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Merkel in Poland: "I Bow Before the Victims"
“The German invasion of Poland ushered in the most tragic chapter of European history,” declared Chancellor Angela Merkel in Gdansk, where she was attending the memorial ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the start of the Second World War.
Twenty heads of government gathered at the Westerplatte memorial site in response to an invitation issued by the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. They included the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, and his French opposite number, François Fillon. Together, they watched Polish soldiers lay wreaths at the Cemetery of the Defenders.
Accepting responsibility
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- Chancellor Merkel joins other leaders in laying candles on graves at the Cemetery of the Defenders.
- (© BPA)
“The war launched by Germany brought immeasurable suffering to many people – years of disenfranchisement, humiliation and destruction,” underscored the Chancellor. No country suffered under German occupation for as long as Poland. Angela Merkel reminded her audience of the 60 million people who lost their lives in the war started by Germany. “No words can come close to describing the suffering caused by this war and by the Holocaust. I bow before the victims,” she said.
Shaping the future together
Nobody can undo the horrors of the second world war. “But we can shape the future in the awareness of our continuing responsibility,” Merkel stressed.
In this way, Europe has emerged from a continent of terror and violence to become a continent of liberty and peace. Germany’s partners in the east and the west paved the way for this, thanks to their will for reconciliation.
Europe’s path to freedom was completed with the fall of the Iron Curtain, said Angela Merkel. The Germans will never forget how, in the tradition of Solidarność in Poland, people everywhere at that time courageously forced open the gates to liberty.
Thus it was a special German responsibility to stand by Poland and the other states of Central and Eastern Europe on their way to EU and NATO membership.
She was, she said, extremely moved by the invitation to attend the memorial ceremony. "I see it as a sign of our trusting neighborliness, our close partnership and our genuine friendship,” she continued.
Memorial site of Westerplatte
Westerplatte was a strategically important point for controlling Gdansk harbor. At the end of the 18th century, the Prussian state built four massive redoubts there. In 1924 the Westerplatte was ceded to the Polish state as a hereditary leasehold for use as an ammunition depot. Today it is a memorial site.
Every Pole is familiar with the name Westerplatte. On the morning of the 1st of September 1939 the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein, which was anchored in Gdansk, opened fire on the Polish ammunition depot. These shots are considered the official start of the second world war. Two hundred Polish soldiers defended the post for seven long days. Their stance has gone down in Polish history as a symbol of resistance to the German invader. The ruins of the garrison and the concrete bunker remind the visitor today of the battle. In 1966 a monument designed by Franciszek Duszenko and Adam Haupt was erected at the end of the promontory to honor the heroes of Westerplatte.
Cemetery of the Defenders
On the site of the guardhouse number 5, which was bombed on September 2, 1939, is a cemetery for the Polish soldiers who fell defending Westerplatte. Fifteen small crosses bear the names of those who fell and the date of their death. In the middle, under a large cross erected in 1971 is the urn containing the ashes of the Commander Henryk Sucharski , who died in Naples in 1946.The concrete cross in the vicinity is a reminder of the highest military distinction which was awarded to the defenders.
