On December 7, 1970, then Chancellor Brandt fell on his knees at the monument to the heroes of the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw to commemorate the millions of victims of the Hitler dictatorship. Photo: dpa / archive
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(Photo: dpa)
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“The partnership between Germany and Poland is an important prerequisite for a successful future,” said Steinmeier in a video message on the anniversary. “But we won’t forget the past either. Not the suffering of the people in Poland, not the historical courage for reconciliation and not even a kneel that reminds us of all that. “
Steinmeier also welcomed the decision of the Bundestag to erect a memorial for the Polish victims of the Second World War in a prominent place in Berlin. “This monument is a visible sign against forgetting. It should also be a constant reminder for a better future ”, he said. At the end of October, the Bundestag asked the federal government to create such a memorial site.
On December 7, 1970 Brandt laid a wreath at the monument to the heroes of the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw just before the treaty in which the Federal Republic recognized the western border of Poland was signed. After adjusting the wreath loops, the SPD politician fell on his knees. The gesture received worldwide attention as a request for forgiveness for the crimes of the Nazi era and as a symbol of reconciliation. On Monday, the head of the Federal President’s Office, State Secretary Stephan Steinlein, will lay a wreath at the ghetto memorial in Warsaw.
Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz praised the kneeling as a “deeply human gesture” and praised Brandt’s policy of détente towards the Soviet Union, the GDR and the other Warsaw Pact states “as a great liberating change for Germany and for Europe”. The SPD candidate for Chancellor called for a new European Ostpolitik in the “Rheinische Post” (Monday). “Germany will only advance a new Ostpolitik in conjunction with the European Union,” he said. “We therefore want to convince our neighbors, including Russia, that they accept the European integration process.”
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