Unleashed a war - pay!
After such turbulent events as the annexation of Crimea to Russia, the fighting in the south-east of Ukraine, the economic sanctions of the West against us, our country began to act more decisively. It seems that it is just right to begin work on the preparation of a draft law on the full coverage by Germany of its reparation obligations to the Russian Federation.World War II became the most destructive in stories of humanity. For the USSR, the damages from it were astronomical. It must be said that the work on damage assessment in our country during the Second World War was arranged much better than during the First World War. 2 November 1942 of the Year By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Extraordinary State Commission on Damage - CPG - was established under the chairmanship of N.M. Schvernik. It included Academicians I.N. Burdenko. B.E. Vedeneev, ETC. Lysenko, I.P. Trainin, E.V. Tarle, Pilot VS Grizodubova, state party leader A.A. Zhdanov, Metropolitan of Kiev and Galitsky Nikolay, writer A.N. Tolstoy. Later, the Statute of the Commission was developed and approved by the Council of People's Commissars. All state bodies, without exception, were connected to her work, primarily on the ground, where all cases of damage to property and disorganization of economic life were recorded and recorded. The commission did not stop its work for a single day, until 9 in May 1945, it continued its activities after Victory Day.
At the end of the war, the commission published the following data: the Nazi invaders and their allies destroyed 1710 cities and more than 70 thousands of villages and villages, sheltered about 25 million people, destroyed about 32 thousands of industrial enterprises, looted 98 thousands of collective farms.
The transport system suffered heavy losses. 4 100 railway stations were destroyed, 65 thousands of kilometers of railway tracks were destroyed, 13 thousands of railway bridges were damaged, 15 800 locomotives and locomotives were damaged and stolen, 428 sea wagons were stolen. Also destroyed 1400 thousands of communications enterprises, 36 thousands of hospitals, 6 thousands of polyclinics, dispensaries and dispensaries, 33 thousands of primary and secondary schools, 82 secondary specialized educational institutions, 1520 universities, 334 thousands of libraries, 43 museums and 427 theaters ...
Robbery involved such well-known companies as "Friedrich Krupp and K °", "Hermann Goering", "Siemens Shukert", "IT Farbenindustri".
Material damage amounted to about 30% of the national wealth of the USSR, and in areas under occupation - about 67%. The national economy suffered damage to 679 billion rubles in government prices 1941 of the year.
The CPG report was presented at the Nuremberg Trials in 1946.
Military and indirect expenses
The figures given do not exhaust all the damage. With good reason, military expenses should also be included in the calculation of damages. With the beginning of World War II, a substantial restructuring of the entire activity of the financial system of the USSR was required, a significant increase in the appropriations for the estimates of the People’s Commissariats of Defense and the Naval fleet. On the defense for 1941-1945. 582,4 billion rubles were allocated, which amounted to 50,8% of the total state budget of the USSR over the years. From the disorganization of economic life, national income also declined.
The expenses of the Soviet state on the war with Germany and Japan, the loss of income that the state, cooperative enterprises and organizations, collective farms and the population of the Soviet Union incurred as a result of the occupation amounted to at least 1890 billion rubles. The total amount of damage to the USSR during the war years (direct damage, product losses, military spending) reached 2569 billion rubles.
Only direct material damage to the USSR, according to CPP estimates, in currency equivalent amounted to 128 billion dollars (then dollars are not today's). And the total damage, including indirect losses and military expenditures, is 357 billion dollars. For comparison: in the 1944 year, the gross national product (GNP) of the USA, according to official data of the US Department of Commerce, was 361,3 billion dollars.
The total losses of the Soviet Union were equal to America’s annual gross product!
The damage of the USSR in comparison with other participants of the war
Even before the end of the Second World War, it was clear that it was on the USSR that its main economic burden fell. After the war, various calculations and assessments were made which only confirmed this obvious fact. The West German economist B. Andrux conducted a comparative assessment of the budget expenditures for the military targets of the main belligerent countries for the entire period of the war. The French economist A. Claude made comparative assessments of direct economic losses (destruction and theft of property) of the main belligerent countries.
According to their estimates, military budget expenditures and direct economic losses of the main howling countries during the Second World War amounted to 968,3 billion dollars (in 1938 prices).
