Seventy years ago, on 1 September 1939 in Westerplatte in Gdansk World War II began and Poland was invaded. In the years that followed, Europe witnessed the bloodiest war in its history. It saw the loss of millions of lives and immense grief. It saw the destruction of cities and communities. The war turned friends into foes and neighbours into strangers. The world still bears the scars of that war and has not yet faced anything to compare with the violence and suffering that it caused.
Read the entire statement on the Presidency website