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By APD writer Aditya Nugraha
**WARSAW, Sept. 2 (APD) -- **Germany asked for an apology over “Germany’s historical guilt” during World War II in a ceremony to commemorate 80th anniversary of the event that prompted the war held in Poland’s Pilsudski Square here.
The apology statement was conveyed by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in front of world leaders and hundreds of people, including WWII veterans, attending the event in Poland’s largest square.
"In no other square in Europe do I find it more difficult to speak, and to address you in my native language of German ... I ask for forgiveness for Germany's historical guilt and I recognize our enduring responsibility," he said.
The event hosted by Polish President Andrzej Duda was attended by at least 40 delegations. Besides the German president, among top leaders attended the event here on Sunday were German Chancellor Angela Merkel, prime ministers of France and Belgium, the presidents of Germany, Slovakia, Croatia, Lithuania, Hungary, Ukraine and the Czech Republic.
The United States sent Vice President Mike Pence in the event. Pence stepped in after President Donald Trump's last-minute decision to stay in office to monitor Hurricane Dorian in the country.
In his remarks to address the event President Duda reminded the importance of preserving memory.
"It is our duty to encourage young people to go and take on this terrible, shocking experience of visiting the concentration camp, seeing this terrible story with their own eyes," he said.
The event in Warsaw was held after commemorations in Sunday morning in Central Poland’s Wielun and Westerplatte in Gdanks at the exact time of the first attack 80 years ago.
In the dark of the night, at 04:45 a.m. German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire against Polish Military Transit Depot at Westerplatte, marking the first battle of World War II that ensued from 1939 to 1945.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
