The Warsaw uprising

Poland commemorates 80 years since Warsaw Uprising 

https://www.dw.com/en/poland-commemorates-80-years-since-warsaw-uprising/a-69812995

Jacek Lepiarz

3 hours ago3 hours ago

The crushed Warsaw Uprising and Nazi war crimes continue to dog Polish-German relations today. Frank-Walter Steinmeier will be the second German president to talk at the commemoration ceremony this week. 

https://p.dw.com/p/4ivY3

Up to 50,000 people are thought to have died just in the first days of the uprising

This August 1, like every year, the capital of Poland, Warsaw, will hold a minute of silence to mark the beginning of the uprising against the German occupation ahead of the Nazi retreat west.

At 5 p.m. local time, alarm sirens will blare in remembrance of the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, bringing the city and its inhabitants, regardless of their political views, to a standstill.

The Warsaw Uprising began on August 1, 1944, and the bitter fighting dragged on for 63 days before the Polish Home Army was finally forced to surrender to the Nazis. A source of national pride for many Poles, the day symbolizes Poland's fight against totalitarianism and foreign rule, and its desire for freedom.

After World War II, German politicians were long unwelcome at the annual memorial services. That didn't change until the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe.

In 1994, then Polish President Lech Walesa invited his German counterpart Roman Herzog, the president of a recently reunified Germany, to Warsaw to give a speech — it was a bold move at the time for the former labor activist.