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Aug 30, 2023 | History, Politics
The town that was the first to be attacked by Nazi Germany during the invasion of Poland in September 1939 has adopted a resolution calling on Berlin to pay war reparations
The document, which is the first of its kind issued by a Polish local authority, has been welcomed by the government official in charge of overseeing Poland’s claim for up to $1.3 trillion in war reparations from Germany
He has called on other municipalities to do the same
Symboliczna decyzja❗️Rada Miasta Wieluń możliwe, że jako 1 w Polsce podjęła uchwałę w sprawie poparcia dla reparacji, odszkodowania i zadośćuczynienia z tytułu strat, jakie Polska poniosła z tytułu napaści Niemiec oraz późniejszej okupacji. pic.twitter.com/o4XrJOwBXH
— Arkadiusz Mularczyk (@arekmularczyk) August 29, 2023
At a session of the town council in Wieluń
councillors yesterday voted unanimously to adopt a “resolution on reparations
damages and compensation for the losses suffered by Poland due to the German invasion and subsequent occupation”
The full text of the document – which is symbolic and does not have any legal force – is not available
But the Polish Press Agency (PAP) reports that it expresses support for the resolution adopted by the national parliament in September last year calling for reparations from Germany
It also notes how Wieluń itself “suffered huge material and…human losses as a result of World War Two…[and] we therefore have every right to demand that the government of Germany unambiguously takes moral
historical and legal responsibility for the damages and losses”
Germany's ambassador has warned Poland not to "open the Pandora's box" of war reparations because "nothing good would come of this for Europe"
But he also admitted that Germany's support for the Nord Stream gas pipelines from Russia "was a mistake" https://t.co/fLSbOKVMXe
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) May 24, 2023
in what is considered the first major military act of the war
It is also regarded as the first German war crime during the conflict
given that the town had no military targets nor even significant economic infrastructure
the Germans dropped 380 bombs with a total weight of around 46 tonnes
Estimates of the number killed during the attack range from hundreds up to 2,000
Around 75% of Wieluń’s buildings were left in ruins
including virtually the whole historic town centre
Each year on 1 September, when Poland marks the anniversary of the invasion, senior officials visit Wieluń
The destruction of Wieluń’s town centre after the German attack of 1 September 1939
Wieluń’s resolution yesterday came shortly after a visit to the town by deputy foreign minister Arkadiusz Mularczyk
who is the government official responsible for overseeing the campaign to obtain reparations from Germany
he told PAP that the council’s decision to pass the resolution was “an incredible symbol”
Mularczyk noted that it was probably the first municipality in Poland to adopt such a document
and he expressed hope that others would follow
that he has sent almost 3,000 letters to local authorities calling for them to adopt such resolutions
Germany has outlined plans for a new centre in Berlin commemorating the victims of German atrocities in Poland during WWII
"We Germans, and that includes me, still have a lot to learn," says Claudia Roth, the federal commissioner for culture and media https://t.co/HeuP4zGozV
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) August 30, 2023
Tomorrow, the councils of Prudnik, a town in southwest Poland, and Trzciana
a rural district in the south of the country
are both due to decide on similar resolutions regarding German reparations
The German government, however, insists that there is no legal basis for such claims and has rejected Poland’s demands
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland
He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications
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Polish President Andrzej Duda took part in a ceremony in the western Polish town of Wieluń
to mark 85 years since Nazi Germany invaded Poland
located just 20km from the pre-war Polish-German border
was the first Polish town to be bombed by the Luftwaffe at 4.40am on 1 September 1939
70% of the town's buildings were destroyed
it is estimated that more than 1,000 were killed
had decided to "brutally crush Poles by attacking women and children
They knew perfectly well that they were bombing a city"
Dozens of Polish cities were bombed that day
Minutes after the attack on Wieluń started
German warships and artillery began pounding the Westerplatte peninsula where a small garrison of Polish soldiers guarded the approach to Gdansk
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the Westerplatte's Polish defenders resisted repeated infantry assaults and aerial bombardments for a week until they were forced to surrender
Such is the importance of 1 September 1939 in Polish history that it is customary for Polish leaders to attend dawn ceremonies at either Wieluń or the Westerplatte each year
marking the exact time when the invasion began
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk took part in this morning's ceremony at the Westerplatte
The attacks of that day marked the start of World War II
Britain and France declared war on Germany
neither the British nor French air force had the ability to fight an air war over Poland
Germany's invasion destroyed large swathes of Polish towns and cities and inflicted mass civilian casualties
Atrocities against civilians by the invading army were widespread
The Polish army resisted ferociously for weeks and even mounted a large-scale counterattack in the second week of September
But the Poles had a tenth of the number of tanks used by Germany to launch its blitzkrieg into Poland
The Polish air force was also much smaller than the Luftwaffe
