Marek A. Cichocki: Two Memories of September 1

September 1, 1939, carries two markedly different memories in Poland and Germany, according to Marek A. Cichocki. In Poland, the outbreak of World War II stands among the defining dates of the 20th century.

Cichocki places the anniversary alongside Poland’s recovery of independence in 1918 and the end of the Cold War in 1989. For Polish historical memory, September 1939 showed the expansion of two totalitarian systems on Polish soil: German Nazism and Soviet communism.

He argues that Germany traditionally viewed the events differently. In his account, German political and intellectual elites treated what happened in occupied Poland as local and secondary, rather than as the opening of a global war. He compares this perception with Germany’s understanding of the war against France.

Cichocki also criticizes the way both postwar German states handled responsibility. West Germany, he writes, used the Cold War to distance itself from responsibility for crimes committed against Poles. East Germany, built around an anti-fascist political myth, avoided that responsibility altogether.

The result, he argues, is a lasting divide in how the September anniversary is understood in Polish-German relations. The Polish interpretation centres on invasion and totalitarian expansion, while the German perception he describes long framed the conflict as a justified territorial and annexationist war.