NAWROCKI: BERLIN MUST PAY REPARATIONS TO WARSAW

WARSAW, SEPTEMBER 1 /SRNA/ - Germany must pay reparations to Poland, and Warsaw will use the funds to strengthen its armed forces, Polish President Karol Nawrocki said.

"Reparations and compensation for damages must be paid to Poland. Our allies in Berlin must pay us compensation, which Poland will allocate to the armed forces and the defense industry, so that we will not have to take out loans," Nawrocki said.

The Polish president noted that "there is still no monument in Berlin dedicated to Polish victims of World War II".

"This is not a genuine alliance and friendship if we cannot erect such a monument in Berlin, if the Polish minority does not have the same rights as the German minority in Poland," Nawrocki said.

He reminded that one in six Poles was killed during World War II.

"Responsibility requires those currently in power to understand that this truth is rarely heard in the West, among our neighbours, in Germany, in Berlin," Nawrocki added.

On this day, September 1, 1939, at around 4:45 a.m., Westerplatte in northern Poland and the town of Wielun in the Lodz Voivodeship in central Poland were the first targets of German forces.

The German cruiser Schleswig-Holstein opened fire from the sea on the garrison of the Polish Military Transit Depot at Westerplatte. The garrison repelled German attacks for seven days before surrendering.

At the same time as the attack on Westerplatte, Wielun was targeted by an aerial bombardment that killed around 1,200 people. Overall, it took the Wehrmacht five weeks to defeat the Polish army, RIA Novosti reports.