The catastrophe worsened on 17 September when the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east
A secret agreement between the Soviets and Nazi Germany - part of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact - had set out plans to carve up Poland between them
"Poland in 1939 was the most uncomfortable spot on earth
Hitler on one side and Stalin on the other
had no conception of that," Professor Norman Davies
a British historian who has written numerous books on Polish history
"Everybody thought the war would be ten times smaller and less destructive than it was
I would say nobody foresaw that Poland's neighbours
would join together to completely wipe Poland off the map," said Prof Davies
Warsaw surrendered on 27 September after the Polish government had gone into exile
Germany’s invasion marked the start of almost six years of brutal occupation of Poland
More than six million Poles - about 20% of the country’s pre-war population - died
That death toll included three million Polish Jews who were murdered by the Nazis in extermination camps
It is often said that every Polish family suffered losses during the war and has a story about those terrible years
was born and raised a few kilometres outside of Wieluń
the first Polish town to be bombed in the war
like many Polish people of her generation grew up in a society that had been collectively traumatised by the experience of living through the occupation
lost her fiancé and brother during the defence of Poland in September 1939
Another brother was transported to Germany to work in a munitions factory and died after the war from inhaling gunpowder fumes
managed to escape Poland after the surrender and made it all the way south to the Balkans where he spent the war fighting in a unit of Yugoslav partisans
He returned to Poland after the war and spent his life working as a florist
Their house was given to a German family as Germany incorporated western Poland into the Reich
relations between Poland and Germany have largely been reconciled in the decades since the war
and at great speed since 1990 when an independent Poland and reunified Germany re-emerged after the collapse of Communism
under the leadership of Helmet Kohl and then Gerhard Schroder
became the strongest advocate of Poland’s application to join the European Union
Germany is Poland's largest trading partner
German presidents and chancellors have attended commemorative ceremonies in recent years for the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the Warsaw Uprising - two wartime uprisings in the Polish capital against German forces
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier attended the commemorative ceremony in Wieluń of the 80th anniversary of the German invasion
Such gestures by German politicians are genuinely appreciated by most in Poland
Diplomatic relations between Berlin and Warsaw dipped during the eight years of Poland's previous nationalist Law and Justice government
had a habit of delivering anti-German rhetoric in his speeches
the Law and Justice government also demanded that Germany pay €1.3 trillion in reparations to for the destruction and loss of life caused by Nazi Germany to Poland during World War II
The debate over the need for some form of compensation payments from Germany for the war's last remaining Polish victims continues but Poland's current coalition government is not pursuing the same demands laid out by Law and Justice
Current Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has taken a more collaborative approach to working with Germany
a Polish political analyst and director of the GLOBESEC think tank
said that Poland's current government is "not anti-German" and has prioritised Polish-German relations in the context of the Weimar Triangle - a diplomatic alliance between France
Germany and Poland - "in order to extract more influence on the EU"
He pointed to the example of the Nord Stream pipeline carrying gas from Russia to Germany
which was opposed by both sides of Poland's political spectrum
"The close relationship in the economic sphere between Putin's Russia and the former German government is something which was troublesome for whoever was in power in Poland
had a policy of Russia-first in its approach towards Eastern Europe," said Mr Zaborowski
the legacy of 1939 still influences Polish foreign policy and the country's defence doctrine
Membership of a military alliance with many allies is widely viewed in Poland as the most ironclad way of protecting Polish sovereignty
more than 90% of Poles support their country's membership of the alliance - the highest ever level
"One of the deep lessons of 1939 is Poland couldn't rely on great powers to protect them," said Prof Davies
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Poland\u0027s President Andrzej Duda lays a wreath at the monument of a former hospital in Wieluń
the first Polish town bombed by Nazi Germany in September 1939
\u003Cp\u003EGerman troops demolish a Polish border post on 1 September 1939.\u003C/p\u003E
\u003Cp\u003EPolish cavalry during the Battle of the Bzura
\u003Cp\u003EThe Polish city of Białystok after a German air raid
\u003Cp\u003EAllies and trading partners: Donald Tusk and Olaf Scholz meeting in Berlin last February\u003C/p\u003E
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It was also the first one to be bombed by the Luftwaffe
made history as the first city to be attacked by the Nazi Army at the start of World War II in September 1939
it’s making history once again by becoming the first municipality in Poland to claim reparations from Germany for the damages and suffering it had incurred at that time and during the entire occupation
which back then was close to the border between the two countries was the first to be bombed by the Luftwaffe Nazi airforce
the Wielun town councillors adopted a resolution to that respect making things seem rather official
the document itself is more symbolic than binding and is an expression of the town’s will
