WW2-ANNIVERSARY/POLAND European leaders gather in Poland to commemorate victory over Nazi Germany

Record ID: 135065

  • Title: WW2-ANNIVERSARY/POLAND European leaders gather in Poland to commemorate victory over Nazi Germany
  • Date: 7th May 2015
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF CEREMONY AT MONUMENT
  • Embargoed: 22nd May 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Poland
  • Country: Poland
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAC5VIP73YT6WBLS5UU8PLABARL
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: European leaders and U.N. Secretary-General Bank Ki-moon gathered in Gdansk on Thursday (May 7) to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the allied victory over Nazi Germany.
    The leaders and representatives of European governments and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko attended a historical panel focusing on Europe's future after World War II.
    The conflict in Ukraine dominated the debate, with Poroshenko receiving a round of applause before his speech, where he warned against "history repeating".
    "Please, no illusion, we cannot afford to see history repeated. Annexation and invasion under the pretext of the defending of ethnic minorities, temptation of turning a blind eye, the corrosion of the European solidarity, this could all become the new reality, depending on the choice of Europe," said Poroshenko. "And this choice of Europe has a name. And this name is Ukraine."
    With Ukrainian servicemen dying almost daily despite a ceasefire, Kiev's pro-western government is using the anniversary to highlight Russian belligerence.
    Spurning what is expected to be a display of military swagger in Moscow on Saturday (May 9), Kiev plans to put the stress at home on reconciliation rather than triumphalism and victory.
    Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk accuses Russia, which suffered huge wartime losses, of monopolising credit for the defeat of Nazi Germany, and reminds Ukrainians of their own country's sacrifices, including eight million people who lost their lives.
    He has ditched the Soviet-centric title of "Great Patriotic War" in favour of "World War Two" used in most of Europe, part of a national rebirth by the pro-western authorities following the ousting of the Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovich last year.
    Most TV channels in Kiev on Thursday broadcast 1939 as the start of World War Two, a break with the traditional Soviet start date of 1941 when Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union, despite an earlier deal to split eastern Europe between them.
    Russian President Vladimir Putin has used the anniversary to whip up patriotism as well as hostility towards Kiev and has warned against what he sees as attempts by other countries to rewrite history and play down the role of the Russians in defeating Nazi Germany.
    Ban Ki-Moon spoke of ongoing "conflicts and killings of people", despite World War II experiences.
    "One we are seeing in the centre of Europe now, Ukraine. We have given a strong solidarity to President Poroshenko of Ukraine and I'm going to visit tonight together with the President Poroshenko of Ukraine," he said.
    Poland and other eastern European countries whose leaders were present in Gdansk fell victim to a pact between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia to split the region between them.
    Over years of communist rule in Poland, a Soviet invasion just over two weeks after the Nazi offensive in September 1939 was an uncomfortable truth.
    After the German attack in 1941, the Soviet Union took on the brunt of the war in Europe, suffering enormous casualties.
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