WARSAW, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas took part in a series of commemorative events here on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Warsaw Uprising against Nazi Germany.
On August 1, 1944, the Polish underground resistance, led by the Polish Home Army, began a major military operation to liberate Warsaw from Nazi occupation. The uprising, which lasted 63 days, was one of the biggest resistance operations in Nazi German-occupied Europe.
Up to 50,000 people took part in the uprising and approximately 18,000 were killed. Between 150,000 and 200,000 civilians also died.
On Thursday morning, Maas and Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz laid flowers at the monument of the Wola district massacre (up to 50,000 civilians and members of the Polish Home Army were killed in mass executions by Nazis in early August 1944, in an attempt to stifle the uprising), and then visited the Warsaw Uprising museum located in the area.
"I am grateful that, 75 years after the Warsaw Uprising, Poland and Germany share strong trust as friends," Maas said during a joint press conference with Czaputowicz on Wednesday.
The Germans are planning to build a monument to the Polish victims of World War II in Berlin.
Maas, however, added that Germany considered the issue of wartime reparations closed.
"Poles have the feeling of a certain injustice, or lack of compensation for the harm and losses suffered as a result of the hostilities. This is the subject of public debate and we believe there is no reason to avoid this topic in mutual relations," Czaputowicz said during the press conference.
A Polish parliamentary commission was currently assessing the cost of damages, the Polish foreign minister added.
Commemoration events are continuing in Warsaw on Thursday, the day the uprising began.
Representatives of the highest state institutions laid flowers in front of the building on Fitrowa street, in Warsaw's Ochota district, where the order to kick off the uprising at 5 p.m. on August 1 was made by Antoni Chrusciel, commander of the Polish forces in Warsaw.
At 5 p.m., as every year, Warsaw inhabitants and all those passing through will stop for a minute when hearing a siren call to hold a moment of silence for the victims of the uprising.
An uprising march organised among others by the "Independence March" association is scheduled to take place on Thursday afternoon in the center of Warsaw.
