The 75th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II was marked at dawn on the Westerplatte peninsula in Gdansk, northern Poland.
“We Europeans must learn a lesson from the tragic Polish September, from the tragic years of the Second World War - tragic for all people without exception - that we cannot be naively optimistic,” said Prime Minister Donald Tusk after laying a wreath at the monument to Polish victims of WWII's first battle at 04:45 CET.
“Today, looking at the tragedy of the Ukrainians, looking at the war - because we need to use that word - we know that September 1939 cannot be allowed to be repeated.”
Tusk noted that at this week's NATO summit in Wales, member states will work towards “a new policy, whose main objective will be the security and effectiveness of our western community against the threat of war, not only in eastern Ukraine.”
It was on Gdansk's small Westerplatte peninsula that the first shots of World War II were fired, with a small detachment of Polish soldiers attempting to withhold a siege from Nazi Germany.
Later, Polish and German presidents Bronislaw Komorowski and Joachim Gauck will meet to commemorate the occasion.
Approximately 6 million Polish citizens perished (half of whom were Jewish) during World War II, while much of the country, including Warsaw, was reduced to ruins.
Source: PAP
Ewa Malcher
