Announcements that Poland was to seek war reparations from Germany were, from the outset, met with a positive reception by people surveyed. The greatest support for pursuing this course of action was noted in July 2019 (69%). Currently 58% of respondents are in favour, including 38% decidedly so, with less than a third (32%) being against, and only 11% saying ‘decidedly not.’ In comparison to last September, support for claiming war reparations has risen minimally, although it is still lower than in August 2019 or October 2021. In addition, there are fewer opponents of this action than last September.

Despite this significant popular support for claiming war reparations from Germany, both in August 2023 as in October 2017 – when the question was first asked – more respondents tended to think that Poland could lose more than it gained by raising the issue (currently 40% as against 34%). The chance of actually getting reparations has generally been assessed as rather low: the arithmetical mean of indications on a scale of 0%–100% (0% = no chance at all, 100% = certainty of gaining reparations) is a mere 26.28%, while the median is 20%. More than one in five of those asked (22%) maintained there was no chance at all, and this has been the most frequent response. A bare 2% of respondents were certain that Poland’s efforts in this matter would be met with success.

More on this subject in the CBOS report.