Berlin (dpa) – 84 years after the German invasion of Poland at the start of the Second World War, Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Green Party) remembers Germany’s responsibility for the security of Poland and other Eastern European countries. Recalling Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine, he said at a memorial service in Berlin’s Tiergarten: “East Europe’s security, Poland’s security is Germany’s security.”

The Second World War began with the German attack on Poland on September 1, 1945. Measured against the total population, Poland suffered more deaths during the nearly six years of war than any other country. Five to six million Poles lost their lives – about one in six. The level of destruction caused by the Nazi war of extermination was also relatively high. The capital city of Warsaw was nearly razed to the ground before the Wehrmacht withdrew.

Baerbock: “This war is a war against humanity”

“This war is a war against human dignity. The war against humanity,” said Baerbock. Just as the wounds from the war against human dignity in Poland and other countries have not healed for generations, so reconciliation remains an eternal duty.

In his commemorative address, Baerbock also advocated establishing a documentation center commemorating the complicated German-Polish history and brutal German occupation during World War II. Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth presented the first concept for this on Tuesday in conjunction with the Memorial Foundation for Murdered Jews in Europe. However, it may take years for this to happen.

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