German president asks Warsaw Uprising veterans for ‘forgiveness’

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Wednesday (31 July) met with Warsaw Uprising veterans and asked for their “forgiveness” during a visit to Poland on the eve of the revolt’s 80th anniversary.

The armed insurgency against occupying Nazi German forces broke out on August 1, 1944 and lasted for two months before it was crushed.

Nearly 200,000 people, mostly civilians, died over the course of 63 days of battle, and the Polish capital was reduced to a pile of rubble.

“There are no words that do justice to this horror… I ask, here and now, for forgiveness,” Steinmeier said addressing the veterans gathered at the Warsaw square that saw one of the uprising’s first battles.

The doomed revolt put up by around 50,000 fighters against better-equipped Nazi occupiers is widely regarded as the most tragic in Poland’s bloody and turbulent history.

According to the Warsaw Rising Museum established to commemorate the insurrection, only around 400 former fighters are still alive.

Poland’s current pro-EU government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk has urged Germany to provide financial compensation over losses the country sustained at the hands of Nazi troops during World War II.

It echoed a similar push by the populist Law and Justice party that lost power in October.

During his Warsaw visit, Steinmeier spoke of the German government’s plans to establish a memorial in Berlin to the Polish victims of the Nazis.

“Many other efforts are underway, including for the remaining survivors of the German occupation. Our two governments are liaising closely on this,” he said.

Steinmeier did not provide any further details on the possible compensation measures.

He also deplored Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin “is seeking to destroy Ukraine and he is threatening us all”, Steinmeier said, vowing to continue support for Ukraine and its people.

“We support their heroic struggle and we stand by them on their path to European Union membership,” he added.

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