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| Schroeder Says 'Germany Took a Long Time to Ask Poland for Forgiveness'
Hundreds of thousands of people have gathered at ceremonies across Poland to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944 which left 200,000 civilians dead.
For the first time, a German leader was invited to the commemorations.
When the home army took on the might of the German occupying forces, they thought the Allies would quickly come to their aid.
But despite the Russians being just across the Vistula River and apart from a few British air drops, they were abandoned.
Their small arms and home-made bombs were no match for the German Army and after 63 days of fighting, the Polish survivors were forced to surrender and many were sent to concentration camps.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said he recognised the unbearable suffering inflicted by the Nazis.
Mr Schroeder paid tribute to thousands of Poles killed in the failed rebellion, making a landmark gesture of reconciliation towards a new European Union partner.
"The Warsaw Uprising is part of our continent's drive to freedom...and liberation from Nazism," he said.
"I am honoured to have been invited here...This is a very noble gesture towards a country which has brought a lot of pain to Poland by the war it started."
Mr Schroeder's attendance marked a fresh effort to put past disagreements behind the two nations and push ahead further with reconciliation similar to that between France and Germany.
He also sought to reassure Poland his government would not back restitution claims from World War Two, at the end of which the victorious Allies shifted Poland's boundaries west-ward and uprooted millions of ethnic Germans living in the country.
The Polish Government has also demanded an apology from the Russians and an explanation from the British and Americans who failed to adequately support them.
United States Secretary of State Colin Powell attended the ceremonies and promised Poland it would never be abandoned again.
"Poland will never be alone again as it was 60 years ago. The United States will always be with Poland," he said.
source: Reuters
2004-08-01, Biuro Promocji Miasta
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