WARSAW, Poland, April 23 ------ Germany's president on Wednesday sought pardon for crimes committed by Germans during World War II in comments on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising anniversary in Poland's capital.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the first German president to speak at the commemorations, joined Polish and Israeli heads of state to mark 80 years since a doomed uprising by Jewish insurgents against Nazi German occupiers. "I stand before you today and ask for your forgiveness for the crimes committed by Germans here," said Steinmeier, speaking at the annual ceremony held in Warsaw's former Jewish district.
During his speech, the German president also blasted his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for waging war against Ukraine. "With his illegal attack on a peaceful, democratic neighboring country... the Russian president has broken international law," Steinmeier said. "This war brings immeasurable suffering, violence, destruction and death to the people of Ukraine," he added.
The official ceremony took place at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes, which is located at the site of several of the uprising's armed clashes. Later in the day, the three presidents went to the Nozyk synagogue in Warsaw -- the only one to have survived the war in the Polish capital -- where they lit "candles of memory," the Polish presidency said in a tweet.
Source: mb.com.ph