It is also meant as support and agreement with the Polish national parliament’s resolution that the country should demand reparations from Germany
the Polish government grabbed the headlines with the extravagant claim that it had calculated the amount of reparations that Germany owed Poland as compensation for the 1939-1945 occupation
And that amount came up to 1.3 trillion dollars
The head-spinning sum is meant to cover all Polish losses in all aspects
The German government has generally brushed off these claims by the Polish officials
stating that all matters have been settled under international law after the War
Poland’s ruling conservative party PiS (Law and Justice) has been promoting the reparations narrative since at least 2015
as part of its somewhat Eurosceptic and nationalist stance
Their claim stems from the fact that after the War
Communist Poland couldn’t really exercise sovereignty as it was pressured by the Soviet Union not to seek reparations
described the rehashing of the reparations subject as the “opening of Pandora’s box” and something that’s better left “untouched”
But it looks like the town councillors of Wielun have decided to try and open the box
The 10th European Conference on Sustainable Cities and Towns (ESCT) sets the stage for stronger cooperation between the EU
national and local level to fast track Europe's transition to climate neutrality
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Germany’s president asked for forgiveness for his country on Sunday (1 September) for the suffering of the Polish people during World War Two as Poland marked 80 years since the Nazi German invasion that unleashed the deadliest conflict in human history
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier delivers a speech during a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II in Wielun
US President Donald Trump abruptly called off a weekend trip to Poland on Thursday (29 August)
saying he wanted to stay home and make sure the federal government is prepared for a looming hurricane headed for Florida
While most of the world commemorates 70 years since the end of World War Two this year
the war began back in the beginning of September 1939 with the German’s first ever blitzkrieg attack
Germany began to invade Poland and the Allies had committed to war with Germany if it attempted to invade the country
The war started when Nazi troops began to shell a Polish military garrison at Westerplatte
However earlier that morning between 04:30 and 05:00 the Luftwaffe bombed the small Polish town of Wieluń
The town had around 16,000 people living in it at the time and all of whom were sound asleep when the bombing occurred
its residents and government were taken by surprise and there was no military equipment located in Wieluń to counter-attack
Neither was the town of any military or economic importance and therefore it was a clear message that the Nazis were targeting Poland’s civilians
The Germans dropped almost 400 bombs of 46 tonnes each on Wieluń
as well as the church which had been built five centuries earlier
The town’s old square was decimated with only one building left standing
The bombing raid lasted about 10 hours and somewhere between 1000 and 2000 people were killed
Only around 10% of the town centre’s buildings were left standing
This was the first experience the world had seen of the Nazi’s blitzkrieg strategy of intense air bombing on its targets
The same strategy was later used in Belgium
It was shortly after the air bombing of Wieluń began
that the shelling of Westerplatte also began
The shelling was initiated by the Nazi navy’s battleship
World War Two went on to last six years, ending in the spring of 1945 in Europe and later in the summer in the Pacific. Millions of people were killed both on the frontlines and in the Nazi’s mass extermination programme for Jews and other prisoners.
Ian Harvey is one of the authors writing for WAR HISTORY ONLINE
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Germany made an emotional appeal for forgiveness to neighboring Poland 80 years after the start of World War II that was met by a renewed demand for reparations by the fellow European Union member’s prime minister
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filling in after a cancellation by President Donald Trump
praised Poland’s wartime heroism at the commemoration and said the evils of Nazi and Communist totalitarianism amounted to a period in history when men had “forgotten God.”
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where Nazi bombers caused the first large-scale civilian casualties of the conflict in an air raid on Sept
said his country won’t forget the past and takes responsibility for the war’s terror and atrocities
all hell rained down on Wielun — fueled by German racist barbarity and the desire to annihilate,” Steinmeier said
“I bow my head before the victims of the attack on Wielun
I bow my head in front of the Polish victims of German tyranny and ask for forgiveness,” Steinmeier said
at an event hosted by his counterpart Andrzej Duda
The ceremonies to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the start of the world’s bloodiest conflict gathered about 40 delegations in Warsaw on Sunday
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
as Hurricane Dorian threatened to cause widespread damage in the southern Atlantic states
In his speech near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw
determination and righteous fury than the Poles” during the world’s bloodiest conflict
Poland’s Duda said the world hasn’t learned its lesson from World War II
mentioning genocides in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda
as well as recent territorial incursions by Russia in Ukraine and Georgia
Pence condemned the “twisted ideologies” of the the 20th century
the pervasive lies of state propaganda machines
the destruction of churches and the endless hostility to people of faith.”
