The words of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier about Germany’s guilt, pronounced on the anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, are needed. Now we are counting on the Germans to show their deed, I am talking in particular about reparations, the head of the Ministry of State and National Education, Przemysław Czarnek, told Polsat News on Wednesday.
In front of the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes in Warsaw with the participation of, among others, President Andrzej Duda, President of the Federal Republic of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of Israel Icchak Herzog, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and representatives of Jewish circles, the main celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising took place on Wednesday.
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I stand before you today and I ask forgiveness for the crimes committed by the Germans here
said the German president. The head of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage was asked in Polsat News how he understood these words.
These are words that are always much needed first of all and they are not new words, because for a long time Germany has, whenever the President of the Federal Republic of Germany or the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany arrives for this kind of party, or the Uprising of Warsaw, or the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising – although the German president seems to have attended the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ceremonies for the first time, they talk about their guilt and their responsibility
– Czarnek mentioned in Polsat News.
The issue of reparations
Only if these words were followed by actions, because the “sorry” is a very important thing (…), but also the actions that follow should really express it. And I am talking here in particular about the reparations that we have requested, because the damage done by the Germans, including during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, was enormous and has never been repaired
he stressed.
When asked if the reparations issue could be resolved, Czarnek admitted that Germany is and will remain Poland’s ally in the EU and NATO, as relations between Poland and Germany are built on solid foundations.
Which does not mean that we Poles do not have the right to demand from the Germans that they repair the enormous damage that we have summarized and presented. Now we count on the Germans to actually demonstrate an act that follows the words rightly uttered by the representative of the German state (…). It is good if these words are followed by deeds
he repeated.
agreement with Israel
The head of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage also referred to the signing on Wednesday with Israel’s Education and Science Minister, Jo’aw Kish, of an agreement on travel for Polish youth to Israel and Israeli youth to Poland.
From our side, from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, there is a proposal to supplement the program of visits of young Israelites in Poland with elements of Polish culture, history and present, so that young Israelites Poland not only with negative emotions abandoned, which inevitably lead to visits to Auschwitz-Birkenau, Majdanek, Bełżec, Sobibór or Treblinka
– he said.
And yet this is and will continue to be the purpose of the visits of young Israelites, because they must learn about the history of the Holocaust, that is, what the Germans did to them. But we also want to show Poland as it is – with its beauty, with its tradition and with its openness, so that the negative emotions that arise during visits to places of destruction are also balanced (…)
noted Czarnek.
gah/PAP
Source: wPolityce