Breitscheidplatz-Anschlag: Polnischer Lkw-Spediteur macht Berlin schwere Vorwürfe - WELT
Polish truck haulier makes heavy accusations against Berlin
Two years ago Anis Amri murdered eleven people on the Breitscheidplatz with a stolen truck. Now the Polish truck owner is bitterly disappointed and is giving up his fight for compensation.
Two years after the terrorist attack on Breitscheidplatz in Berlin, the Polish haulage company owner Ariel Zurawski is still struggling with his emotions. When assassin Anis Amri used his company's truck as a weapon on 19 December 2016, Zurawski was hit twice. First because of the grief for his dead cousin, who became the first victim of the most serious Islamist-motivated terrorist attack in Germany. And then there is the bitterness about the loss of an almost brand-new truck - combined with the feeling of having been practically left alone by the German authorities as an entrepreneur.
With Zurawski's truck, Amri raced into the crowd at Breitscheidplatz, killing eleven people and injuring more than 70 others. He had previously shot the truck driver Lukasz U.. The loss of the close relative cannot be compensated with money for the owner of the forwarding agency from Sobiemysl near Stettin (Szczecin).
On the other hand, the financial damage caused by the use of the truck as a terrorist weapon can be quantified very precisely: the heavily demolished vehicle had to be scrapped after the attack, and according to Zurawski, the damage amounted to around 90,000 euros. "That's a lot of money for me," the entrepreneur laments, who at the time was plagued not only by grief for his cousin but also by existential fears.
Lukasz U. was only 37 years old and left behind his wife and son. Two years after the tragedy, the family is somehow functioning again, Zurawski explains in an interview with the German Press Agency. "You can't turn back time," the Pole says, his voice becomes quieter. But when it comes to the way German authorities deal with the victims, he gets loud again. Then frustration and anger mix in Zurawski's grief.
Meanwhile, his shipping company has somewhat overcome the loss of the truck and is financially over the hill. Nevertheless, Zurawski cannot understand why Germany does not compensate him for the damage he has suffered. "I don't want to get rich at all," he emphasizes. For a rich country like Germany, the compensation of the victims should actually be a matter of honour, he says. But he received only 10,000 euros in damages for pain and suffering.
"Berlin had behaved "very poorly" towards him. And that is putting it mildly. "I am not to blame for the attack," Zurawski complains. He was treated unfairly by the neighbouring country, and that "only because I am Polish". The owner of the forwarding agency is convinced that a German entrepreneur would have received more support.
After all, Poland's government has been helpful, says Zurawski. Warsaw assumed the costs for the transfer of the dead cousin and his funeral. Even President Andrzej Duda was a guest at the funeral, while no country representative came from the German side. The driver's family was granted a special pension by the Polish government.
Zurawski, on the other hand, criticized the German Commissioner for Victims: under Edgar Franke, nothing had happened in his case, and his predecessor Kurt Beck - also from the SPD - had even claimed other people' successes. Zurawski believes that the fact that the truck manufacturer Scania waived any leasing installments still due and the industrial group Thyssen-Krupp paid compensation for the rusted steel load was not his merit, contrary to Beck's claims. Rather, the companies had bowed to pressure from the media.
The Pole has given up his own fight for compensation for the time being. It was hopeless, his lawyer told him so himself. "As long as the investigations in Germany have not been completed, I have no chance of achieving anything," Zurawski says, resignedly adding: "This is a fight like David's against Goliath.
A German committee of inquiry is currently investigating why Amri, who was shot dead after the attack on his escape in Italy, was not taken out of circulation in time by German security authorities. He had been known to them as an Islamist threat. After the attack, Polish authorities also began investigations. According to reports, the public prosecutor's office in Szczecin is investigating whether Amri had an accomplice. However, the dpa authority does not want to confirm this for investigation tactical reasons.
Zurawski's resentment cannot be alleviated by the memorial to the terror victims in Berlin either. "People are walking around on it," he says about the gilded crack in the floor, and the names of the dead on the steps of the memorial church do not lessen his displeasure either. At the memorial service for the terror victims last year, he saw a cigarette butt lying on it.
This year Zurawski wants to commemorate his deceased cousin and employee together with his transport colleagues in Poland. "We'll take the trucks to the cemetery and honk the horn in his honour."