In the total amount of budgetary military spending during the Second World War, the seven main belligerent countries in the USSR accounted for 30%. In the total amount of direct economic losses of five countries, the USSR accounted for 57%. Finally, in the total total amount of total losses (the sum of military expenditures and direct economic losses) of the four countries, the USSR accounted for exactly 50%. Stalin at the Yalta Conference got to the point when he suggested that half of all reparations that would be laid on Germany would be transferred to the Soviet Union.
Yalta reparations arrangements: Stalin's generosity
At the same time, Stalin at the Yalta Conference in February 1945 of the year showed incredible generosity. He proposed to establish the total amount of reparations for Germany in the amount of 20 billion dollars, providing that half of this amount (10 billion dollars) will be paid to the Soviet Union as the country that contributed the most to the Victory and suffered the most from the anti-Hitler coalition. With some reservations, F. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill agreed with the proposal of I. Stalin, as evidenced by the transcript of the Yalta Conference. 10 billion dollars is about the amount of US aid to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease program during the Second World War. 10 billion dollars at the then gold content of the US currency (1 dollars = 1 / 35 troy ounces) were equivalent to 10 thousand tons of gold. And all reparations (20 billion dollars) - 20 thousands of tons of gold. It turned out that the USSR agreed only on incomplete 8 percent of covering its direct damages with the help of German reparations. And for all the damage, the coverage was 2,8%. So, the proposals for reparations, voiced in Yalta, can really be called Stalin's generous gesture.
How the figures of the Yalta Conference contrast with the gigantic amounts of reparations that the Entente countries (without Russia) assigned to Germany at the Paris Conference in 1919!
According to the results of the First World War, a peace treaty was concluded, according to which the sum of reparations was determined: 269 billion gold marks - the equivalent of approximately 100 to thousands (!) Tons of gold. Destroyed and weakened at first by the economic crisis of 20, and then by the Great Depression, the country was unable to pay enormous reparations and was forced to borrow from other states in order to fulfill the terms of the treaty. Reparation commission in 1921 year reduced the amount to 132 billion dollars, i.e. about twice. The following countries had basic quotas within this amount: France (52%); United Kingdom (22%), Italy (10%). Dropping many details of the history of reparations from the First World War, we note that Hitler, having come to power in 1933, completely stopped paying reparations. Those reparations that France and Great Britain received from Germany were sent mainly to repay their debts to the United States. Recall that the United States as a result of the First World War turned from a debtor to the largest creditor. The main debtors of the United States were precisely France and the United Kingdom, the amount of the debt was about 10 billion dollars. By the end of 1932, these countries managed to pay America 2,6 billion dollars, and 2 billion dollars - reparation money.
Approaches of the USSR and allies to the solution of the reparation issue
Already after World War II and education in 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany, the foreign ministers of the United States, Britain and France ordered it to return to the payment of debts under the Versailles Treaty. New reparation requirements as it were superimposed on the reparation claims of the already distant First World War. The amount of Germany’s reparation obligations at that time was determined in 50 billion dollars, with the United States, Great Britain and France proceeding from the fact that the obligations would be settled equally between the eastern and western parts of Germany. Such a decision was made without coordination with the USSR.
In the 1953 year, according to the Treaty of London, having lost part of the territory of Germany, it was allowed not to pay any interest until merger. The unification of Germany 3 in October 1990 of the year entailed the “reanimation” of its reparation obligations under the Versailles Treaty. In order to pay off debts, Germany was released 20 years, for which the country had to take a twenty-year loan of 239,4 million marks. Poor Germany completed the payment of these reparations to its closest allies only at the end of 2010. High relationship! As it is strikingly different from the policy of the USSR, which already a few years after the end of the Second World War, it refused reparations from Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary, which became part of the socialist camp. Even the German Democratic Republic, soon after its formation, completely ceased reparation transfers to the Soviet Union. This was fixed by a special agreement between the GDR, on the one hand, and the USSR and the Polish People's Republic (NDP), on the other hand (complete cessation of reparations from January 1, 1954).
