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wecycleme t1_iqyxiwk wrote

Reply to comment by kevinds in Poland demands $1.3 trillion in war damages from Germany by allergic-toeveryting

I genuinely don’t understand reparations, or if there are statues of limitations to them. Americans still talk about reparations for slavery. My understanding is that the reparations claims are that historical wrongs affect outcomes today. Poland only regained political autonomy in 1991, lost ~20% of its population about 6 million people during the war, was ruled by foreigners for 50 years, and had its development significantly slowed by a chain of events that started with the German invasion in 1939. I don’t know how I feel, nor do I understand where the $1.3T number came from. I’m just trying to understand why this allegedly sounds like an Onion article.

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igetasticker t1_iqz298p wrote

Maybe because the current government of Germany isn't Nazi? If you moved into a house and 7 years later I sued you because the last tenant was an asshole, that wouldn't make much sense.

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wecycleme t1_iqz2m6m wrote

Lol. I’m very old and often confused. Like right now, I’m not sure if you are trolling or very thick. That’s a complete non sequitur. If you killed someone when you were driving drunk, you wouldn’t just get out when you sobered up because you aren’t drunk anymore.

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YakInner4303 t1_iqzc0w1 wrote

You've substituted punitive (prison) for compensatory(money), but I'll go with your analogy. It's like if I drunk drove and ran you over and I spent 20 years in prison for my actions and then 80 years later along comes your great grandson and tries to jail my granddaughter's cousin's wife for my actions.

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wecycleme t1_ir2s5nf wrote

It's Germany though. The Nazis who did it are not being held personally responsible in the financial penalty. It is the country.

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Wiley_Applebottom t1_ir05241 wrote

Well, Poland destroyed the Baltic kingdoms to the point where several no longer exist at the height of Polish power. Hmm... I calculate that debt to be $100 trillion. Pay up Poland.

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eranamenom t1_ir0747i wrote

Do you even know what kingdom is? There has never been such thing as a "Baltic kingdoms" and the tribes who got eradicated from the world (Prussians and Yotvingians) were conquered by german Teutonic Knights! I will only briefly mention Polabians and Pomeranians slaughtered and germanised by other germanic duchies.

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Wiley_Applebottom t1_ir08fzr wrote

In 1600, the Polish–Swedish War broke out, causing further devastation. The protracted war ended in 1629 with Sweden gaining Livonia, including the regions of Southern Estonia and Northern Latvia.[65] Danish Saaremaa was transferred to Sweden in 1645.[66] The wars had halved the population of Estonia from about 250–270,000 people in the mid 16th century to 115–120,000 in the 1630s.[

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Wiley_Applebottom t1_ir08jqd wrote

Sounds pretty genocidal to me. They wiped out more than 8 independent polities and nearly half of the Baltic population in their bloodlust.

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eranamenom t1_ir0d8oc wrote

Swedish - PLC war broke out after Sigismund III Vasa annexed Estonia (he was both Swedish and Polish King). Sieges and pillaging villages was part of every war back then and it was Sweden who invaded lol. They also spreaded conflict to lands that was belonging for centuries to PLC, Lithuania or theirs vassals. 20 years later Swedes invaded again and slaughtered 1/3 of entire population of the kingdom!

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