Poland's ambassador to Germany, Dariusz Pawlos
Fabian Sommer PAP/DPA

Poland’s embassy in Berlin remembered the country’s fatalities during the Second World War on Friday, the 84th anniversary of Germany’s invasion of Poland, which started the global conflict.

Poland’s ambassador to Germany, Dariusz Pawlos, highlighted at the ceremony the lack of an appropriate site for the commemoration.

“We are meeting symbolically at the British Cemetery in Berlin as there is no other necropolis in this place containing Polish war graves,” the ambassador said, going on to describe the war as “one of the most tragic events in the history of our globe.”

“Poland, a country full of culture, history and pride, became an arena of brutal German aggression,” Pawlos said. “Millions of people fell victim to the war – both on the front and in civilian camps… The Second World War cast a shadow over Poles for decades.”

Pawlos asked rhetorically what Poland would be like today had it not been for the twin invasions by Germany and the Soviet Union, “by the Nazis and Soviet communists acting together.”

The ambassador highlighted that many places in Poland had never recovered their pre-war grandeur and that the country had lost the opportunity for development due to post-war Soviet oppression.

He said these facts underpinned the Polish government’s war reparations claim against Berlin and expressed hope that the German government, “will decide soon to start talks with Poland in this area.”