By the way, according to the results of the First World War, we had no requirements for Germany. Initially (according to the Versailles Peace Treaty) Russia was among the recipients of reparations. However, in 1922 in Rapallo (at a separate meeting that was held in parallel with the international economic conference in Genoa), we entered into an agreement with Germany to refuse reparations in exchange for abandoning the claims of the German side in connection with the nationalization of German assets in Russia. According to some sources, Soviet Russia refused to reparations in the amount equivalent to 10 billion rubles.
Returning to the question of Stalin's generosity, it should be noted that Stalin did not hide the reasons for it. He did not want a repetition of what happened in Germany and Europe after the signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty. In fact, this document drove Germany into a corner and “programmed” the movement of Europe to the Second World War.
Renowned English economist John Keynes (official at the Ministry of Finance), who participated in the discussion of reparations at the Paris Peace Conference 1919, stated that the reparation obligations established for Germany exceed its capabilities no less than 4 times.
Speaking at the Paris Peace Conference on a peace treaty with Hungary, the then Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR A.Ya. Vyshinsky explained the essence of the Soviet reparation policy: “The Soviet government consistently pursues such a line of reparation policy, which is to proceed from real plans, not to suffocate Hungary, not to undercut the roots of its economic recovery, but, on the contrary, to facilitate its economic “Renaissance, make it easier for her to stand on her feet, make it easier for her to enter the common family of the United Nations and participate in the economic revival of Europe.”
The Soviet Union applied a gentle approach to other countries that fought on the German side. Thus, a peace treaty with Italy imposes on the last obligation to pay reparations to the Soviet Union in the amount of 100 million dollars, which amounted to no more than 4-5% of the direct damage caused to the Soviet Union.
The principle of a sparing approach to determining the amount of reparations was supplemented by another important principle of Soviet policy. Namely, the principle of preferential repayment of reparation obligations by products of current production.
The second principle was formulated taking into account the lessons of the First World War. Recall that the reparation obligations imposed on Germany after the First World War, were exclusively monetary, and in foreign currency. In this situation, Germany had to develop those industries that were focused not on saturating the domestic market with necessary goods, but on exports, with which it was possible to obtain the necessary currency. And besides, Germany was forced to apply for loans for the payment of the next tranche of reparations, which drove her into debt bondage. The USSR did not want to repeat this. V.M. Molotov at a meeting of the 12 Council of Foreign Ministers on December 1947 of the year explained the Soviet position: “No current reparation deliveries are made from the western zones, but industry in the Anglo-American united zone reaches only 35 percent of the 1938 level. From the Soviet zone in Germany, the current reparation supplies, and the industry here has already reached 52 percent of the 1938 level. Thus, the industrial index of the Soviet zone, - although there are more difficult conditions for restoring industry, - one and a half times higher than the industrial index of the Anglo-American zone. It is clear from this that repair supplies not only do not interfere with the restoration of industry, but, on the contrary, contribute to this restoration. ” It was envisaged that 25% of usable equipment would be transferred to the Soviet Union from the western occupation zones. At the same time 15% will be transferred in exchange for the supply of goods, and another 10% - free of charge. As Mikhail Semiryag notes, from 300 enterprises in the western occupation zones planned for dismantling in favor of the USSR, only 1948 was actually dismantled by spring 30.
Reparation Question in the Cold War
Recall that at the Yalta Conference the principle of non-monetary nature of reparations was agreed upon by the leaders of the USSR, the USA, and Great Britain. At the Potsdam Conference, our allies reaffirmed it. But later, starting with 1946, they began to actively torpedo him. However, they torpedoed and other arrangements relating to reparations. Thus, at the Potsdam Conference, the Allies of the USSR agreed that the coverage of Germany’s reparation obligations would be partially implemented through the supply of products and the dismantling of equipment in the western occupation zones. However, the Allies put us in the way of receiving goods and equipment from the western occupation zones (only a few percent of the planned volume was received). The Allies also prevented us from gaining access to German assets in Austria.
The declaration of a “cold war” by the West against the USSR in 1946 has led to the creation of a single allied mechanism for collecting reparations and taking them into account. And with the creation of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 (on the basis of the western occupation zones), the possibility of Soviet reparations from the western part of Germany finally disappeared.
How many reparations did the USSR receive?
