(ANSA-AFP) - WARSAW, 01 SET - Poland on Sunday marked 85
years since the outbreak of World War II during annual
commemoration ceremony held at dawn to remember Nazi Germany's
first attacks that triggered the deadly conflict. Nearly six
million Poles died in the conflict that killed more than 50
million people overall, including the six million Jews who died
in the Holocaust, half of them Polish. The remembrance ceremony
on Sunday was traditionally held in Westerplatte, on Poland's
Baltic coast, where a Nazi German battleship had opened fire on
a Polish fort 85 years ago to the day.
Speaking at Westerplatte, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the
lessons of World War II were "not an abstraction" and drew
parallels with the war in neighbouring Ukraine. "This war is
coming again from the east," he said. He urged NATO member
states to be "fully devoted to defence... against the aggression
that we are witnessing today on the battlefields of Ukraine".
Adolf Hitler's attacks on Poland led Britain and France to
declare war on Nazi Germany. On September 17, the Soviet Union
in turn invaded Poland. After the Nazis tore up their pact with
Moscow, two alliances battled it out: the Axis powers led by
Germany, Italy and Japan and the victorious Allied forces led by
Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States. Polish
President Andrzej Duda took part in commemorations in the
western Polish city of Wielun where Germany's first bombs fell
85 years ago. Duda said "sorry" from Germany was not enough and
called for reparations, adding: "This issue is not settled".
Although it has been 85 years since the war started, there are
still unresolved matters according to Poland. Poland's current
pro-EU government led by Tusk has urged Germany to provide
financial compensation over losses the country sustained at the
hands of Nazi troops. (ANSA-AFP).
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