Poland’s top officials stressed the need to bolster its defenses in the face of the war in neighboring Ukraine and spoke of trade-offs as they led solemn ceremonies early Sunday to mark 85 years since Nazi Germany’s forces invaded and bombed Polish territory at the start of World War II.
Sirens sounded and a ceremonial bell rang as President Andrzej Duda and Germany’s deputy ambassador, Robert Rohde, attended a ceremony in Wielun, the first civilian town hit by German bombs in the early hours of Sept. 1, 1939. About 1,200 people were killed in the attack, which began at about 4:40 a.m., according to witnesses.
“We can say that we have forgiven, even though we remember, even though the pain is still persistent and even though there are still tens of thousands of people who were directly affected by the Germans,” said Duda, who also called on Berlin to compensate for the damages.
Meanwhile, at a memorial on the Baltic Sea peninsula of Westerplatte, where a military post was attacked by a German ship just minutes after the bombing of Wielun, Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz laid wreaths and attended a roll call of fallen soldiers. At the time, the vastly outnumbered soldiers at the military post fought for seven days before surrendering to the Germans, becoming a symbol of heroism and patriotism.
Tusk said that war is once again present in the region after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022 and continues until now.
He pointed out, in a clear reference to Germany, that it was not enough to talk about “reconciliation” or “hanging one’s head in guilt”, adding that the best example of the lessons learned from the past was “the preparation to organize the entire Western world, Europe and NATO, to defend against the aggressions that we witness today on the battlefields in Ukraine”.
“Today is not the day we say ‘Never again.’ Today is the day we say ‘Never again alone,’” the prime minister said.
Tusk also said that Poland had “the most modern army in Europe, one of the strongest in Europe”, to actively contribute to the unity and strength of the NATO military alliance and the European continent and “to defend our civilization” and “never again expose our homeland to any risk”.
During more than five years of war and a brutal German occupation, Poland lost 6 million citizens or the equivalent of one-sixth of its population, including three million Jews. The country also suffered severe damage to its infrastructure, industry and agriculture.
Poland’s previous government demanded $1.3 trillion in compensation from Germany, while Tusk and his current cabinet have reduced the demands to some compensation that could serve to strengthen ties between the neighbouring nations. Germany insists the matter is closed after it paid compensation to the Moscow-led Eastern bloc at the end of the war. Warsaw says it never received anything.
Addressing the audience at the ceremony in Wielun, the Polish president said: “Forgiveness and admission of guilt are one thing, but compensation for the damage caused is another. And that issue has not yet been agreed upon.”
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