The specific total number of reparations imposed on Germany as a result of the Second World War, after the Yalta Conference no longer appeared, including in the documents of the Potsdam Conference. Therefore, the question of reparations is still quite “muddy”. After the Second World War - at least for the Federal Republic of Germany - there were no reparation provisions similar to the Versailles Treaty. There were no documented general reparation obligations of Germany. It was not possible to create an effective centralized mechanism for collecting reparations and recording the fulfillment of reparation obligations by Germany. The winning countries satisfied their reparation claims at the expense of Germany unilaterally.
Germany itself, judging by the statements of some of its officials, does not know exactly how much she paid reparations. The Soviet Union preferred to receive reparations not in cash, but in kind.
According to our historian Mikhail Semiryagi, since March 1945, within one year, the highest authorities of the USSR have made almost a thousand decisions relating to the dismantling of 4389 enterprises from Germany, Austria, Hungary and other European countries. Plus, about a thousand more plants were transported to the Union from Manchuria and even Korea. The numbers are impressive. But everything is evaluated in comparison. We have quoted the data of CPGs above that only the number of industrial enterprises that were destroyed by the German fascist invaders in the USSR amounted to thousands of 32. The number of enterprises dismantled by the Soviet Union in Germany, Austria and Hungary was less than 14%. By the way, according to the then chairman of the USSR State Planning Committee Nikolai Voznesensky, only 0,6% of direct damage to the Soviet Union was covered by supplies of captured equipment from Germany.
Some data is contained in the documents of Germany. Thus, according to the Ministry of Finance of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Federal Ministry of Intra-German Relations, on 31.12.1997, the withdrawal from the Soviet occupation zone and the GDR to 1953 amounted to 66,4 billion marks, or 15,8 billion dollars, which is equivalent to 400 billion modern dollars. Withdrawals were committed both in kind and in cash.
The main positions of reparation movements from Germany to the USSR were the supply of products of the current production of German enterprises and cash payments in various currencies, including occupation marks.
Reparation exemptions from the Soviet occupation zone in Germany and the GDR (until the end of 1953) amounted to 66,40 billion germs. marks (15,8 billion dollars at the rate of 1 dollars USA = 4,20 m).
In 1945 - 1946 Such a form of reparations as the dismantling of equipment of German enterprises and its shipment to the USSR were widely used.
Quite extensive literature is devoted to this form of reparations, equipment seizures are documented in detail. In March, the 1945 in Moscow created the Special Committee (SC) of the USSR State Defense Committee, chaired by G.М. Malenkov. The OC included representatives of the State Planning Committee, People's Commissariat of Defense, People's Commissars for Foreign Affairs, Defense and Heavy Industry. Coordinated all the activities of the Committee for the dismantling of military-industrial enterprises in the Soviet zone of occupation of Germany. From March 1945 to March 1946, 986 made decisions to dismantle more 4000 industrial enterprises: 2885 from Germany, 1137 - German enterprises in Poland, 206 - Austria, 11 - Hungary, 54 - Czechoslovakia. The main equipment was dismantled at 3474 facilities, 1 118 000 equipment items were seized: 339 000 machine tools, 44 000 pieces and presses and electric motors - 202 000 pieces. From purely military factories in the Soviet zone, 67 was dismantled, 170 was destroyed, and 8 was converted for the production of peaceful products.
However, the role of such a form of reparations as the removal of equipment was not very significant. The fact is that the dismantling of equipment led to the cessation of production in the eastern part of Germany and the growth of unemployment. From the beginning of 1947, this form of reparations was quickly curtailed. Instead, on the basis of 119 large enterprises of the eastern sector of occupation, 31 joint-stock company with Soviet participation (Soviet joint-stock company - CAO) was established. The CAO in 1950 was 22% of the industrial production of the GDRs. In 1954, the CAO was donated to the German Democratic Republic.
It makes sense to account for the received reparations.
Estimates of reparation movements in favor of the USSR after the Second World War are also contained in the works of a number of Western economists. As a rule, the numbers are not very different from those provided by the government of Germany. Thus, the American economist Peter Lieberman states that the overwhelming majority of reparations in favor of the USSR by Eastern European countries were carried out in the form of supplies of current production (about 86% for all countries). It is noteworthy that some countries of Eastern Europe carried out reparation transfers in favor of the USSR and at the same time were recipients of Soviet aid. In relation to the total reparations of all six countries, Soviet aid amounted to about 6%. The German Democratic Republic accounted for 85% of all reparation movements from Eastern Europe to the USSR.
