Polish soldiers died for Europe - PM in Westerplatte
Poland's Prime Minister Beata Szydlo on Friday said that during the Second World War, Polish soldiers fought and died for the freedom of European nations.
At a ceremony to mark 78 years since the outbreak of WW2, in Westerplatte, where the first battle of the German invasion of Poland took place (see: NOTE), Szydlo said that "Polish soldiers died, they fought in support for the freedom of European nations on all the fronts of the war".
"Despite this, after the war, with a silent contribution from the Western countries, Poland found itself in the shackles of a forcibly imposed communist system", she added.
"How unacceptable, unfair and disgraceful that certain Western media today, should talk about concentration camps being Polish. We cannot accept such lies", the prime minister underlined.
"This is for the sake of the future of Europe, because there is no future without truth", she said.
"We must constantly remind people who the victim was, and who was the perpetrator", she added.
Szydlo also quoted the words of Poland's former president, the late Lech Kaczynski, who said: "It's not Poland that should train itself in humility. We have no reason for this, unlike others, unlike those who made this war happen, who facilitated it".
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NOTE: The Battle of Westerplatte was the first battle in Germany's invasion of Poland and marked the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe. On September 1, 1939, at 4:45 am the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on the Polish Military Transit Depot on Westerplatte. The depot's Polish crew held out for seven days in the face of heavy attacks that included dive bombings.(PAP)
