As Poles demand explanations following the brutal intervention of German police in Berlin, Germany’s ambassador to Warsaw, Miguel Berger, remains tellingly silent. He has not said a single word about the beating of participants in a patriotic demonstration. Instead, he published a post celebrating Polish-German cooperation and the anniversary of the Treaty on Good Neighbourhood. That is not all – the option to comment was disabled, which many perceived as an attempt to avoid uncomfortable questions about the actions of German officers.
On Tuesday, members of the Border Defense Movement arrived in Berlin at the site of a boulder placed near the German parliament, intended to commemorate Polish victims of World War II. They wanted to erect a symbolic cross there, but German police did not allow it. A brutal attack on the gathered Poles followed. Immediately after singing the Rota, members of the Border Defense Movement proceeded with the cross toward the memorial site for victims of Germans during World War II. At that moment, German police attacked the demonstrators. Officers began kicking them and striking them with their fists. Some members of the movement were hospitalized, including its leader, Robert Bąkiewicz.
The Polish diplomacy did not show much engagement in this matter. The ministry’s spokesperson, Maciej Wewiór, told the media that in the case of the “intervention of German police, the Polish consul in Berlin is acting”. This morning, on the profile of Radosław Sikorski on X, only one brief post appeared, in which he wrote about “reckless behavior”. In another, he attacked Robert Bąkiewicz, mockingly responding to the daughter of the movement’s leader.
How is diplomacy reacting? A statement only about… the treaty
On the profile of Germany’s ambassador to Poland, Miguel Berger, not a single post about yesterday’s incident in Berlin has appeared since yesterday. Instead – today before noon – Berger, who a few months ago closely followed the parliamentary debate on SAFE, published a post about… the Polish-German treaty.
“Today we celebrate the 35th anniversary of the signing of the Polish-German Treaty on Good Neighbourhood and Friendly Cooperation. This is marked by the Polish-German Forum in Berlin and the signing of a defence agreement in Warsaw.”, he wrote.
Notably, Berger disabled the ability to post comments under his entry.
It is worth noting that today, at the headquarters of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berlin, the Polish-German Forum will take place with the participation of the heads of diplomacy of both countries, Radosław Sikorski and Johann Wadephul. On the same day, defence ministers Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and Boris Pistorius are to sign a bilateral military cooperation agreement.
Kosiniak-Kamysz also spoke about this in the Sejm. “Today marks the 35th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on Good Neighbourhood and Friendly Cooperation between Poland and Germany. It is an important anniversary and an important moment for serious words to be spoken from this podium”, he stated.
Referring to the scandal involving German police and members of the Border Defense Movement, he said: “Mr. Bąkiewicz’s provocations, both in Poland and abroad, serve the Russian Federation. This is the implementation of a strategy of danger to the Polish state, not a strategy of its security. It is the implementation of the Russian Federation’s security strategy by destroying national unity, weakening the community of Western states, and breaking up the European Union and NATO.”
Yesterday – on TV Republika – the station’s CEO Tomasz Sakiewicz said: “tomorrow Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, against the position of the president and against the will of Poles, wants to sign a military cooperation agreement with Germany”.
“Is this what this cooperation is supposed to look like? Poles are beaten and humiliated, while Germany is to dictate the terms of our functioning and erase our history. Are we supposed to pay reparations, as – according to the words of Donald Tusk – for Germany? Is this what this cooperation is supposed to look like? This is its beginning. If Mr. Kosiniak-Kamysz signs any agreement tomorrow, I hope that after losing power he will be held accountable for it. In my opinion, in this situation, it would simply be treason.”, he assessed.