{"id":9857,"date":"2019-08-19T15:14:55","date_gmt":"2019-08-19T13:14:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/partnerschaftsverein-adelebsen.de\/?p=9857"},"modified":"2021-03-10T19:14:34","modified_gmt":"2021-03-10T18:14:34","slug":"bundespraesident-steinmeier-reist-nach-wielun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/partnerschaftsverein-adelebsen.de\/en\/bundespraesident-steinmeier-reist-nach-wielun","title":{"rendered":"Federal President Steinmeier goes to Wielu\u0144"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the invitation of the Polish President Andrzej Duda, the German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier participates in commemorative events marking the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War in Wielu\u0144 and Warsaw.<\/p>\n

Excerpt from the press release<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n

“August 8, 2019<\/p>\n

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will travel to Poland from 31 August to 1 September 2019. There, at the invitation of Polish President Andrzej Duda, he takes part in the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War.<\/p>\n

With Wielu\u0144 the Federal President visits the place, which was first destroyed in the early morning hours of September 1, 1939 by the attacks of the German air force. From 4:20 a.m. he will commemorate the beginning of the war together with President Duda and then meet with contemporary witnesses.<\/p>\n

In Warsaw, the Federal President takes part in the central Polish commemoration …”<\/p>\n

copyright of the photo: Bundesregierung\/Steffen Kugler<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The speech of the Federal President in Wielu\u0144<\/h3>\n

80 years ago, at this very moment, all hell rained down on Wielu\u0144 \u2013 fuelled by German racist barbarity and the desire to annihilate.<\/p>\n

Thank you, citizens of Wielu\u0144, for allowing me to be with you here on this day of remembrance and commemoration. Thank you, Mr President \u2013 dear Andrzej Duda \u2013 for inviting me.<\/p>\n

All those who have heard the stories, who have seen the pictures, who have seen the devastation, the suffering and the death that the German attack brought to Wielu\u0144 80 years ago on this day; all those who know the violence and destruction began here that would over the next six years spread throughout Poland and all over Europe \u2013 they are equally aware that it is not at all a matter of course to ask a German Federal President to stand here before you today.<\/p>\n

So I stand before you \u2013 survivors, descendants of the victims, old and young, citizens of Wielu\u0144 \u2013 in gratitude and humility.<\/p>\n

What happened in Wielu\u0144 was a warning flare \u2013 a terrorist attack by the German Luftwaffe and a harbinger of all that would follow over the next six years.<\/p>\n

We call it war \u2013 because we lack a proper way to describe all the horror of those years. We call it war \u2013 a frenzied, unchecked desire to annihilate that would wipe off the face of the earth more than just this city, its inhabitants and their history. It was meant to eradicate Polish and European culture, to make way for the delusions of a criminal.<\/p>\n

The attack on Wielu\u0144 had a singular purpose: to test capabilities that had been designed to wreak such destruction. The cynicism of the German attackers was boundless; their actions were inhumane, and the consequences for the inhabitants of this city were terrible.<\/p>\n

And yet, far too few Germans today know of this place.<\/p>\n

Far too few know about these deeds.<\/p>\n

The time has come to commemorate what happened in Wielu\u0144 and in many other Polish cities and towns that were levelled in the same way that German crimes in other places are commemorated, such as those in Guernica, Lidice and Oradour \u2013 and the time has come for us to find new and appropriate forms of remembrance, including in
\nGermany and in Berlin.<\/p>\n

Wielu\u0144 must be in our minds, and in our hearts.<\/p>\n

Here in Wielu\u0144, neighbourly ties between Poland and Germany were destroyed with such a radical will to annihilate and such incredible violence that the memories are painful to this day.<\/p>\n

The terrorist acts were followed by destruction, humiliation, persecution and torture, and by the murder of millions of Polish citizens and of Polish and European Jews.<\/p>\n

Rest assured that there is not a single German who is not moved when they reflect on this trail of barbarism. This also holds true for those who reject these memories, who feel such strong humiliation that they seek escape through denial and aggression.<\/p>\n

What German could look at Wielu\u0144, at Warsaw or Palmiry, or at Auschwitz and other places where the Shoah took place, without feeling shame?<\/p>\n

It was Germans who committed these crimes against humanity in Poland. Anyone calling them things of the past, or claiming that the vile rule of terror of the National Socialists in Europe was a mere footnote of German history, is passing judgement on him or herself.<\/p>\n

What occurred there will never be a thing of the past. It occupies us. \u201cFor anyone who was born a German does have something in common with German destiny and German guilt.\u201d Anyone referring to German history must also grapple with this statement by Thomas Mann.<\/p>\n

What occurred will never be a thing of the past. Nor will our responsibility. We know that.<\/p>\n

As Germany\u2019s Federal President, let me assure you that we will not forget.<\/p>\n

We want to, and we will, remember.<\/p>\n

And we will bear the responsibility that our history imposes upon us.<\/p>\n

I bow before the victims of the attack on Wielu\u0144.<\/p>\n

I bow before the Polish victims of German tyranny.<\/p>\n

And I ask for your forgiveness.<\/p>\n

Chyl\u0119 czo\u0142a przed ofiarami ataku na Wielu\u0144.<\/p>\n

Chyl\u0119 czo\u0142a przed polskimi ofiarami niemieckiej tyranii.<\/p>\n

I prosz\u0119 o przebaczenie.<\/p>\n

Poland resisted the infamous attempt to wipe it off the map. It stood back up through its own efforts, rising from the rubble of war and from bondage. It has become a free Poland in a free Europe, also because its citizens never lost sight of their goal:<\/p>\n

\u201cFather tells us that this is Europe.<\/em>\u201d Czes\u0142aw Mi\u0142osz writes,
\n\u201cOn sunny days, you can see it all clearly.
\nNow it is smoking after many floods<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Poland has never stopped being part of this Europe that Mi\u0142osz speaks of. Poland was, and Poland will remain a country at the heart of Europe.<\/p>\n

Germany will always be grateful for how we were taken back into the fold, as a European nation, after all that Germans had inflicted on the people of Wielu\u0144, and on millions of others on our continent.<\/p>\n

Germany will always be grateful for how the Poles fought for freedom, how they tore down the Iron Curtain and prepared the ground for a united Europe.<\/p>\n

We cannot undo the injustice and suffering that was inflicted back then. We also cannot make a tally. And yet, Poland has offered Germany the hand of reconciliation. In spite of everything.<\/p>\n

We are profoundly grateful for the hand they have extended, for Poland\u2019s willingness to walk with us down the path of reconciliation.<\/p>\n

The path of reconciliation has led us to a common and united Europe.<\/p>\n

A Europe that was founded on the spirit of resisting vile, racist doctrines, as well as totalitarianism and tyranny \u2013 and on the spirit of freedom, democracy and the rule of law.<\/p>\n

A Europe founded on the spirit of Poland.<\/p>\n

That spirit will also guide us Germans.<\/p>\n

We want to preserve this path of reconciliation.<\/p>\n

As good neighbours of Poland, we want to continue down this path.<\/p>\n