Germany's president expressed deep remorse for the suffering his nation inflicted on Poland and the rest of Europe during World War II, warning of the dangers of nationalism as world leaders gathered Sunday in the country where the war started at incalculable costs.
"This war was a German crime," President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told Poland's top leaders, US Vice President Mike Pence, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other world leaders at a 80th anniversary ceremony marking World's War II's outbreak.
Also in attendance were elderly Polish war veterans wearing military uniforms and a Holocaust survivor wearing a yellow Star of David and the striped clothes that prisoners wore at Nazi German death camps.
Steinmeier expressed his sorrow over the mass killings Adolf Hitler's regime committed in Poland, which paid a huge price for being the place war began on September 1, 1939.
The German president expressed gratitude to Poles for the gestures of forgiveness Poland has bestowed in return.
"I bow in mourning to the suffering of the victims," Steinmeier said.
"I ask for forgiveness for Germany's historical debt. I affirm our lasting responsibility."
"Turning a blind eye is not the recipe for preserving peace. It is a simple way to embolden aggressive personalities, a simple way to, in fact, give consent to further attacks."
Pence said the Polish people "never lost hope" and "never gave in to despair."
"Your oppressors tried to break you, but Poland could not be broken."