Germany asks Polish forgiveness 80 years after WWII outbreak

Yahoo – AFP, Anna Maria Jakubek and Stanislaw Waszak, September 1, 2019

"We want to, and we will, remember. And we will bear the responsibility that our
history imposes upon us," German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said
(AFP Photo/Alik KEPLICZ)

Warsaw (AFP) - German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday asked Poland's forgiveness 80 years after Germany's attack triggered World War II while his Polish counterpart denounced Russia's recent "imperialist" aggression against its neighbours.

Poland suffered some of the worst horrors of World War II: nearly six million Poles died in the conflict that killed more than 50 million people overall.

That figure includes the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust, half of them Polish.

"I bow before the Polish victims of German tyranny. And I ask your forgiveness," Steinmeier said at pre-dawn ceremonies in the western Polish city of Wielun where Germany's first bombs fell 80 years ago.

"It was Germans who committed these crimes against humanity in Poland. Anyone calling them things of the past, or claiming that the vile rule of terror of the National Socialists in Europe was a mere footnote of German history, is passing judgement on him or herself," Steinmeier said alongside his Polish counterpart.

Polish Andrzej Duda said the ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the outbreak 

of WWII will "go down in history of Polish-German friendship" (AFP Photo/Alik KEPLICZ)

The line appeared to be a reference to the German far-right, whose co-leader Alexander Gauland once called the 12-year Third Reich a "speck of bird poop" on an otherwise glorious German past.

Polish President Andrzej Duda for his part denounced Nazi Germany's attack on Poland, calling it "an act of barbarity" and "a war crime" but also hailed post-war reconciliation.

Duda later on Sunday slammed recent Russian military attacks against its neighbours as "imperialist tendencies" at state ceremonies in Warsaw attended by US Vice President Mike Pence, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, among others.

Sanctions

The Polish leader did not specifically name Russia, but referenced Moscow's actions against "Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014 that altered borders."

He urged "the leaders of Europe and the world, NATO and EU members" to guard against appeasing aggressors.

Tadeusz Sierandt, an eyewitness to the bombing of Wielun, holds a picture 

of the destroyed town (AFP Photo/Janek SKARZYNSKI)

"There must be sanctions, resolute actions, it must be obvious that any military aggression will be met with a firm reaction," Duda said.

"Closed eyes are not a good recipe for keeping the peace; it's a good way to encourage aggressive personalities, to give the green light for new attacks."

Polish authorities said they had not invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to Sunday's ceremonies because of Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

"80 years after the invasion of Poland by the Nazi army, let us remember the explosion of the Second World War that devastated our Europe," French President Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter.

"The fight for peace and our values is more important than ever," he added.

Nazi Germany's attack on Poland on September 1, 1939 came one week after Berlin and the Soviet Union secretly agreed to carve up Eastern Europe between them by signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

Hitler's attacks on Poland on September 1, 1939, led Britain and France to declare 

war on Nazi Germany (AFP Photo)

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans attended a separate dawn remembrance ceremony on Sunday in Westerplatte, on Poland's Baltic coast, where a Nazi German battleship had opened fire on a Polish fort 80 years ago to the day.

'Demand compensation'

Hitler's attacks on Poland led Britain and France to declare war on Nazi Germany. On September 17, the Soviet Union in turn invaded Poland.

After the Nazis tore up their pact with Moscow, two alliances battled it out: the Axis powers led by Germany, Italy and Japan and the victorious Allied forces led by Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States.

Although it has been 80 years since the war started, there are still unresolved matters according to Poland, which says Germany owes it war reparations.

Map showing the start of the German invasion of Poland in 1939. (AFP 

Photo/Jean-Michel CORNU)

A parliamentary commission is currently working on a new analysis of the extent of Poland's wartime human and material losses.

"We have to talk about, remember and demand the truth regarding those losses. We have to demand compensation," Morawiecki said on Sunday at the Westerplatte ceremony.

When it comes to reparations, however, Berlin believes the case is closed.

US President Donald Trump had planned to attend the war commemorations but cancelled at the last minute so that he could monitor Hurricane Dorian.

"We love our Polish friends, and I will be there soon," Trump told reporters at the White House on Sunday, confirming a visit was still in the offing.

King Willem-Alexander starts off the festivities. Photo: Anneke Janssen via HH

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"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  8 - The End of War

The last one is the best. For thousands of years on this planet, Human Beings have warred with each other. If you take a look at the reasons they warred with each other, you will quickly see there aren't any good ones - land, resources, greed. Those are not reasons. That is a description of old energy. Those are not reasons. Reasons would be perhaps defense against an aggressor. But what if there is no longer the consciousness of the aggressor?