What did the reparation transfers to the Soviet Union look like against the background of reparations to Western countries? Statistics of reparations to the West is extremely blurry. In the first years after the war, the United States, Great Britain and France focused on exporting coal and coke from their occupation zones. Forests were also very actively cut down and timber (both processed and untreated) was removed. It is noteworthy that most of the supply of timber and coal was not counted as reparations. From the western zones, equipment worth 3 billion marks (about 1,2 billion dollars) was dismantled and removed. Also, the United States, Great Britain and France seized gold with a total volume of 277 tons (equivalent to almost 300 million dollars), sea and river vessels with a total value of 200 million dollars. The German holdings of Germany’s foreign assets in the amount of 8 - 10 billion marks (3,2 - 4,0 billion dollars.). The withdrawal of German patents and technical documentation by the United States and the United Kingdom is estimated at about $ 5 billion. It is difficult to estimate the amount of reparations by Western countries, since many exemptions (especially patents and technical documentation) were made without official registrations and counts and were not included in the reparations statistics. In the Soviet press, there were estimates of the total amounts of reparation movements from Germany in favor of Western countries, far exceeding 10 billion dollars.
It seems that the present “vagueness” of the question of how Germany fulfilled its obligations to the USSR is unacceptable. It makes sense to record the received reparations.
First we need to work to identify the necessary documents in the archives of our Russian departments. First of all, in the archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance.
The thesis that Germany, they say, fully paid Russia for damages during the Second World War, to put it mildly, is questionable. Of course, if we compare it with the number of reparations in favor of the Soviet Union, which Stalin announced at the Yalta Conference (10 billion dollars), then Germany even exceeded the plan. And as we see, the total amount of reparations of Eastern European countries in favor of the USSR turned out to be twice as much as Stalin requested at the beginning of 1945. But if we compare the actual reparations with the damage estimates made by CPG, then the picture looks quite different. Based on data from the German Ministry of Finance, the reparations paid by Germany amounted to 12,3% of direct damages and 4,4% of all damages incurred by the Soviet Union from Germany and its allies during World War II.
Recall that the number of reparations announced at the Yalta Conference in 10 billion dollars did not become official. Specific conditions for the payment of reparations by Germany and its allies in World War II were discussed for a long time in the framework of the permanent Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the main victorious countries (it functioned until the end of the 1940-s). Total amounts of reparations for Germany, as we noted above, have not been established.
As for her allies in World War II, the picture is more intelligible. In 1946, a winning countries conference was held in Paris, at which the terms of the peace treaties of these countries with five states - allies of Nazi Germany (Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Finland) were defined. A large number of bilateral peace treaties of the victor states were signed with the five countries listed above. They were called the Paris Peace Treaties, which entered into force at the same time - September 15 1947. Each bilateral agreement contained articles (section) on reparations. For example, the USSR-Finland bilateral agreement stipulated that the latter pledged to pay damages to the Soviet Union (300 million dollars) and return the values exported from Soviet territory. The Soviet-Italian treaty provided for Italie's reparation payments in favor of the USSR in the amount of 100 million dollars.
Omitting many curious details of the actual fulfillment of the terms of the agreements that were signed with the countries participating in the fascist bloc, we note that only Finland fully fulfilled all its reparation obligations to the victor countries. Italy reparations is not fully paid. This is the opinion of experts.
As for Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, these countries after the war took the road of socialist construction, and in 1949, they became members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). Moscow generously met these countries and abandoned its demands for reparations.
After 1975, when the Helsinki Act was signed, the topic of reparations from the Second World War was not returned. It was believed that this document "nullified" all possible claims and obligations of States for reparations.
So, Germany did not fulfill its obligations under the reparations of the Second World War to the USSR in full. Of course, we can say that, they say, they do not wave their hands after the fight. Say, received from Germany reparations in the amount of 16 billion then dollars, and thanks for that. And to return to the topic of reparations is stupid and indecent. It is indecent for the reason that so many agreements were reached on the post-war structure of the world and Europe. One could agree with this thesis in the 70 or even 80 years of the last century. But not in the 21st century, when the West perfidiously violated all the agreements that were reached at the conferences in Yalta and in Potsdam in 1945. And also the Helsinki Final Act (1975 year) was cruelly violated, which consolidated the political and territorial results of the Second World War and the principles of relations between the participating states, including the principle of the inviolability of borders, the territorial integrity of states, and non-interference in the internal affairs of foreign states.
