“We Europeans must learn a lesson from the tragic Polish September, from the tragic years of the Second World War – tragic for all people without exception – that we cannot be naively optimistic. Today, looking at the tragedy of the Ukrainians, looking at the war – be1cause we need to use that word – we know that September 1939 cannot be allowed to be repeated” said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. 

NATO member states will work towards “a new policy, whose main objective will be the security and effectiveness of our western community against the threat of war, not only in eastern Ukraine.”

It was on Gdansk’s small Westerplatte peninsula that the first shots of World War II were fired, with a small detachment of Polish soldiers attempting to withhold a siege from Nazi Germany.

Polish and German presidents Bronislaw Komorowski and Joachim Gauck met for the commemoration.