“Forgiveness and acknowledgment of guilt is one thing, but reparations for damages is another. This matter has still not been settled and has never been settled for 80 years,” acknowledged President Andrzej Duda during the 85th anniversary of Germany’s assault on Poland in Wieluń. He expressed his belief that this issue would be resolved.
During the commemoration of the 85th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II, the President recalled that on the early morning of September 1, 1939, Germany conducted an aerial attack on Wieluń, even though the town and its inhabitants were innocent. He emphasized that the brutal mass attack on sleeping people was “an act of absolute barbarism.”
“Germans Decided to Crush the Poles”
Andrzej Duda pointed out that Germany had resolved to crush the Poles, which was the purpose of their attack. He emphasized that Poland stood up, opposed this, and fought from the first day of the war, resisting the “death industry” of Nazi Germany.
“We say: ‘never again war,’ we say: ‘there can never again be world consent to this.’ At that time, there actually was such consent. Hitler dared because he had this consent. He understood it that way because when he previously carried out the Anschluss of Austria, and when he had earlier effectively annexed Czechoslovakia, when he had started the extermination of Jews in Germany, the world did not react,” said the president.
As he noted, 15 years ago, then-President Lech Kaczyński emphasized this in his speech at Westerplatte.
“He said very clearly: ‘one must not yield to imperialism and World War II is a great lesson of this,'” recalled Andrzej Duda.
“Forgiveness is One Thing. Reparations Another”
The head of state also assessed that “it can be boldly said: indeed we have forgiven, though we remember, though there is pain, though there are still tens of thousands who have been personally harmed by the Germans.”
President stressed that “everything we lost over more than 40 years behind the ‘Iron Curtain,’ no one will account for and no one will compensate for, but for the calculable losses we suffered due to the war and assault, reparations are not only possible but due.” “We Poles expect it,” he emphasized.
“Just as we and the entire free world expect that Russia will pay for the crimes in Ukraine and for the destructions it is causing today in Ukraine, because this is an element of ordinary justice and logical consequences. If there is destruction, reparations are due and if there is a culprit, the culprit is responsible,” said Andrzej Duda.
According to the president, “Polish authorities should demand this and I deeply believe that they will demand it until it is successful.”
“I count on us having honest support from the international community in this matter, because we simply deserve it, because we have always been on the right side,” pointed out the president.