Backstage arrangements for reparations
Despite the decisions of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, the Helsinki Act and other high multilateral agreements, some issues of reparation claims and obligations were and continue to be resolved on a bilateral basis, on the sidelines, without any fuss. This, above all, is about Israel, which without much publicity “milked” the descendants of the Third Reich over the years. The agreement between Germany (FRG) and Israel on reparations was signed on September 10 1952 and entered into force on March 27 1953 (the so-called Luxembourg Agreement). They say that the German "Aryans" should atone for reparations their sin of the Holocaust. By the way, this is probably the only case in the history of mankind, when the agreement provides for the payment of reparations to the state, which did not exist during the war that gave rise to reparations. Some even believe that the creation of its economy, Israel is more indebted to the German reparations, and not the help of Washington. During the period of the Luxembourg Agreement, from 1953 to 1965, the year punctually executed by the Federal Republic of Germany, deliveries against German reparations ranged from 12 to 20% of annual imports to Israel. By 2008, Germany paid reparations in the amount of over 60 billion euros to Israel in compensation for the victims of the Holocaust. By the way, according to our estimates (taking into account changes in the purchasing power of the currency), the amount of reparations received by Israel from Germany for the period 1953-2008. is approaching 50% of the total reparations received by the Soviet Union from Germany (1945-1953).
The question of reparations from World War II begins to revive.
Very soon we will celebrate the seventieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War, and the theme of reparations emerges now in one or another European country. As an example, Poland can be cited, which at the beginning of this century declared that it did not receive German reparations. The story is quite confusing. As you know, after the Second World War, a fairly significant piece of the Third Reich was ceded to Poland. Millions of Germans in 1945 were evicted from the territory that became her property. Displaced Germans and their descendants began to sue Germany’s courts demanding the return of their property (primarily real estate) remaining in their homeland (in legal language this is called restitution law — restoration of property rights). You should also pay attention to the fact that the German courts ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. Even the “Prussian Society for the Return of Property” was created to represent the interests of such Germans. By the beginning of this century, the aggregate amounts of lawsuits and court decisions on them were already measured in billions of dollars. The former German owners of the property left in Poland were especially inspired by the fact that Poland in 1990 was one of the first in Eastern Europe to adopt laws on the restitution of property for Poles. Restitution was carried out and carried out both in the traditional way (property return in kind) and financially. The second method involves the provision by the state of the former owners of special securities that can be used to acquire various assets or turn into money. More than 12,5 billion dollars have already been spent on restitution from the treasury. And it is also planned to spend tens of billions, since the number of applications has already exceeded 170 thousand.
It is important to emphasize that the right of restitution applies only to Poles. The Germans have not received any rights, they continue to seek their claims through the courts.
Experts say that it was this circumstance that prompted the Polish Sejm to raise the issue of German reparations in September 2004, which allegedly were not fully received by the country. It is believed that this was an attempt by Poland to defend itself against Germanic claims. The Parliament of the country prepared a document (resolution) stating: “The Saeima states that Poland has not received sufficient reparations and compensation for the enormous destruction, material and non-material losses caused by German aggression, occupation and genocide.” The deputies recommended the Polish government to determine how much Germany should pay extra for the Wehrmacht’s war crimes in the country, and also pass this information to the German authorities. According to generally accepted data, Poland lost six million people during the war years. From 1939 to 1944, the Polish industry was almost completely destroyed. Warsaw and many other cities in Poland were also completely destroyed. Indeed, the amount of reparations received by Poland could not cover all its damages. The only question that arises is: to what extent, from the point of view of international law, are attempts to revise the conditions of reparation payments to Germany after almost seventy years? This is what one of the Polish lawyers who published an article on the German reparations in the Rzeczpospolita periodical thinks about: “Reparations, for example, cover, in fact, not all requirements, but only those resulting from“ normal ”hostilities. from the systematic destruction of cities, and this fate went to Warsaw. " By the way, the author of this publication generally brings the reader to the conclusion: if we demand additional compensation, it is not from Germany, but from ... Russia. Since after the war, Poland did not receive direct reparations from Germany. The USSR received reparations from the territories under its control, and some of them were transferred to Poland.
