Editorial: Compensation is not punishment

Too often, when it comes to the delicate issue of compensation for property taken from private citizens during and after the Second World War, financial damages demanded by victims have come to be seen as a penalty for the crimes committed during that terrible conflict. Hence the resistance that arises from various levels of Polish society towards granting any kind of compensation. The refrain "We were wronged too!" echoes from those who hold fast to the argument that Poles ought not bear the punishment for wrongs perpetrated by Nazis or Soviets.

Yet compensation for lost properties should not be viewed as a punitive measure. That which has been stolen ought to be returned - whether it be to Jews, Ukrainians, Roma or Belarusians. Many Poles themselves are petitioning the Polish government for similar compensation. In the majority of cases, it was not Poles doing the taking, but rather the communist regime looking to seize and nationalize all valuable property. This does not necessarily mean, however, that those possessions should not be returned.

Alas, more than sixty volatile years spanning war, communist rule and economic upheaval have made it impossible to hand back all confiscated property. But a law regulating compensation for that property - estabilishing the amount, the conditions under which it should be granted, and to whom it should be given - is long overdue. Without such a law, the issue will never be resolved and will prove a constant thorn in the nation's side. The government should work to pass such legislation as soon as possible so that a just resolution can be found for those whose families lost their possessions, regardless of the claimants' nationality or ethnicity. Only then can the Polish nation look to the future without being crippled by its harrowed past.