WARSAW, Poland—Tuesday, September 1 marked the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War in Poland.
The German battleship Schleswig-Holstein attacked the Polish military base Westerplatte on the first of September 1939 at 4:45 a.m. Poland was overwhelmed by the blitzkrieg from Nazi Germany from its west. Blitzkrieg, means a war conducted with great speed and force.
A little over two weeks later Poland was attacked from the east by the Soviet Union. Germany and the Soviet Union had signed the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact in August 1939. The agreement left Poland at the mercy of both totalitarian regimes.
“We meet here to remember who started the war, who the culprit was, who the executioner in the war was, and who the victim of this aggression was,” said Donald Tusk, Poland’s Prime Minister.
The war in Europe ended on May 8, 1945. Poland lost six million citizens. Half of them were Jews. During the German occupation, the country was used as a base for the Nazis’ genocide machinery. It was home to Auschwitz, Majdanek, Sobibor and other death camps built for the annihilation of Europe’s Jews.
“I remember the six million Jews and all others who suffered, who died a terrible death in German concentration and extermination camps,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
After 1945 the Soviet army remained in Poland, and Poland became part of the Soviet Union.
“The Soviet Army in 1945, liberated our territory, but couldn’t give us freedom, because they didn’t have it,” said Donald Tusk, Polish Prime Minister.
It was not until 1989 that real freedom began for Poland.
The German battleship Schleswig-Holstein attacked the Polish military base Westerplatte on the first of September 1939 at 4:45 a.m. Poland was overwhelmed by the blitzkrieg from Nazi Germany from its west. Blitzkrieg, means a war conducted with great speed and force.
A little over two weeks later Poland was attacked from the east by the Soviet Union. Germany and the Soviet Union had signed the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact in August 1939. The agreement left Poland at the mercy of both totalitarian regimes.
“We meet here to remember who started the war, who the culprit was, who the executioner in the war was, and who the victim of this aggression was,” said Donald Tusk, Poland’s Prime Minister.
The war in Europe ended on May 8, 1945. Poland lost six million citizens. Half of them were Jews. During the German occupation, the country was used as a base for the Nazis’ genocide machinery. It was home to Auschwitz, Majdanek, Sobibor and other death camps built for the annihilation of Europe’s Jews.
“I remember the six million Jews and all others who suffered, who died a terrible death in German concentration and extermination camps,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
After 1945 the Soviet army remained in Poland, and Poland became part of the Soviet Union.
“The Soviet Army in 1945, liberated our territory, but couldn’t give us freedom, because they didn’t have it,” said Donald Tusk, Polish Prime Minister.
It was not until 1989 that real freedom began for Poland.
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