However, how far Poland is ready to go in these of its claims, it is difficult to say. It is not excluded that the statement of the Seimas was made only to temper the restorative fervor of the displaced Germans and their descendants.
What is surprising is that the question of unpaid reparations "surfaced" after between Poland and Germany in 1990-1991. a number of agreements were concluded, which, as it seemed, "closed" all the counterclaims of the two states. For almost ten years Poland has not raised the issue of reparations.
In part, this can be explained by the fact that German chancellor A. Merkel publicly told Polish Prime Minister J. Kaczynski in 2006 that the federal government "does not support the Germans' private claims to return their property in Poland." After that, the criticism of A. Merkel intensified inside Germany, she was accused of violating human rights in the country and interfering with issues that are the prerogative of the courts. However, there is no guarantee that at some point in time Warsaw will not return to the topic of reparations again. And this time, with her claims, she can turn not to Germany, but to Russia.
Poland is not alone in its reparation claims. In 2008, Italy filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice in The Hague demanding to recover from Germany the reparations of the Second World War (surprisingly, the lawsuit was filed by a country that fought on the German side). This lawsuit was dismissed, the Hague court defended Germany, saying that the Italian demand "violates the sovereignty of Germany."
"Greek precedent" as a signal to Russia
The last country to revive the theme of reparations of the Second World War was Greece. We all well know that this southern European country is in a difficult financial situation. Despite the recent (in 2012) unprecedented restructuring of its external debt, Greece continues to be among the leaders in terms of the relative level of sovereign debt. At the end of the third quarter of 2013, the sovereign (public) debt of all European Union countries (28 states) in relation to their gross domestic product (GDP) was equal to 86,8%. In the Eurozone (17 states), this figure was 92,7%. And in Greece it was 171,8%, i.e. almost twice the average level in the EU. The situation for Greece is absolutely desperate. Things reached the point that rating agencies and international organizations have recently transferred Greece from the category of “economically developed” to the category of “developing” countries. This was first done by MSCI in June 2013. Recall that Greece joined the European Union in 1981, then the country was experiencing an “economic miracle”. Greece is a visual aid that gives membership in the "United Europe" to the newly acceding countries.
But now it’s not about the catastrophic situation in Greece, but about the fact that in search of ways out of its dead ends, the government prepared a requirement for Germany to pay reparations to it following the Second World War.
A detailed justification is attached to the request. Greece does not deny that in due time she received from Germany certain sums of reparations. The first “tranche” of reparations was received at the end of the 40-x-beginning of the 50-x. last century. The main part of the reparation of that time was the supply of industrial products. First of all, machine tools and equipment. They were delivered to the total amount of 105 million marks (approximately 25 million dollars). At current prices, this is equivalent to 2 billion euros.
The second “tranche” of reparations occurred in the 60s. last century. 18 March 1960 Greece and the federal government entered into an agreement whereby 115 of millions of marks was sent to the Greek victims of the Nazi regime. These payments were linked to the refusal of the Greeks from the additional claims of individual compensation. However, today Greece believes that the two “trenches” of reparations turned out to be insufficient to cover all the damages inflicted on Greece by fascist Germany. The claim for the third “tranche” was filed by Greece on the initiative of the then Prime Minister Yorgos Papandreou to the International Court of Justice in The Hague in January 2011. For some time, they tried to forget about the Greek claim. Moreover, Greece received such a generous “gift” in 2012 as the restructuring of its external public debt.
But the idea of collecting reparations in Greece is not dead. In March, 2014, President Karolos Papoulias again demanded reparations for Germany for the damage caused to the country during the war years. The Greek side claims 108 billion euros in compensation for the destruction and 54 billion euros for loans issued by the Bank of Greece to Nazi Germany, which, of course, were not returned. The total amount of reparation claims of Greece is 162 billion euros. The amount of the claim is about three times less than the damage assessment voiced at the beginning of 2013 by the National Council for German War Reparations, headed by war veteran, politician and activist Manolis Glezos. The National Council has called the amount of half a trillion euros. 162 billion euros - also "weak". To make it clearer, imagine this amount of money in the form of a gold equivalent. At the current price level for the “yellow metal”, the equivalent of 5 is obtained - 6 thousand tons of gold. And Stalin, we recall, in Yalta, voiced the amount of reparations to the Soviet Union, equivalent to 10 thousand tons of metal.
