Merkel Potential Successor Feels 'Deep Shame' over WWII

Germany’s centre-right candidate to replace Angela Merkel as chancellor said on Saturday he feels “deep shame and humility” over Nazi Germany’s “crimes” against the Poles during World War II.

Armin Laschet spoke to Poland’s daily Rzeczpospolita, stressing that he had a personal urge to attend the weekend anniversary observances in Warsaw of the city’s 1944 revolt against Nazi German occupation.

“The crimes that the Germans committed against the whole Polish nation fill me with deep shame and humility,” Laschet said. “This responsibility will determine our policy toward Poland also in the future.”

Laschet, who leads Merkel’s Christian Democrats party, is the front runner in the polls ahead of the country's September election.

“Germany must always be aware of its historical responsibility for Poland's freedom and independence,” he noted.

Germany was a great advocate of Poland's joining the European Union in 2004 and is attentive to the current rule-of-law conflicts between the right-wing Polish government in Warsaw and the EU's leading bodies.

On Sunday, exactly 77 years since the start of Warsaw's two-month devastating struggle against the occupying Nazi German forces, Merkel's likely successor was to visit the Warsaw Rising Museum. Poland is marking the anniversary with wreath-laying ceremonies, prayers and concerts.

The revolt ended in the surrender of the Polish Home Army resistance fighters. The Germans destroyed the city, believing it would never rise from the rubble or be Poland’s capital again.