President Andrzej Duda took part in commemorations in Wieluń, the first Polish city to be bombed by the Germans at 4:40 am on 1 September 1939.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Beata Szydło along with officials including Senate Speaker Stanisław Karczewski, National Security Bureau head Paweł Soloch and Gdańsk Mayor Paweł Adamowicz, took part in ceremonies on the Westerplatte peninsula in the northern city of Gdańsk.
Addressing those gathered in Wieluń, President Duda said that it is necessary to make sure that "the truth about World War II is not blurred.”
He added that remembering the events of 78 years ago is important because “it is necessary to know and remember who was the victim and who was the murderer.”
Duda also said that the Polish people “must build a strong state in order for war to not repeat itself.”
“This state should be built with the strength of the young,” he added. “They need to be taught patriotic values and told the truth about Polish history. It is necessary to pass on to them the spirit that in the past allowed us to weather the most difficult of times as a nation.”
The Wieluń observances took place at a site where there was a hospital on the day the war broke out. The war’s first bombs fell on that building, killing 32 people, including 26 patients. In all, the Germans killed around 1,200 civilians in the city that day.
The Gdańsk commemoration, meanwhile, traditionally started at 4:45 am, the time on 1 September 1939 that the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein began shelling a Polish military depot on Westerplatte in the first battle between Polish and German soldiers of WWII.
Sirens wailed and the Polish national anthem was played at a monument honouring those who defended the Polish coast.
The week-long defence by the Poles against overwhelmingly larger German forces became a symbol of the heroism of Polish soldiers.
PM Beata Szydło (centre) and government ministers at Westerplatte ceremonies. Photo: PAP/Roman Jocher
During the ceremony, Szydło said that Westerplatte was a symbol of the “unity, heroism and patriotism of the Polish nation.”
She noted that the German forces could not break the defenders' resistance for a week even though they were 20 times more numerous. She also said the Polish soldiers fended off several dozen attacks and gained the respect of the invaders.
Six million Polish citizens lost their lives in World War II, Szydło said. The country emerged from the war completely destroyed and looted, and its economic potential lay in ruins, she added. (gs/pk)
Source: IAR, wpolityce.pl