Consultations between the Polish and German governments were held in Warsaw on July 1, 2024. The words of the German Chancellor, who announced support for survivors of the German occupation, caused the greatest resonance in social media.
Many journalists and politicians expressed their outrage at Scholz's declaration. At a joint conference with Prime Minister Donald Tusk, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Germany was aware of "its great guilt and responsibility for the million victims of the German occupation" and "will try to implement support" for the survivors, but no specific data was given.
We remind you, here from across the ocean, that Poland lost 6 million Polish citizens as a result of the armed attack of Nazi Germany on Poland in 1939. During the German and Soviet occupation, our country lost: 57 percent of lawyers, 39 percent of doctors, 30 percent of clergy, almost one third of academic staff.
Let us also recall that, in a diplomatic note, Poland is demanding compensation from Germany for material and non-material losses in the amount of PLN 6 trillion 220 billion 609 million (about $1,617,350 million, or 1 trillion, 617 billion, 358 million USD), compensation for the victims of German aggression and occupation and their families for the damage and harm caused to them, as well as systemic actions aimed at returning cultural goods stolen from Poland during the war and currently located in Germany.
Meanwhile, Germany is working hard to change the historical narrative and cynically shift responsibility for the crimes onto the mythical Nazis. “78 years ago, Germany and the entire world were liberated from the tyranny of National Socialism. We Germans will always be grateful for that,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a clever tweet on the anniversary of the end of World War II.
From left to right: Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring, Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels and Rudolf Hess (Source: Wikipedia)
According to the Chancellor's logic, Germany was invaded and oppressed by the mythical Nazis. The beginning of the 21st century will probably go down in history as the century of embellishing history and removing responsibility for heinous crimes. So history is manipulated, entire narratives are created to escape responsibility for the despicable crimes that were committed in the past against other nations in the name of sick ideologies.
According to many post-war sources of knowledge, Nazism, National Socialism, is a political movement (since 1919), an ideology, and since Adolf Hitler took power (1933), a state system in Germany (the so-called Third Reich). Nazism appeared and developed as a protest against Germany's defeat in World War I, which put an end to Germany's hegemonic policy, against the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles and the crisis of the first post-war years. Nazism as an ideology was a patchwork of various ideas that did not create a coherent philosophical and political system and were subordinate to the policy of the one-leader state. To emphasize the German nature of this ideology, references were made to the old Germanic principle of blood purity and war spirit.
In 1933–45, Nazism was the state ideology in Germany and a factor integrating society around German state policy.
The NSDAP party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, National Socialist German Workers' Party ) was an example of an extremely extremist political group that emerged in Germany after World War I. With the onset of the Great Depression, it quickly gained notoriety and a significant position. The parliamentary elections of July 1932 brought the Nazis 37.3% of the vote, making them the largest political party in Germany. As a result, more than half of the Reichstag members in 1932 publicly committed to ending parliamentary democracy.
On January 30, 1933, President Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler Chancellor of Germany. How was it possible that in a civilized country that appealed to democratic traditions and enjoyed a relatively modern constitution guaranteeing a stable separation of powers, the Nazi party's achieved successive electoral victories? After all, Adolf Hitler came to power as a result of democratic processes, not a coup d'état.
As Hitler's most famous biographer, British historian Ian Kershaw, writes: "92%, 95%, 95%, 95%, 88% - such results (with a turnout of around 95 percent) were obtained by Adolf Hitler and the NSDAP in elections and plebiscites organized in 1933 and 1934." Although they took place in an atmosphere of intimidation of political opponents, Sir Ian Kershaw admits that the Nazis did not have to manipulate their results. The Führer really enjoyed the support of the majority of German society.
Here is an analysis of the number of NSDAP members: 1 million in 1934, 3 million in 1936, 5 million before the outbreak of the war and 8 million in 1945.
The aggressive policies of Hitler and the NSDAP party eventually led to Germany's attack on Poland. This was the beginning of World War II, the largest armed conflict in human history to date. The number of victims is estimated at between 70 and 85 million human beings.
It is time to repay for the wrongs done to the victims of this war, rather than look for the mythical Nazis.
Translation from Polish by Andrew Wozniewicz.
