A Polish organization supporting victims of Nazi persecution said the advanced age of survivors means time is running out for them to receive help A charity has launched an appeal to everyday Germans for donations to support the survivors of Nazi persecution in Poland after calls to Germany’s government failed to materialize aid. The Foundation for Polish-German Reconciliation published an open letter on its website on Thursday asking for help for the roughly 50,000 survivors of Nazi persecution during Germany’s occupation of Poland in World War II who still live in Poland today. The foundation said: “Today, these survivors are of advanced age, many of them over 90 years old. They struggle with illness and loneliness, increasingly need assistance in their daily lives, and face the growing costs of medical treatment and care. “With each passing month, fewer of them remain. They cannot wait any longer. For many, any further delay in deciding to provide assistance means that help will come too late.” The charity’s appeal is the latest in a long-running series of calls in Poland for monetary support from Germany to address the legacy of the 1939-1945 occupation. Last year, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Berlin needed to “hurry up” and make a decision regarding compensation for survivors, stirring up controversy when he said that Poland might compensate victims from its own coffers if Germany refuses. Some politicians, especially on the right wing of Polish politics, have demanded larger scale reparations from the German government over the immense destruction and loss of life suffered during the war – a topic that has strained the countries’ relations at times. Berlin has rejected such demands, arguing that Warsaw’s postwar communist leaders closed the issue in an agreement signed in 1953 – an argument disputed by many in Poland, who say their country was under the boot of the Soviet Union at the time and not an independent state. ‘Robbed of youth’ This latest appeal by the Foundation for Polish-German Reconciliation is aimed at securing financial aid to directly support surviving victims in their day to day lives, rather than any broader state-to-state reparations package. Victims still alive today include former concentration camp and prison inmates, people deported by the Nazis for forced labor in Germany and those who were subjected to other forms of Nazi repression, the organization said. The charity’s letter highlighted the “individual human stories” behind the numbers, including “a child deported with their family deep into the German Reich, a young man imprisoned in a concentration camp, a woman forced into slave labor.” “These wartime experiences marked them for life, robbing them of their health, their childhood or their youth,” it added. The foundation said that it, alongside other Polish associations representing survivors of Nazism, called on the German government several months ago “to make a humanitarian gesture and establish a lasting framework for providing support.” According to the appeal, major programs providing financial payments to victims in Poland ended more than two decades ago. But since “no decision has been taken to establish lasting support for survivors in Poland,” the charity is now appealing to everyday Germans and civic organizations for help. “Today, we appeal primarily to German civil society to provide humanitarian support to survivors of Nazi persecution living in Poland. Our appeal is addressed to individuals, businesses, foundations, associations and other civil society organizations, and to all people of goodwill,” the group said. “Polish-German reconciliation rests on more than treaties and government decisions. For decades, people on both sides of the border have also helped build it. “Today, we appeal for that solidarity once again – not only in words, but above all in action.”
