Germany to address non-Jewish victims of Nazi regime

Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said it was time to address Nazi atrocities committed during World War II against victims aside from Jews, in particular Poles.

Haas spoke at an international conference held in Berlin on Thursday entitled “A century of Germany’s Poland policy: Tradition – the betrayal of all civilised values – understanding – partnership,” in honor of the centennial of Poland’s independence.

“The unspeakable crimes that Germans committed against and in Poland during the following six years are, to this day, a source of shame for us,” Maas said, adding that “we also have to admit that even now we do not pay enough attention in Germany to the crimes against Poles.”

Maas recognised Germany’s responsibility for the suffering and murder of Jews and non-Jews alike, explaining the need to broaden the nation’s “cultural remembrance” of World War II, as Germans are largely uninformed about non-Jewish victims.

Polish ambassador to Germany, Andrzej Przylebski said that Polish victims were “completely forgotten or downplayed,” despite Poland’s being the biggest loser among the European states in World War II — roughly three million non-Jewish Poles were killed by Nazis, matching the number of Polish Jews killed (though the total number of European Jews killed in the Holocaust is estimated to be six million).

Various ideas have been suggested in order to strengthen the spirit of remembrance paid by Germany to the Polish nation, including erecting a dedicated monument in Berlin or a museum of German-Polish relations.

Poles marked a century of independence last week amid tensions in the isolated and deeply polarised country over the prominent role that marginal far-right groups gained in shaping the main state parade.

Poland angered Israel this year after it initially passed a bill that criminalised accusations of complicity by Poland in the Holocaust in an apparent attempt to distance itself from Nazi atrocities.

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