When I appeared in my partner's life more than 20 years ago, I said to him privately that the first messages we're going to give will be unbelievable. There would be laughter. We told him that Human nature and consciousness itself would change, and that the seeds of peace would be planted and there would come a time where there is no more war. Indeed, the laughter was great because humans look at history and they see patterns based on an absolute energy called Human Nature. "Impossible! There always has to be war. There always has been. Therefore, there always will be." This is you, in a box, in a black and white potential, where you can only see the black and white of what is and the black and white of what has been. You have no idea the shades of color that are there in your consciousness and the beauty of the love of God.

North Korea is on the edge of change, as we told you it might be. What did this require? The death of the old energy, and I want you to watch this take place. The advisors of the young leader are going to do their best to pull him back into an old energy. This free choice of his will be far different than his father, for he sees some color. Watch for these things. They'll take longer than you want, but it is the beginning of the beginning.

You'll see a fresh unification of South America sooner than not, for what is going to take place potentially this year in Venezuela. You'll see Iran changing. We have no clock. These are the potentials. These can change with free choice. These are not prophecies. This is a reality shift, dear ones, so number eight becomes the propensity not to war again. This is what Humans are going to want. This is what governments are going to want. There is a wisdom factor that will begin to happen on the planet that is grander than what you think is possible. For when you look at government, what do you think about? You see dysfunction, and there is an axiom that says the more people that try to do something together, the worse it gets. It all settles to the lowest common denominator. I'm telling you even those things are going to become old energy concepts. Instead, you're going to watch wisdom become the top potential.

I have no clock. I cannot tell you when. I can just tell you it is in the works, and there will be the seeds of it for you to observe soon - right now, in every single of the eight categories I showed you.

There are those who will say, "Well, Kryon, you're doing a lot more predictions than you used to." I want to tell you what's going on, dear one. I am not predicting anything. I am just telling you what's already there in the potential soup of your reality. That's what Humans are doing on this planet, and for those who believe this communication, you should breathe a sigh of relief and say, "It's about time." ….”

Vatican priest fired after coming out as gay ahead of key summit on family

A Polish monsignor announced he was "happy and proud" to be a gay priest at the eve of a large synod set to discuss Catholic teachings on lesbian and gay believers. The Vatican stripped the priest of his position.

Deutsche Welle, 3 Oct 2015

Father Krzysztof Olaf Charamsa said he wanted to challenge Church's "paranoia" towards sexual minorities, stating in two interviews published Saturday that he was in a relationship with a man.

"The clergy is largely homosexual and, unfortunately, it is also homophobic to the point of paranoia but paralyzed by the lack of acceptance for its own sexual orientation," he told the Polish version of "Newsweek" magazine.

Charamsa also said he was "happy and proud" to of his identity, in the remarks published by the Italian daily "Corriere della Sera."

'Not humane'

The 43-year-old Polish theologian has been living in Rome for the last 17 years, where he also worked as a mid-level official in the Vatican's doctrine office.

"It is time that the Church opened its eyes to gay believers and understood that the solution is it proposing - total abstinence and a life without love - is not humane," he said.

The Catholic Church teaches that being gay is not a sin but also that homosexual acts are.

Charamsa's move comes only a day before Pope Francis is due to open a large synod on marriage and family in Vatican. The meeting is set to last three weeks and involve 270 Catholic bishops, who could also review Vatican's approach to gay relationships, alongside other issues on the agenda.

Still a priest

Immediately after Charamsa's coming out, the Catholic Church dismissed the priest from his post the congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, where he has worked since 2003.

In a Saturday statement, the Church officials said Charamsa's personal situation merited "respect," but added that his statements aimed to "subject the Synod assembly to undue media pressure." The Vatican also stated that Charamsa's statements appear "very serious and irresponsible."

Although Charamsa is no longer allowed to work at the Vatican or its pontifical universities, he remains a priest. The issue of his defrocking remains to be decided by his local bishop.

'Open your eyes'

The Polish cleric held a press conference with his partner, a Spanish gay rights activist, in Rome on Saturday.

"I dedicate my coming out to all gay priests," Charamsa said, adding that he had plans to write a book about his time at the Vatican. "I wish them happiness even if I know that most of them will not have the courage to make the gesture I have made today.

"To my Church, I want to say that I reject and I denounce the current atmosphere of exasperating homophobia," he added. "Open your eyes to the suffering of gay people, to their desire for love."

dj/sms (AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa, epd)

Vatican fury as top priest comes out on eve of bishops meet http://t.co/VGGlJijUdR pic.twitter.com/XeNzUA2WtG

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) October 3, 2015

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Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Kryon: Regarding homosexuality or transsexuals. WHY are they the way they are and WHY are they not accepted in mainstream society?

