7 maja 2025 r. Polska wzięła udział w uroczystym posiedzeniu Zgromadzenia Ogólnego ONZ upamiętniającym wszystkie ofiary II wojny światowej.

Tekst wystąpienia wygłoszonego przez Krzysztofa Szczerskiego, Stałego Przedstawiciela RP przy NZ w Nowym Jorku, dostępny jest poniżej.

Madame President, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates,

There are few nations in the world for whom the commemoration of the Second World War bears such a profound historical and emotional weight as it does for Poland. For us, this is not a symbolic exercise — it is a moment to confront painful memories, to pay our respects to those who suffered and resisted tyranny, and to reaffirm our responsibilities.

Poland was the first victim of the Second World War, attacked by Nazi Germany on September 1, 1939, and then by the Soviet Union on September 17 of the same year. This came as a result of the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact, aimed at the partition of Central Europe, including Poland, which was a clear breach on the fundamentals of the international law. The two coordinated acts of aggression marked the beginning of one of the darkest periods in Polish history, and started the war and suffering of all humankind.

For Poland, World War II brought devastation on a scale difficult to comprehend. Nearly 6 million of our citizens — around 17% of our pre-war population — were killed. It was the highest proportional loss of any country in Europe. Many of them were Polish Jews, who lost their lives in the Holocaust.

The victims included those who died in battle, but far more were civilians: women, children, the elderly — deliberately targeted, deported, starved, tortured, and murdered. They perished in Nazi German extermination camps, in forced labor and mass executions, in Soviet gulags and persecutions, from which we particularly remember the Katyn massacre of thousands of Polish military and police officers, border guards and intelligentsia prisoners of war. Countless victims suffered from pseudo-medical experiments, sexual violence, forced resettlements, and the kidnapping of children. These were not incidental atrocities — they were systematic tools of terror committed on the occupied territories of Poland. It is our duty to ensure that they will never be forgotten.

Polish government never collaborated with the occupants, nor did the Polish citizens had ever given up on their desire for freedom. To the contrary: brave Polish soldiers were fighting the aggressor all across the world. Throughout the war Poles heroically stood up to violence and subjugation, by joining uprisings, to name, most notably, the Warsaw Uprising and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.  

Madame President,

Thanks to its fight, Poland survived the war, but Polish citizens did not get to choose their future freely. The end of the war in 1945 did not bring freedom neither to Poland nor to many Central and Eastern European countries. Instead, it brought another form of oppression: Soviet domination behind the iron curtain, marked by economic exploitation, political persecution, torture, and relentless repression.

There is a very telling story associated with this. Polish representatives were not allowed to take part in the UN Conference in San Francisco in 1945.

A world-famous Polish pianist Artur Rubinstein who was performing during that event saw that the Polish flag was missing. He said “In this Hall, where the great nations have gathered to make this world a better place, I don’t see the flag of Poland, on behalf of which this cruel war was waged. And so now I will play the Polish national anthem”. And he did.

Madame President,

We recall the crimes committed during the Second World War not to fuel hatred, but to uphold the truth. The truth is a foundation for justice — and for peace. This historical experience shapes our deep and unwavering commitment to upholding the international law and values enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. As a founding member of this Organization, Poland remains determined, in the words of the Charter, “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”.

This determination is not a historical relic. Yet again, nowadays, the peace in Europe is overshadowed by the unprovoked, brutal war of aggression waged by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which is a proof that it is a living imperative.

Europe is being confronted with a war started by a regime seeking to redraw borders by force. Once again, civilians, including children, are the principal victims. We must call this war what it is — a neo-imperial campaign of conquest — and we must respond with unity, resolve, and truth.

Facing that and remembering the victims of the Second World War, Poland calls on all UN Member States to stand by the principles upon which the Organization was founded – the right of peoples to self-determination, sovereignty and territorial integrity of states. We cannot allow any aggression to be normalized.

Madame President,

Peace and reconciliation is essential. But they cannot be built on false equivalence or on forgetting. The Latin origin of the word reconciliāre means “to make good again” — to restore what was broken. That restoration requires both accountability and reparation. It requires the courage to speak the truth, and the will to ensure that those who commit war crimes are held responsible.

Only then can we honor the victims of the past — not just with words, but with actions. Only then can we fulfill the Charter’s promise of peace, justice, and human dignity for all.

Let us ensure that the sacrifices of those who perished in the Second World War were not in vain. Let us ensure that our generation, faced with its own tests, does not fail the cause of peace.

Thank you.