Tusk says coming months could decide the fate of the free world

From Gdańsk’s Westerplatte, Donald Tusk delivered a warning that reached beyond the annual commemoration of Germany’s 1939 invasion of Poland. The Polish prime minister said the coming months, including autumn and winter, could be decisive for Ukraine’s independence, Poland and the free world.

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Today from Westerplatte we loudly call out to the entire free world: be in solidarity, we must help Ukraine survive!

“Today from Westerplatte we loudly call out to the entire free world: be in solidarity, we must help Ukraine survive!” Tusk said at the monument. He also warned of a renewed “wave of brown aggression and contempt” in Europe and the United States.

The setting carried the memory of the Second World War. Tusk recalled the war’s 80 million victims, the six million Polish citizens killed and the murder of almost all of Europe’s Jews by the Nazis. Referring to the Munich Agreement of September 1938, he said, “We cannot repeat the mistakes of that time, the Munich scenario must not happen again, that terrible, helpless policy of making concessions to evil.”

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wave of brown aggression and contempt

President Karol Nawrocki used the ceremony to repeat his demand for German reparations for damage suffered by Poland during the war. “From here, from Westerplatte, I appeal to the German chancellor and the German people: let us resolve the issue of reparations and compensation, for the sake of historical justice, but also for the sake of the future,” he said.

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We cannot repeat the mistakes of that time, the Munich scenario must not happen again, that terrible, helpless policy of making concessions to evil.

Germany’s position is that treaties connected with German reunification finally settled the issue and that Poland is not entitled to reparations. Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, began World War II, and a German warship shelled the Polish military post at Westerplatte during one of the war’s first battles.

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From here, from Westerplatte, I appeal to the German chancellor and the German people: let us resolve the issue of reparations and compensation, for the sake of historical justice, but also for the sake of the future.