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Schroeder Bows to Warsaw Anti - Nazi Heroes
The New York Times
August 1, 2004
Warsaw, Poland (Reuters) - Historians call the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, in which outnumbered and ill-equipped Polish insurgents fought some of Nazi Germany's toughest troops, one of the most tragic episodes of World War II. Poles see it as a symbol of suffering under German occupation which laid Poland open to Soviet domination.
Schroeder, the first German head of government to attend an uprising anniversary, twice bowed low in front of a monument to the insurrection under the gaze of elderly Polish survivors who stood at attention as they marked their bloody 63-day battle.
``On this spot of Poland's pride and Germany's shame we hope for reconciliation and peace,'' Schroeder said at the closing ceremony for the Uprising's biggest ever anniversary.
Earlier Schroeder held emotional meetings with uprising veterans and toured Warsaw's Old Town district with the Polish President. He was greeted warmly by the vast majority of Warsowians he met but also encountered sporadic jeers.
Meant to wrest control of the Polish capital before the expected arrival of the Soviet Red Army, the uprising collapsed after fierce fighting by some 40,000 rag-tag insurgents against 140,000 German regular and elite SS troops.
More than 150,000 civilians were killed in the fighting, 165,000 were sent to labor camps and 350,000 were displaced. Six million Poles, half of them Jews, were killed in the war.
Hitler's Orders
Nazi leader Adolf Hitler ordered Warsaw to be razed. The failure of the resistance to establish control of the capital made it all the easier for the Soviet Union to turn Poland into a satellite after the war.
The Red Army stood within sight of the flaming city on the other side of the Vistula river while the battled raged.
Now safely in the EU and the NATO military alliance, Poland wants its Western partners to set the record straight on why the uprising was allowed to collapse.
Polish Prime Minister Belka, whose father fought in the rebellion, called on Britain and other Allies to acknowledge their failure to do enough to help.
New historical accounts say London and Washington effectively handed Poland over to the Soviet sphere of influence, putting little pressure on Moscow to help Warsaw's insurgents or even allow supply planes to land.
This limited the allies' help to the airdropping of arms, which Poles say was a meager reward for their war effort, including a key role in the Battle of Britain.
Visiting British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said Britain owed a ``profound debt of gratitude'' to Poles but stopped short of admitting the Allies could have done more to help.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, also taking part in the commemorations, told Poles they would never be alone again.
``Today, Poland -- perhaps for the first time in its history -- is no longer the pawn of great powers or the prey of vast tyrannies. Poland is a sovereign country ... reconciled in peace and partnership with its former enemies,'' Powell said.
Poland has developed strong ties with the United States since the overthrow of communism in 1989. It sent troops to Iraq as part of the U.S.-led military presence, causing tension with EU partners France and Germany who opposed the invasion.
Schroeder's attendance marked a fresh effort to put past disagreements behind the two nations and push ahead 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 II, at the end of which the victorious Allies shifted Poland's boundaries westward and uprooted millions of ethnic Germans living in the country.
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