Germany has paid 3.8 million euros in compensation for victims of the attack sofar.
BBM
Polish truck haulier makes heavy accusations against Berlin
Two years ago Anis Amri murdered eleven people on the Breitscheidplatz with a stolen truck. Now the Polish truck owner is bitterly disappointed and is giving up his fight for compensation.
Two years after the terrorist attack on Breitscheidplatz in Berlin, the Polish haulage company owner Ariel Zurawski is still struggling with his emotions. When assassin Anis Amri used his company's truck as a weapon on 19 December 2016, Zurawski was hit twice. First because of the grief for his dead cousin, who became the first victim of the most serious Islamist-motivated terrorist attack in Germany. And then there is the bitterness about the loss of an almost brand-new truck - combined with the feeling of having been practically left alone by the German authorities as an entrepreneur.
With Zurawski's truck, Amri raced into the crowd at Breitscheidplatz, killing eleven people and injuring more than 70 others. He had previously shot the truck driver Lukasz U.. The loss of the close relative cannot be compensated with money for the owner of the forwarding agency from Sobiemysl near Stettin (Szczecin).
On the other hand, the financial damage caused by the use of the truck as a terrorist weapon can be quantified very precisely: the heavily demolished vehicle had to be scrapped after the attack, and according to Zurawski, the damage amounted to around 90,000 euros. "That's a lot of money for me," the entrepreneur laments, who at the time was plagued not only by grief for his cousin but also by existential fears.
Lukasz U. was only 37 years old and left behind his wife and son. Two years after the tragedy, the family is somehow functioning again, Zurawski explains in an interview with the German Press Agency. "You can't turn back time," the Pole says, his voice becomes quieter. But when it comes to the way German authorities deal with the victims, he gets loud again. Then frustration and anger mix in Zurawski's grief.
Meanwhile, his shipping company has somewhat overcome the loss of the truck and is financially over the hill. Nevertheless, Zurawski cannot understand why Germany does not compensate him for the damage he has suffered. "I don't want to get rich at all," he emphasizes. For a rich country like Germany, the compensation of the victims should actually be a matter of honour, he says. But he received only 10,000 euros in damages for pain and suffering.
"Berlin had behaved "very poorly" towards him. And that is putting it mildly. "I am not to blame for the attack," Zurawski complains. He was treated unfairly by the neighbouring country, and that "only because I am Polish". The owner of the forwarding agency is convinced that a German entrepreneur would have received more support.
After all, Poland's government has been helpful, says Zurawski. Warsaw assumed the costs for the transfer of the dead cousin and his funeral. Even President Andrzej Duda was a guest at the funeral, while no country representative came from the German side. The driver's family was granted a special pension by the Polish government.
Zurawski, on the other hand, criticized the German Commissioner for Victims: under Edgar Franke, nothing had happened in his case, and his predecessor Kurt Beck - also from the SPD - had even claimed other people' successes. Zurawski believes that the fact that the truck manufacturer Scania waived any leasing installments still due and the industrial group Thyssen-Krupp paid compensation for the rusted steel load was not his merit, contrary to Beck's claims. Rather, the companies had bowed to pressure from the media.
The Pole has given up his own fight for compensation for the time being. It was hopeless, his lawyer told him so himself. "As long as the investigations in Germany have not been completed, I have no chance of achieving anything," Zurawski says, resignedly adding: "This is a fight like David's against Goliath.
A German committee of inquiry is currently investigating why Amri, who was shot dead after the attack on his escape in Italy, was not taken out of circulation in time by German security authorities. He had been known to them as an Islamist threat. After the attack, Polish authorities also began investigations. According to reports, the public prosecutor's office in Szczecin is investigating whether Amri had an accomplice. However, the dpa authority does not want to confirm this for investigation tactical reasons.
Zurawski's resentment cannot be alleviated by the memorial to the terror victims in Berlin either. "People are walking around on it," he says about the gilded crack in the floor, and the names of the dead on the steps of the memorial church do not lessen his displeasure either. At the memorial service for the terror victims last year, he saw a cigarette butt lying on it.
This year Zurawski wants to commemorate his deceased cousin and employee together with his transport colleagues in Poland. "We'll take the trucks to the cemetery and honk the horn in his honour."
Germany has paid 3.8 million euros in compensation for victims of the attack sofar.
BBM
