- Anniversary: Poland, first victim of Nazi lightning
The accused political struggle between the ruling Law and Justice Party (PIS) with local opposition and especially with former Prime Minister Donald Tusk, in addition to the interruption of the visit of US President Donald Trump, has overshadowed the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the start of the Second World War in Poland.
The actual transfer of the main celebration from the city of Gdansk - where the conflict began and where it used to be remembered in a traditional way - to Warsaw has been understood in this city as a new displacement of the nationalist executive towards the hometown of Tusk, a metropolis known to remain one of the few liberal bastions that oppose the aegis of the exacerbated nationalism that sponsors the PIS and that has not yet recovered from the shock that caused the killing in January of its former mayor Pawel Adamowicz.
"(Jaroslaw) Kaczynski (the strong man of the PIS) thinks he is number two after God. For him, Tusk is his main rival and Tusk was born in Gdansk, so he hates Gdansk because he hates Tusk," says Daniel Stenzel , spokesman for the local town hall.
History recalls that the last great anniversary of the beginning of that devastating contest, 70, was organized here and was attended by Vladimir Putin and Angela Merkel.
"Adamowicz sent a letter to the central government in 2018 to propose that the event be held again here as in 2009, all together and united, but they did not accept it," said the current mayor, Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, in a meeting with a small group of foreign journalists.
On this occasion, the emblematic date will be marked more by the absent characters than by the few leaders who will attend the meeting, including Merkel herself, US Vice President Mike Pence - who replaces Trump - and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenski .
Warsaw has decided not to invite Putin confirming the diplomatic tension that persists between the two nations. Moscow replied in its day accusing the Polish government of being governed by a "distorted mentality" and "falsifying history."
The one who will not be present will be Tusk himself, who, as prime minister, was one of the hosts in 2009. The current president of the European Council said he had received the invitation on Thursday to attend the commemoration.
"If you want to meet someone, if you want that person to attend a ceremony, you should treat them seriously. It is very clear to me that the organizers of this important ceremony have acted in this way to show that they do not want to see me. And never I impose my presence especially when I know I am not welcome, "he said in an interview with a Polish television.
The deep gap between the local authorities and the national executive was evident in the face of two parallel events - one sponsored by the mayor's office and another that was attended by the Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki- to remember the so-called Gdansk Agreement , which the strikers led by Lech Walesa and the communist government signed on August 31, 1980, which was the prelude to the "Solidarity" movement that would end the dictatorial regime years later.
"Solidarity managed to unite the Poles, but today, you see, we are here and the prime minister in the building opposite," added the mayor of Gdansk, Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, pointing from the facilities of the Museum dedicated to the memory of the trade union movement to the space where the government event was celebrated.
Walesa has joined the long list of figures and politicians who will avoid being present at the Warsaw call. The former president has been especially critical of the actions of the PIS he has accused of undermining the country's democratic values.
Trump: The great ally, absent
However, the absence of the US head of state Donald Trump constitutes the main blow for the plants to the PIS executive, who had articulated around his distinguished guest a whole day of pomp and pageantry to enhance the media climax generated by the date. Trump has justified his absence because of the arrival in Florida of a powerful hurricane.
Poland has become one of the closest allies of the American country. Last June, both administrations agreed to increase the contingent of 4,500 US troops deployed in Polish territory by another 1,000 soldiers and Warsaw has even promised to allocate about 1.8 billion euros to the construction of a new base that will be called Fort Trump .
Trump's National Security Advisor, John Bolton, met Friday with local Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak to agree on the location of the 6 bases where these forces will be located.
Given the proximity of the legislative votes in October, the opposition to the PIS has interpreted Trump's withdrawal in electoral key and Katarzyna Lubnauer, one of the leader of the Civic Coalition, said that his lack "dramatically weakens the already scarce presence of world leaders in a commemoration that the PIS is using to divide the Poles. "
"The PIS wanted to make this visit a key element of its propaganda campaign," former leftist Prime Minister Leszek Miller seconded.
Opposition arguments do not seem to have found a wide echo among Polish voters, according to the latest poll released on Saturday, which indicates that their preferences continue to favor the PIS by 41 percent versus 28 percent who say they will vote for the Civic Coalition
Merkel's visit has not prevented Warsaw from taking advantage of the historic anniversary to repeat its demands that Berlin compensate Poland for the ravages it caused in those terrible years.
"We lost 6 million people, much more than any other country that received large compensation. It is not fair," Prime Minister Morawiecki said in a conversation with German media.
Germany maintains that the payment of compensation for the damages caused in the conflagration was settled by the agreement in this regard that Poland signed with the then East Germany in 1953. But Warsaw considers that at that time the country was subject to the protection of the Soviet Union and therefore does not recognize the validity of that pact.
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