Members of the Border Defence Movement (ROG) travelled to Berlin with a cross they wanted to place by a boulder commemorating Polish victims of the Second World War. German police, however, appeared at the scene and prevented the cross from being installed. “This is a huge international scandal,” stressed Robert Bąkiewicz, leader of the Border Defence Movement.
On the first anniversary of the unveiling of the boulder placed near the German parliament to commemorate Polish victims of the Second World War, members of the Border Defence Movement arrived in Berlin. They brought with them a cross, which they intended to place by the boulder.
Volunteers from the organisation, together with its leader Robert Bąkiewicz, began assembling the cross in a nearby park. After some time, large numbers of German police officers arrived at the scene. The officers stopped the group as it was heading towards the monument with the cross.
“This is a huge international scandal that the Germans are stopping us with a cross we want to place in memory of the victims of crimes committed by their ancestors. It is unimaginable,”
said Robert Bąkiewicz, leader of the Border Defence Movement, in an interview with TV Republika reporter Janusz Życzkowski.
He added that “German police officers probably saw that we were assembling the cross here, which is why large police forces arrived at the scene.”
“The way in which action was taken against us was exceptionally brutal and terrifying. We are currently trying to reach an understanding with the police officers,” he explained.
Bąkiewicz also assessed that the officers’ reaction showed strong hostility towards Poland.
“We are here because millions of Poles were murdered, and Poland was robbed and destroyed. As a result of the war, we lost a vast part of our territory, and many millions of people had to leave their homes. Today, we cannot even place a cross by the stone that the Germans themselves put up,”
he said.
“We want to begin at 5 p.m. This is the anniversary of the unveiling of the stone we received from the German nation. We want to commemorate this anniversary. Instead of paying reparations and reckoning with their crimes – the murder of millions of Poles and the organisation of extermination camps – the Germans decided to put up only a stone. Since this stone has been placed here, they should expect that we will visit it every year, also on September 1,”
said Paweł Kryszczak.
The situation is currently being clarified. According to Robert Bąkiewicz, German police had no grounds to stop the participants of the event.
“The Germans are afraid of what is written on the plaques. The truth is written there: they abducted 200,000 children, murdered six million Poles, and robbed Poland. We are calling on the Polish ambassador. This is an assault on our freedom. We have not done anything unlawful here in Germany. We have committed no crime. At this moment, we are being deprived of the right to walk to the stone of shame,”
said the leader of the Border Defence Movement.
Members of the Border Defence Movement also brought plaques containing information about the destruction and losses inflicted on Poland by Germany in the years 1939-1945. According to the officers, their content is also to be checked. Only after the procedure has been completed will the participants be able, provided they receive permission, to proceed with the cross towards the boulder.
The boulder – a temporary “memorial site”
Germany unveiled the temporary “memorial site for Poland”, a boulder weighing nearly 30 tonnes, on June 16 last year. The “temporary” monument dedicated to the victims of German aggression and occupation in Poland was placed on the former site of the Kroll Opera House, where Adolf Hitler announced the attack on Poland on September 1, 1939. The plaque mounted on it bears an inscription in Polish and German: “To the Polish victims of Nazism and the victims of German occupation and terror in Poland 1939–1945.”