06/15/2025June 15, 2025
Monument to Nazi crimes in Poland to be unveiled in Berlin
Germany’s complex relationship with its armed forces can be traced back in large part to the crimes committed by German troops during the Second World War — especially in eastern Europe and in Poland in particular.
On Monday, a new monument is set to be unveiled in central Berlin to commemorate the victims of the Nazi invasion and occupation of its neighbor between 1939 and 1945, during which an estimated six million Poles, around a fifth of the civilian population, were murdered.
The new monument will consist of a large boulder from the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which borders Poland, on the site of the former Kroll Opera House.
The Opera House served as the seat of the German parliament for much of the Nazi period after the nearby Reichstag building was damaged in the 1933 Reichstag fire. As such, it was the location for dictator Adolf Hitler’s declaration of war on Poland in September 1939.
Peter Oliver Loew, the director of the German-Polish Institute, told the Catholic news agency KNA that it is “important to send a message, even if it’s only a temporary location for now.”
In June 2024, the German government approved plans for a permanent monument and a “German-Polish House,” a precise timeline for which has not yet been set.
Nowadays, Germany and Poland are key allies at the heart of the European Union, but the memory of the German occupation of Poland remains a live issue, especially in Warsaw, where nationalist politicians frequently raise the issue of German reparations for Nazi crimes.
“I will fight for them from the very first day of my presidency,” promised new Polish President Karol Nawrocki during his recent campaign, for instance.
For historian Loew of the German-Polish Institute, the new memorial is therefore “a necessary and important step on the road to rapprochement between our two countries.”
