A temporary memorial honouring the victims of the German occupation of Poland during the Second World War is being erected near the Federal Chancellery and the Bundestag in Berlin. The site will feature a “Memorial Stone for Poland 1939–1945” (Gedenkstein für Polen 1939–1945), with an official unveiling ceremony scheduled for May.
To mark the start of construction on Wednesday, Germany’s Minister of State for Culture, Claudia Roth, described the initiative as a powerful gesture ahead of the 80th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe and liberation from National Socialism, which falls on 8 May, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported.
The memorial stone – a glacial erratic weighing nearly 30 tonnes – has been placed on the grounds of the former Kroll Opera House. The opera once served as a temporary seat of the Reichstag, and on 1 September 1939, Adolf Hitler delivered a propaganda speech there announcing the invasion of Poland.
According to the German-Polish Institute in Darmstadt, which announced the development on its website, the stone serves as a temporary tribute and is being erected as a civil society initiative led by the Institute.
“This temporary memorial precedes the creation of a future symbol of remembrance by the Federal Republic of Germany,” the Institute explained. “That permanent site will include both a monument and a Polish-German House, envisioned as a venue for exhibitions, educational programmes and cultural exchange. The project received federal approval in June 2024, with a final decision pending from the newly elected Bundestag.”
The formal unveiling of the temporary memorial is expected to take place in the first half of May. The German-Polish Institute, which has supported the commemoration initiative since 2017, will oversee the event.
Some commentators said the temporary monument is a symbol of the superficial character of the Polish-German reconciliation after the 2 World War which never ended with a separate peace treaty between the neighbours or any financial compensation for the German aggression.
Source: PAP, X
Photo: @dw_polski
Tomasz Modrzejewski
