German invasion of Poland
Duda: “And this question is still not resolved”
01.09.2024, 09:34
On this day 85 years ago, the German invasion of Poland began – during the Second World War, up to six million people died in the country. In Wielun, Poland, President Duda recalled the cruel acts – and again called for reparations for the damage.
At the commemoration of the 85th anniversary of the German invasion of his country, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda again demanded compensation from Germany for the damage suffered during the Second World War. “Forgiveness and acknowledgment of guilt are one thing, making amends for the damage is another,” said Duda in the small Polish town of Wielun. “And this question has still not been resolved, and has been for 80 years, if you count the period of the Second World War.”
The German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 marked the beginning of the Second World War. Even before the bombardment of Westerplatte near Danzig, the small town of Wielun, near the then German-Polish border, was bombed by the German Air Force. It is estimated that up to 1,200 civilians were killed in this attack alone. During the entire Second World War, it is estimated that up to six million people died in Poland, and the capital city of Warsaw was completely destroyed.
President Duda comes from the ranks of the national conservative PiS, which governed Poland from 2015 to 2023. At the time, the PiS government had shattered relations with Berlin with anti-German tones and reparations demands amounting to 1.3 trillion euros. But the issue of World War II reparations is not off the table for Donald Tusk’s center-left government, which has been in office since December. At the German-Polish government consultations in early July, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced aid for surviving victims of the German occupation in Poland. He did not give any concrete figures.
Tusk: Rely on the EU and NATO
Meanwhile, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk recalled the events of the early morning hours of September 1, 1939 on the Westerplatte near Gdansk. The German military ship SMS “Schleswig-Holstein” began bombarding the peninsula in front of the port of Gdansk at 4:45 a.m. The Polish army had an ammunition depot there that was built like a fortress.
Today, the war is coming from the east, said Tusk, referring to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. “Today we are not saying: ‘Never again war.’ Today we must say: ‘Never again loneliness.’ Never again in history must Poland face the aggression of one or another neighbour alone.” That is why Poland is modernising its army and is relying on the EU and NATO.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock underlined the reconciliation between Germans and Poles in recent decades at X: “Our German-Polish friendship is supported by all Poles who have retained the strength to be human for one another. It is our responsibility and duty to live our friendship in the heart of Europe out of an awareness of our past.”