poland and an three-quarters of respondents (71%) are afraid that attempt to prevent their effective enforcement. The demanding compensation will spoil Polish-German German state separated itself from the claims advanced relations. The majority (60%) also agree with the opinion by the German displaced citizens, and the European Court that claims for payment of compensation for losses of Human Rights in Strasbourg in 2008 rejected the incurred during World War II may trigger claims of complaint submitted in this case by the Prussian Trust. Germans regarding the Western parts of Poland, formerly Currently, due to the policies of the governing party, the a part of Germany. Over half of the respondents (56%) think that it is too late to apply for war reparations. issue of war reparations has returned, although it is not Moreover, almost half (48%) are inclined to agree with the clear how seriously PiS (Law and Justice) is considering opinion that Germany is fulfilling its potential obligations applying for compensation, and to what extent it treats towards Poland, for instance due to the fact that they are this issue instrumentally. Doubts arise as to whether there the largest payer to the European Union budget used by are legal grounds to apply for reparations (according to a Poland. recent expert opinion of the Sejm Analysis Office - yes, according to the German side - no), although this is not Do you agree with the following statements? Regardless of whether the Polish government decides to apply for reparations or not, only a legal problem, but also a political one. Meanwhile, Germans should be reminded of their responsibility for the Second World War the German government, recognizing the German and the resulting obligations to Poland responsibility for the crimes of the Nazi regime, explicitly 36% 33% 17% 5% 9% rejects any claims, arguing that in 1953 Poland renounced reparations and repeatedly confirmed it later. The The demand for war reparations to Poland is morally right 34% 36% 12% 6% 12% expertise prepared for the Bundestag shows that possible claims lost their power at the latest at the time the "2 + 4" It is unlikely that Poland will receive war reparations from Germany treaty was signed in 1990. 30% 45% 10% 6% 9% More than half of adult Poles (54%) think that Poland The demand for war reparations (compensation) from Germany will spoil Polish-German should demand reparations from Germany for losses relations incurred during World War II. There are more than one- 29% 42% 16% 3%10% third of respondents against it (36%). Demands for reparations (compensation) may trigger Germans' claims regarding the Western lands, formarly a part of Germany Do you agree that Poland should demand reparations 21% 39% 18% 7% 15% from Germany for losses incurred during World War II? It is too late to demand war reparations from Germany 31% 23% 23% 13% 10% 25% 31% 21% 16% 7% Strongly agree Moderately agree Moderately disagree Strongly disagree Don't know Germany fulfills its potential obligations towards Poland, e.g. due to the fact that it is the largest payer to the European Union budget used by Poland Despite significant public support for demanding war 13% 35% 20% 10% 22% reparations from Germany, the opinion prevails that by Strongly Moderately Moderately Strongly Don't raising this issue Poland may lose rather than gain. agree agree disagree disagree know Do you think that by demanding from Germany reparations All the arguments are significantly related to the attitude (compensation) for losses suffered during World War II, to reparation claims towards Germany and to the general Poland may gain more or lose more? prediction of the effects of this initiative. Support for 31% 45% 24% claiming damages for war losses is most strongly correlated with the belief in the moral validity of possible Gain Lose Don't know reparation claims and with the disapproval of the view Generally, Poles consider the reasons behind the that it is too late to demand war reparations. In turn, the demands for reparations from Germany to be right, but at opinion that by applying for reparations Poland may lose the same time to a greater or lesser extent share doubts more than gain, is most strongly associated with the belief and reservations regarding the sense of applying for that it is too late to undertake such actions and with the compensation. Most respondents believe that paying fear that it will spoil the Polish-German relations. reparations to our country is morally right (70%), and also think that Germany should be reminded of their More information about this topic can be found in CBOS report in responsibility for World War II and the resulting Polish: "Poles on Reparations", November 2017. Fieldwork for national obligations (69%). At the same time, however, three- sample: October 2017, N=1033. The random address sample is quarters of all respondents (75%) do not believe in the representative for adult population of Poland. 2 Positive assessments of the economic situation and GDP Subjective vs. objective growth Positive assessment of the economic situation GDP growth indicators of the state 60 20% 50 15% of the economy and material 10% 40 5% living conditions 30 0% 20 -5% The assessment of the economic situation in Poland 10 -10% 0 -15% recorded in recent months is the best since 1989. In the I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I second half of this year, for the first time over half of '89 '90 '91 '92 '93 '94 '95 '96 '97 '98 '99 '00 '01 '02 '03 '04 '05 '06 '07 '08 '09 '10 '11 '12 '13 '14 '15 '16 '17 respondents expressed satisfaction with the state of our Negative assessments of the economic situation economy, while the group giving negative ratings is the and the registered unemployment rate.