Poland: Germany, Russia Offer Condolences at WWII Anniversary

Just before dawn in 1939 the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on Polish territory.

The war which followed lasted six years and killed more than 55 million people.

Seventy years later, European leaders from 20 countries gathered near Gdansk to remember the outbreak of the Second World War.

Both German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin came to pay their respects, but also to apologise.

[Angela Merkel, German Chancellor]:
„No other country in it’s history suffered under German occupation as much as Poland. Here at the Westerplatte I, as German chancellor, pay my respects to all the Poles who suffered incredibly under the crimes of the German occupation.“

Relations between Russia and Poland over the war are still not easy.

It was Russian dictator Josef Stalin’s non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany that opened the way for the occupation of Poland – by both countries.

But Putin asked the Polish to remember that in the end Russia and Poland fought side by side against a mutual enemy.

[Vladimir Putin, Russian Prime Minister]:
„And naturally, we need to admit to mistakes. Our country did it – our parliament has condemned the Ribentrop – Molotov pact and we have the right to expect that other countries which struck deals with the Nazis do the same.“

Warsaw also wants Russia to apologise for Stalin’s decision to have the entire Polish officer corps shot in the forests of Katyn.

For decades, Moscow blamed the Nazis, but after the fall of the Soviet Union it acknowledged they had been shot on Stalin’s orders.

Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister, chose to offer words of reconciliation.

[Donald Tusk, Polish Prime Minister]:
„There are different interpretations of history available. Everybody has their own memory, although facts that we interpret are the same. We want to remember these facts, not to use history against one another.“

The commemorations, which began at the exact hour the war started, were another small step towards full reconciliation between Germany, Russia and Poland.

(NTDTV)