Finding solace without financial reparations

My country is famous for great ideas -- such as the pierogi, or kielbasa -- but this is certainly not one of them.

On Sept. 10, the lower house of the Polish Parliament voted unanimously to seek compensation from Germany for damages suffered during World War II. The resolution, though not legally binding, carries great symbolic value, and if Germany is indeed forced to pay reparations, the sum could exceed $640 billion, according to Polish estimates. Besides symbolic value, however, the real reason for the resolution is that lingering feeling -- rightly justified -- that Germany owes us for that giant abyss it left in our country, an abyss that no amount of money, apologies or really just about anything can ever fill. Hence, war reparations would be foolish and counterproductive; instead, Poland must seek other ways to fill the abyss at the expense of Germany.

First of all, I fully sympathize with the members of Parliament who voted for this resolution. Just read a few pages of historian Norman Davies' Rising '44: The Battle for Warsaw, and you'll understand that the memory of Germans burning houses, using flamethrowers on women and children and reducing the nation's capitol to rubble is rightfully ingrained in the nation's consciousness. Reading Davies' book certainly made me want to cripple the German economy and squeeze every last Euro out of Germany's pockets. But that is certainly an irrational response.

One of the reasons why World War II happened in the first place was because the victors of World War I decided to burden Germany's Weimar government with unmanageable debt. Unemployment, hyperinflation and poverty resulted. Then came the Nazis, who promised to fix it all, and who, with 37 percent of the vote, got their chance to do so.

However, one might argue that, while the victors of World War I imposed a reparations debt upon a ruined economy that would have no ability to pay it off, in this case, the German cash cow is ripe for milking. Just cross the border from Poland into Germany -- you'll notice the difference immediately. One can easily think, they're rich, we're still poor. They did this to us, so make them pay.

Yet despite the fact that the German economy is not in ruins like it was at the end of World War II, getting the money even after 50 years would still destabilize the region. Germany is responsible for a large part of the European farm subsidies and other net unilateral transfers to other Eurozone nations. As a result, Poland -- which has very close economic ties to Germany -- might well be worse off even after receiving reparations, not to mention the rest of Europe.

And certainly war reparations are not the way to make friends. German-Polish relations are already at their worst point in 10 years, so why add fuel to the fire? In addition, last month, during his visit to Poland to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw uprising, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder declared that German courts would not honor any compensatory claims made against Poland by Germans who were forced to flee territories ceded to Poland. By asking for reparations, we are simply taking this olive branch, breaking it in half and setting it on fire.

Besides, even if Poland really does pursue the reparations, in the end it won't amount to anything. Just ask my grandma. She was born in Lw--w, which had always been and should now be a Polish city, but Stalin decided to take it away from us, and Britain and the United States couldn't care less. So at 2 a.m. one fine morning in 1945 -- they always like to come to people at the most convenient times -- the Soviets barged into my grandma's house and, guns in hand, told her family that if they did not leave in 48 hours, they would be shot. They left and never looked back -- until, that is, my grandma decided to sue the Soviet Union for compensation for the house and the land (still intact, mind you). Then the government, like everything else made in the Soviet Union, fell apart and so, after years of fruitless litigation, she's dropped the case.

Poland should seek reparations from Germany in more constructive ways. We should assert our power in the European Union -- along with the proper subsidies and investment that come with it. We should also foster friendly relations with the Germans to make sure that close economic and political ties will enable us to benefit from their prosperity, and likewise for them. Our highest duty, though, will be to remember and always remind Germany of what it did to our country.

The poet Czelsaw Milosz once wrote, "When will that shore appear from which at last we see how all this came to pass and for what reason?" There is no reparation big enough to get us to that shore, so it is best to seek solace in more prudent ways.

Cezary Podkul is a junior Management and Philosophy major in Wharton and the College from Chicago, Ill. Cezary Salad appears on Mondays.

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