According to them, it is not enough for those who attacked Poland and started the Second World War to bow their heads in repentance.
The issue of German reparations for the World War II damage caused to Poland has still not been settled, the Poles expect this, Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Sunday at the commemoration held in Wielun, central Poland, on the occasion of the 85th anniversary of the outbreak of the war.
On Sunday morning in Wielun, the Polish head of state commemorated the fact that the small town was bombed by the German air force on September 1, 1939. Twelve thousand local residents lost their lives, they were the first civilian victims of the war.
"In essence, we have forgiven, although we remember" -
MTI quotes Duda's words. The president recalled that there are still tens of thousands of Poles who were personally affected by German persecution during the war.
At the same time, the president underlined: the issue of German reparations is still not settled. He expressed his belief that this would happen. This is "not only possible, but possible, we Poles expect this," Duda said.
"In the same way, we and the whole free world expect Russia to pay for the crimes committed in Ukraine for the damage caused in Ukraine today"
he added.
The previous Polish government estimated the war damage caused by Germany at 6.2 thousand billion zlotys. On the other hand, the current Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, judged in February that, according to formal aspects, the matter of reparations was closed, but "the moral, financial and material satisfaction never took place".
Five years ago, in 2019, together with Andrzej Duda, Frank-Walter Steinmeier was present at the commemoration in Wielun. The German president then apologized for German crimes during the Second World War, a gesture he repeated in Warsaw on July 31 this year, on the eve of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. On this occasion, he announced that the German and Polish governments are discussing the plan for the German-Polish House in Berlin, which would be built as a memorial to the Polish victims of the Second World War.
"Several other things are in progress, even for the sake of the living victims of the occupation," he added.
At dawn on Sunday, a commemoration was also held on the Westerplatte peninsula, which was also attacked by Hitler's Germany on September 1 and is considered the site of the first European battle of the Second World War. At the event, Donald Tusk emphasized that it is not enough to talk about forgiveness, "it is not enough for those who attacked Poland and started the Second World War to bow their heads in repentance".
The most important lesson to be learned from history today is that "the entire Western world, Europe, NATO is ready to stand up and defend against the aggression that we are witnessing today on the battlefields of Ukraine," said the Polish Prime Minister.
Eighty-five years ago, on September 1, 1939, the Second World War broke out with the German Wehrmacht's attack on Poland.
MTI
Featured image: MTI/Sándor-palota/Róbert Érdi