It should be noted that the Greek initiative did not go unnoticed in other European countries. Everyone is closely watching developments. For example, here is what Dmitry Verkhoturov writes in the article “Greek precedent” in the “Century” about the possible “demonstration effect” of the Greek claim: “The requirements of Germany’s reparations have the right to put forward, say, Cyprus, occupied by the Germans during the war, or - Italy, which after the fall Mussolini’s regime was also occupied by the Germans, and fighting broke out on its territory.If France doesn’t do well either, then it will have the opportunity to reclaim payments for occupation and destruction from Germany, and Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Norway Denmark, and the UK may demand to pay the consequences of the brutal bombings. For Spain, it will be difficult to substantiate its claims to Germany, but something can be thought of, for example, to “hang up” on the Germans the damage from the civil war (1936 - 1939). will go according to the “Greek version”, then in a matter of years only memories can remain from the European Union. ”
Some deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation proposed to revise the German reparations received by the Soviet Union. However, in technical terms, the task is extremely difficult, and it requires considerable budgetary expenses.
Therefore, the matter has not yet reached the bill. In connection with the “Greek precedent”, interesting publications appeared in the Russian media, in which the authors try to independently evaluate how the German reparations helped us restore the economy destroyed by the war. Pavel Pryanikov writes in an article “Greece requires reparation from Germany” (Newsland): “The Greek case against Germany is very important for Russia, which received a mere penny from the Germans for the horrors of World War II. In total, German reparations in the USSR resulted in a figure of 4,3 billion dollars in 1938 prices, or 86 billion rubles of that time. For comparison: capital investments in industry in the 4th Five-Year Plan amounted to 136 billion rubles. 2/3 German were transferred to the USSR aviation and the electrical industry, about 50% of the rocket and automotive industries, machine tool, military and other plants. According to the American professor Sutton (Sutton A. Western technology ... 1945 to 1965 is partially quoted), reparations made it possible to compensate for approximately 40% of the industrial potential lost by the Soviet Union in the war with Germany. Moreover, the calculations of the Americans (Bureau of Strategic Services of the USA, dated August 1944) about possible reparations of the Soviet Union after the victory over Germany showed a figure of 105,2 billion dollars at that time - 25 times more than the Soviet Union received from the Germans. In current dollars, those $ 105,2 billion are about $ 2 trillion. For this money, and even with the hands and the head of German specialists (their work could be offset against the debt), the whole of the USSR and, especially, present-day Russia could be equipped. It is clear that there are no legal ways to recover this money from the Germans. But a constant reminder to them of the outstanding debt could be a good tool in foreign policy, allowing you to seek concessions from Germany on important issues. Another thing is that Russia in the current state is also incapable of such a game.
But then we will be “rooting” for Greece - all of a sudden it will show an example of half of Europe that suffered from the Germans during World War II, how to fight for their interests and even receive material dividends from such a struggle. ” Please note that the cited article was written in May 2013 of the year.
Conclusion
I do not exclude that after the Helsinki Act is violated and all other agreements on the post-war international order are crossed out, the bacterium of reciprocal demands of reparation nature can begin in Europe. For this, by the way, today the history of the Second World War is being so actively remade.
Today they are trying to convince the world that the decisive contribution to the victory over Germany and the countries of the fascist “axis” was made not by the USSR, but by the countries of the West. The next step in the revision of history is the admission of the Soviet Union to the main initiators of the Second World War.
And after that, you can and begin to bring reparation claims to the Russian Federation, as the successor of the USSR. They say that the USSR did not liberate Europe, but captured, enslaved and destroyed. Summarizing all the above on the topic of reparations from the Second World War, it should be recognized that this topic is still not “closed”. We should raise all documents of the Emergency State Commission on Damages, materials of the Yalta and Potsdam Conference of the 1945 year, documents of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the winning countries, our bilateral agreements of the Paris Peace Treaty of the 1947 year. And also study the experience of European and other countries on the presentation of reparation requirements for Germany many years after the end of the war.
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