Answer: [From the Kryon Office]

There is often a tremendous amount of information on subjects that are not necessarily part of the on-line magazine Q&A database. Kryon has been channelling for fourteen years, with 9 books covering many, many topics. Homosexuality was one of them from the very beginning. Please see our "Books index page" for subjects contained in the Kryon books: [http://www.kryon.com/direct.html]

An excerpt from Kryon Book 6, page 306

Question from the book: Dear Kryon, I am gay, and an enlightened man. I live in an American society that barely tolerates me, and actually has some laws against my way of life. The church I used to belong to cast me out as being evil and anti-God. I don't feel that I am violating some Human ethic. My love is as true as any heterosexual, and I am a light worker. Tell me what I should know.

Answer from the book: Dear one, less than two generations from now, there will be those who find this book and laugh at the quaintness of this very question. Before I answer, let me ask you and those reading this to examine a phenomenon about Human society and "God."

Thirty years ago, interracial marriage was considered to be wrong by the laws of God. Now your society finds it common. The spiritual objections around it were either dropped or "rewritten" by those divinely inspired and authorized to do so. Therefore, your actual interpretations of the instructions from God changed with your society's tolerance level--an interesting thing, indeed, how the interpretations of God seem to change regularly to match a changing culture!

The truth, of course, is that you find yourself in a situation that is known to create a test for you. Right now, in this time, you have agreed to come into your culture with an attribute that may alienate you from friends and religious followers. You have faced fear of rejection and have had to "swim upstream," so to speak, just as an everyday life occurrence. Your contract, therefore, has been set up well, and you are in the middle of it. Additionally, like so many like you, you have a divine interest in yourselves! You feel part of the spiritual family. What a dichotomy indeed, to be judged as evil by those who are the high spiritual leaders--interpreting God for today's culture.

Now I say this: What is your intent? Is it to walk with love for all those around you and become an enlightened Human Being in this New Age? Is it to forgive those who see you as a spiritual blight on society? Can you have the kind of tolerance for them that they seem not to have for you? Can you overlook the fact that they freely quote their scriptures in order to condemn you, yet they don't seem to have the love tolerance that is the cornerstone of their own message?

If the answer is yes, then there is nothing else you must do. Your INTENT is everything, and your life will be honored with peace over those who would cause unrest, and tolerance for the intolerable. Your sexual attributes are simply chemistry and setups within your DNA. They are given by agreement as gifts for you to experience in this life. Look on them in this fashion, and be comfortable with that fact that you are a perfect spiritual creation under God--loved beyond measure--just like all humans. But then you know that, don't you?

"The Akashic Circle" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)  - (Text version)

“… Gender Switching

Old souls, let me tell you something. If you are old enough, and many of you are, you have been everything. Do you hear me? All of you. You have been both genders. All of you have been what I will call between genders, and that means that all of you have had gender switches. Do you know what happens when it's time for you to switch a gender? We have discussed it before. You'll have dozens of lifetimes as the same gender. You're used to it. It's comfortable. You cannot conceive of being anything else, yet now it's time to change. It takes approximately three lifetimes for you to get used to it, and in those three lifetimes, you will have what I call "gender confusion."

NATO freezes cooperation with Russia over Ukraine

Deutsche Welle, 1 April 2014

A meeting of NATO foreign ministers has agreed to halt all cooperation with Russia and to consider further deployments of troops to eastern Europe. The decision was made in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea.

NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Tuesday that the alliance would formally end practical defense and civilian cooperation with Russia.

"We are suspending all practical cooperation with Russia, military and civilian," Rasmussen said at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.

"Through its actions, Russia has undermined the principles on which our partnership is built, and has breached its own international commitments. So we cannot go on doing business as usual."

US Secretary of State John Kerry took a break from peace process discussions in Israel to join the closed-doors summit. Ukraine's foreign minister was invited to attend part of the proceedings.

NATO members agreed to examine the possibility of deploying more military assets to eastern Europe, in particular to Poland and the Baltic nations. In a joint statement, the foreign ministers pledged they would keep providing "appropriate reinforcement and visible assurance of NATO's commitment to deterrence and collective defense against any threat of aggression to the alliance."

The alliance has already boosted its air policing program over the Baltic region.

As the two-day meeting began, Rasmussen downplayed reports that Russian troops were being withdrawn from the border with Ukraine.

The presence of Russian troops on the border has been condemned by Kerry as "unhelpful."

Vote to disarm nationalist groups

Ukraine's parliament on Tuesday voted to disarm a self-defense group that emerged during protests against pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych's regime.