At a separate ceremony in Gdansk commemorating an attack on Poland from the Baltic Sea
Polish Premier Mateusz Morawiecki returned to the controversial topic of wartime reparations
He called on his nation’s western neighbor and biggest trading partner to take “responsibility” for the economic costs of its invasion and occupation
a Polish special parliamentary group published a preliminary study that showed the six-year conflict may have cost the Polish economy more than $850 billion — or nearly two years of the eastern European country’s output
The German government has said all claims were settled long ago
“We have to remember the victims and we have to demand compensation,” Morawiecki said
Unlike western European nations that settled World War II claims in the decades after the war
Poland says it was effectively prevented from doing so by its communist-era overlord Moscow
Poland signed its post-war border treaty with Germany only in 1990
Calls for reparations from the 1939-1945 conflict
during which about 6 million Poles — half of them Jews — were killed
have soured ties between Warsaw and Berlin since 2017
Poles claim that a 1953 declaration by communist authorities wasn’t a sovereign decision but one made by a puppet regime of the Soviet Union
The one-sided declaration was made “in accord with the constitutional order of that era
and amid potential pressure from the Soviet Union
and can’t be recognized,” the Polish government said in 2004
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2019Germany's president expressed deep remorse for the suffering his nation inflicted on Poland and the rest of Europe during World War II
warning of the dangers of nationalism as world leaders gathered Sunday in the country where the war started at incalculable costs
at the ceremony at Wielun for the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War
GERMAN and Polish Christians in churches in Poland and Germany commemorated the start of the Second World War 80 years ago
They made a plea for a united Europe that will withstand tyranny and work towards unity
“Today is the 80th anniversary of the day when German troops invaded Poland
and thus started the Second World War that caused huge amounts of distress and misery to the countries of Europe
and especially over Poland,” the Polish-born Pastor Manfred Rekowski said
who is President of the Protestant Church in Rhineland
which was connected via a Skype link to a congregation in the town of Pasym
“We must realise that peace and reconciliation must always be earned again — 80 years after the beginning of the Second World War.”
Every year, a joint Polish-German Roman Catholic service takes place in Wielun
to mark the hour that German planes bombed the city
Having the two highest German representatives present was seen as sign of solidarity with Poland
On the eve of the anniversary last Saturday
leaders of the Protestant Churches in Germany (EKD) joined Protestants in Poland for a service in Holy Trinity Evangelical Church
pledging more co-operation and more exchanges with Berlin Cathedral in the future
The Polish and German Catholic Bishops’ conferences issued a joint statement signed by their respective heads: the Archbishop of Poznan
at this special historical moment we urge that our relations should never be marked with violence
It is up to us today to strengthen and deepen the unity of Europe
despite the historical distinctions of individual nations and states
but built on Christian foundations,” the statement read
said: “Just as in Germany defending the right of existence of the State of Israel is a fundamental obligation of the German state
in the same way the active commitment to a good political future of the Polish state and to the well-being of its citizens is one of the basic political obligations of our country.”
raised the issue of reparation from Germany
Poland received less reparation than its Western neighbours
Six million Poles and three million Jews were killed in Poland
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German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has asked Poland's forgiveness for Nazi "tyranny"
80 years on from the start of World War II
Mr Steinmeier and other world leaders are in Poland to commemorate the outbreak of the conflict
a ceremony was held in the Polish city of Wielun
Mr Steinmeier condemned the "desire to annihilate" that led to the attack
"I bow my head before the Polish victims of Germany's tyranny
And I ask forgiveness," Mr Steinmeier said
Mr Steinmeier spoke alongside his Polish counterpart
who denounced Nazi Germany's attack on Poland as "an act of barbarity"
which began shortly after 04:00 local time
a minute's silence was observed in memory of the victims
"Wielun was to show what kind of war it would be
including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US Vice-President Mike Pence
will gather for a ceremony in the Polish capital
Poland suffered some of the worst losses of World War II: about 6 million of its citizens were killed
Poland is still demanding compensation from Germany for the death and destruction inflicted
Recent calls for reparations by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki
whose governing Law and Justice (PiS) party has been accused of fanning nationalist sentiment
A Polish parliamentary committee is still assessing the amount of compensation
the German Luftwaffe (air force) bombarded the city of Wielun
Thousands of people are estimated to have died in the bombings
designed to sow terror among the civilian population
Britain gave Germany an ultimatum to cease military operations
Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September
igniting a six-year conflict that would kill tens of millions of people
commemorative events are also being held in Warsaw and the former military post of Westerplatte
where Nazi German battleships attacked a Polish military base on 1 September 1939
Mr Morawiecki and European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans attended a dawn remembrance
Mr Duda and Mr Pence will deliver speeches at the ceremony in Warsaw's Pilsudski Square
the site of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Major world leaders such as US President Donald Trump
who is busy dealing with preparations for Hurricane Dorian
France's Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will not be present
The commemorations will be attended by around 40 foreign delegations