“Disgrace!” – shouted Poles when Prime Minister Donald Tusk appeared at Westerplatte during the anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. The head of government was met with whistles and booing.
With the participation of, among others, the President of Poland Karol Nawrocki, Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Deputy Prime Minister, head of the Ministry of National Defence (MON) Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, and Speaker of the Sejm Szymon Hołownia, the ceremony marking the 86th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II took place on Monday at Westerplatte in Gdańsk.
In keeping with tradition, the morning ceremony was preceded by the sound of alarm sirens just before 4:45 a.m., as at that exact time on September 1, 1939, the German attack on the Polish Military Transit Depot located on the Gdańsk peninsula began. Soldiers of the Polish Army and invited guests sang the national anthem, and the white-and-red flag was raised on the mast.
President of Poland Karol Nawrocki delivered a speech in which he stressed that, in his view, building good relations with Germany today depends on the issue of Poland receiving war reparations. Donald Tusk, on the other hand, said: “We must understand who is the enemy and who is the ally; we must understand where the threat comes from today and with whom we should unite in the effort to defend Poland and the entire Western world.”
A crowd of Poles was also present to welcome the arriving guests. In the case of the Prime Minister, the welcome was extremely cold. Whistles, booing, and chants of “To Berlin!” and “Disgrace!” – this is how Donald Tusk was greeted.