The decision followed a nighttime police raid on a Kyiv hotel that uncovered a cache of weapons belonging to the nationalist group Pravy Sektor (Right Sector), which was allegedly involved in the toppling of Yanukovych in February.

That raid came after a member of the Pravy Sektor took refuge in the Dnipro Hotel. The man had allegedly been involved in a shooting incident outside a restaurant that injured three people, including a top Kyiv city administrator.

rc/jr (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)

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CIA Wanted 'Torture' Cage for Secret Prison: Official

ABC News, by Randy Kreider, June 22, 2012

A Polish official says that prosecutors have a construction order that proves the CIA wanted a cage for terror suspects built at a secret 'black site' prison inside Poland.

Senator Jozef Pinior claims Krakow prosecutors have a document that shows a local contractor was asked to build a cage at Stare Kiekuty, a Polish army based used as a CIA prison for al Qaeda terror suspects in 2002 and 2003.

"In a state with rights," Pinior told the Polish paper Gazeta Wyborcza, "people in prison are not kept in cages." He said a cage was "non-standard equipment" for a prison, but standard "if torture was used there."

In this Dec. 16, 2005 file photo a 
watch tower overlooks the area 
near the Polish intelligence school
just outside  of Stare Kiejkuty, Poland. 
(Czarek Sokolowski/AP Photo)

Asked if he was sure the cage was for humans, he said, "What was it for? Exotic birds?" He said he has not seen the construction order, but that the Krakow prosecutor's office, which is investigating the prison, has a copy of it.

This week Gazeta Wyborcza reported that the prosecutor's office also allegedly has a signed order from Zbigniew Siemiatkowski, the then-head of Polish intelligence, authorizing the creation of the black site. A source told the paper that the agreement has a space intended for an American signature, but that the Americans did not sign the document "because they do not want to sign documents inconsistent with their own Constitution and international law."

Siemiatkowski did not confirm or deny the existence of the agreement, but said he could not discuss anything he might have signed because it would be classified.

Gazeta Wyborcza reported in March that Siemiatkowski had been charged with permitting the corporal punishment of prisoners of war. Siematkowski has acknowledged publicly that he is under investigation.

Alexander Kwasniewski and Leszek Miller, who were president and prime minister at the time it was allegedly used as a CIA prison, have denied the existence of the Stare Kiekuty black site.  Sen. Pinior said he presented his evidence "with regret, because I always valued [Kwasniewski's] presidency."

Several terror suspects, including Abu Zubaydah, have said they were tortured at the Polish site prior to their relocation to Guantanamo. One suspect claims a gun and a power drill were pointed at his head during his interrogation.

After Poland launched its official investigation of the Stare Kiekuty site, President Bronislaw Komorowski said the probe was needed because "the reputation of Poland is at stake."

ABC News previously revealed the location of another CIA prison at a former riding academy outside Vilnius, Lithuania. In 2006, President Bush acknowledged that the U.S. had used "black site" prisons in foreign countries, and said many of the suspects who had been detained there were then moved to Guantanamo Bay. While denying that the U.S. employed torture, he said that the U.S. had used an "alternative set of procedures" to interrogate prisoners.

The CIA declined to comment to ABC News on the reported black site in Poland or on Senator Pinior's allegations about a cage.

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Polish president's plane crashes in western Russia

English.news.cn 2010-04-10 16:28:18

Polish President Lech Kaczynski speaks in front of a Polish government Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft at Krakow airport in this August 8, 2008 file photo. Kaczynski was feared dead after his plane crashed on approach to a Russian airport on Saturday. (Xinhua/Reuters)

MOSCOW/WARSAW, April 10 (Xinhua) -- A plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski crashed near the Smolensk airport in western Russia Saturday, killing all people on board, said Russian officals.

The Polish Foreign Ministry confirmed that the president and his wife were on the plane. Full story

This TV grab taken on April 10, 2010 shows the crash site of a Tupolev Tu-154 plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski near the Smolensk airport in western Russia. The plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski crashed near the Smolensk airport Saturday, killing the president and all 132 people on board, said Russian officials. (Xinhua)

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Polish president's plane repaired in 2009

Polish leader, 95 others dead in Russia jet crash

Combo photo shows some of the prominent victims of the crash of Poland's presidential plane. It includes Maria Kaczynska, 66, Poland's first lady; Gen. Franciszek Gagor, 58, army chief of staff; Vice Admiral Andrzej Karweta, 51, navy chief commander; Gen. Tadeusz Buk, 49, land-forces commander; Slawomir Skrzypek, 46, president of the National Bank of Poland; Aleksander Szczyglo, 46, head of the national security office; Piotr Nurowski, 64, head of Poland's Olympic Committee, and so on. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)