Warsaw (AFP)

Following the withdrawal of Donald Trump, Chancellor Angela Merkel will be the only foreign leader to attend the ceremonies of the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War, Sunday in Warsaw.

Neither French President Emmanuel Macron nor British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will travel to commemorate the start of a conflict that has claimed between 40 and 60 million dead, including six million Jews, mostly victims of the Holocaust perpetrated by the German Nazis.

The US president explained that he had to stay in his country because of Hurricane Dorian threatening Florida.

The United States - considered by the conservative nationalist government of Warsaw as its most important ally, also close because of the euroscepticism common to both parties - will be represented by Vice President Mike Pence.

President Vladimir Putin was not invited because of Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula. Polish diplomacy also explained this decision by the choice of Warsaw to invite only NATO, EU and Eastern Partnership member countries.

However, the commemoration "should have been a gathering event," said Polish analyst Marcin Zaborowski, saying that Warsaw should have invited Putin and tried to bring in other foreign leaders instead of focusing only on on the American president.

"He canceled (his coming) and the whole affair seems to be losing its importance," he told AFP.

According to the Polish Presidency, about 40 foreign delegations are expected, half of which are led by heads of state.

Among them is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose presence counts for Poland, convinced that his security depends on keeping Ukraine out of Moscow's sphere of influence.

- Bombardment at dawn -

German aggression began on 1 September at dawn with the naval bombardment of the Westerplatte garrison on the Baltic coast and air of the small town of Wielun.

On Sunday between 4:00 and 5:00 am, Polish Presidents Andrzej Duda and German Frank-Walter Steinmeier will attend a ceremony in Wielun, while Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans will be in Westerplatte.

Shortly after 12.00, Mr Pence, preceded by the Polish and German Presidents, will give a speech in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the center of Warsaw.

On September 3, 1939, France and Great Britain, allies of Poland, declared war on Germany, but without launching any major operations. On September 17, the USSR attacked eastern Poland.

The Soviet Union was in turn attacked by the Nazis on June 22, 1941. The war continued between the Allies, joined by the USSR and the United States, and the German-Italian-Japanese axis finally defeated in 1945.

- Thousand soldiers -

Polish President Krzysztof Szczerski's chief of staff said Friday that Trump's visit was not canceled but postponed. The Polish leaders, he explained, understand the reasons why Mr Trump was forced to stay in the United States, worried about the risk of Hurricane Dorian's destruction in Florida.

The US president was to sign a declaration in Warsaw about the upcoming deployment to Poland of a thousand additional American soldiers, to join nearly 5,000 men already there, as part of a NATO operation, among others.

Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said the signing of the document would come at the next visit of Trump

Former Polish left-wing Prime Minister Leszek Miller said the US president's non-arrival was a bad blow for the conservative ruling party Law and Justice (PiS), six weeks before the 13 October legislative elections.

"The PiS wanted to make this visit a key part of its propaganda campaign," he said.

Robert Biedron, leader of the progressive party Wiosna (Spring), criticized the PiS for having staked everything on the rapprochement with the United States to the detriment of the European allies.

"It was a mistake, it completely marginalized us in the EU," he said.

© 2019 AFP