Of the 21 council members, 12 voted in favor of the resolution, 9 did not vote, and none voted against. Bochnia in Małopolska was the second city, after Wieluń (Łódź Province), to adopt such a document.

In the document, Bochnia councilors drew attention to the losses suffered by Bochnia during World War II and expressed support for government measures aimed at obtaining compensation from Germany for war damage.

In early August, the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Arkadiusz Mularczyk, asked for regional government support for the government’s actions in seeking compensation for German aggression and occupation in 1939-1945.

PiS has a majority in Bochnia’s city council. Opposition councilor Edward Dźwigaj asked that this item be removed from Thursday’s meeting, justifying this by saying that it should be voted on at the start of the new government’s term – because, as he said, it is unknown whether the new government will continue the current policies This. According to Edward Dźwigaj, before voting, the council must also know exactly Bochnia’s material losses and the assessment of these losses.

Jerzy Lysy stressed that opponents of the vote on the statement do not deny German crimes, but oppose attempts to impose decisions on regional governments. In his opinion, we should ask the friendly German communes to support our efforts to obtain compensation. In contrast, Bogusław Dźwigaj emphasized that he supports reparations, but “continuing statements in the election campaign would be a mistake.”

Council members associated with PiS expressed surprise at the attitude of the opposition representatives. “I was at least surprised by what I heard (…)” – said Jan Balicki assessing the voting date as symbolic, because September 1 is the anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.

The chairman of the city council, Bogdan Kosturkiewicz (PiS), who proposed a vote on the statement, stressed that every 10th resident of Bochnia was killed by the Germans. Speaking about German crimes in the city, he expressed his fear that “one day no one will remember this.”

“The Soviet Union decided in 1953 that Poland would not accept reparations, and we had no right to receive them,” the chairman said.

As he recalled, the loss report contained photos of crimes committed in Bochnia; Bochnia, next to Warsaw’s Wawer, was one of the first places where mass executions took place in 1939. “We have an obligation to talk about this, no one can take this right from us,” said Kosturkiewicz.

In the adopted statement, Bochnia council members expressed the hope that the Polish government would take firm diplomatic and legal action to obtain reparations, compensation and compensation from Germany. “Poland must accept them in the name of a fundamental sense of justice, in the name of historical truth and in the name of genuine Polish-German reconciliation,” they said.

Bochnia City Council’s statement regarding reparations, compensation and compensation for losses suffered by Poland as a result of the German attack and subsequent occupation of the city of Bochnia refers to the Sejm resolution of 14 September 2022 “on Poland requesting compensation for damage caused by Germany during World War II” and resolution of the Council of Ministers of April 18, 2023 “on the need to regulate in Polish-German relations the issue of reparations, compensation and compensation for losses suffered by Poland and Poles due to the unlawful German attack on Poland and the subsequent German occupation.”

Reports on the website Institutstratwonnych.pl show that during World War II, Bochnia’s demographic losses reached 14,000. 989 people. Bochnia is on the list of important places of mass extermination of Polish citizens – according to reports, 1,000. people died here as a result of executions in 1939-44.

The murder of 52 Poles on Uzbornia Hill on December 18, 1939, made history – carried out in retaliation for an attack on a German police station.

According to reports, the total is PLN 5,200,000. Polish citizens died during World War II solely as a result of the activities of the German state and its agencies.

PLN 6 trillion 220 billion 609 million PLN – this is the assessment of Poland’s war losses due to German aggression.(PAP)

author: Beata Kołodziej

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