Summary

NAME: POL WAR 20090831I TAPE: EF09/0826 IN_TIME: 10:40:52:07 DURATION: 00:03:29:02 SOURCES: AP TELEVISION DATELINE: Various, 27-29 Aug 2009 RESTRICTIONS: SHOTLIST Gdansk, Poland - 27 August 2009 1. Tilt down of Westerplatte monument 2. Close of two wreaths on steps of monument 3. Wide of visitors on steps, taking photos of monument 4. Wide of Westerplatte monument 5. Wide of site of state ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II, with huge letters forming the words: (Polish) "No more wars" 6. Mid of memorial stones in front of former bunker at Westerplatte 7. Close of names of killed soldiers on memorial stone, pull focus to flowers in the foreground Wielun, Poland - 28 August 2009 8. Street sign reading: (Polish) "Wielun" 9. Wide of street in town centre 10. Wide exterior of Wielun historical museum, flags 11. SOUNDBITE (Polish) Eugeniusz Kolodziejczyk, 83, World War II Survivor: "I was thinking about the people, about the children, this girl who was lying several metres from here. I ran up to her, and my father said 'where are you going?' And I ran up to her after the planes passed over. I tried to pick her up, her dark hair was hanging and her face was full of blood, and her hands dropped lifelessly. I could see she was dying." 12. Tilt down from treetop to Kolodziejczyk speaking 13. SOUNDBITE (Polish) Eugeniusz Kolodziejczyk, 83, World War II Survivor: "Unfortunately it happened. But it was not the fault of the German people. It was the fault of madmen who wanted to rule the world, and they met their end the way they did." 14. Wide of Kolodziejczyk walking through exhibition in the Wielun historical museum about the outbreak of World War II in Wielun 15. Close of black and white photograph showing burning house in Wielun 16. Close of photograph showing Nazi soldiers and officers at the entrance of the Wielun town hall 17. Mid of Jan Ksiazek, head of the Wielun historical museum, talking to Kolodziejczyk 18. SOUNDBITE (Polish) Jan Ksiazek, Head of the Wielun Historical Museum: "Unfortunately, the entire Second World War was a war of total destruction. And this did actually start in Wielun. Westerplatte is the symbol of bravery, and Wielun is the symbol of annihilation of defenceless civilians." Mokra (near Czestochowa), Poland - 29 August 2009 19. Wide of battlefield monument with row of flags 20. Mid of 95-year-old Polish war veteran, Marian Wojciechowski kneeling down at monument at the site of the historical battlefield of Mokra, dedicated to the defenders of Poland 21. Mid of monument 22. Close of Wojciechowski looking up at monument 23. Wide of Wojciechowski walking through historical site of the battle of Mokra 24. Close of fire 25. SOUNDBITE (English) Marian Wojciechowski, 95, World War II veteran and Auschwitz survivor: "We didn't have enough ammunition, we did not have enough weapons, we were not prepared at all." 26. Close of Wojciechowski's identification card of the Polish Union from American-occupied German territory in 1945 27. SOUNDBITE (English) Marian Wojciechowski, 95, World War II veteran and Auschwitz survivor: "All the other countries were also fighting later on for freedom. And we started the fight, we were first to fight." 28. Wide of Wojciechowski walking to memorial tablets at the battlefield of Mokra STORYLINE Just before dawn on September 1, 1939, Eugeniusz Kolodziejczyk, a 13-year-old Pole, stood on a train station platform in Wielun and watched as the bombs began to fall. The explosions set off a worldwide conflict that would rage for more than half a decade and leave more than 40 (m) million military personnel and civilians dead: World War II had began. As the bombs fell, Kolodziejczyk remembers running to help a small girl who was lying on a heap of rubble, her face covered in blood. "This girl who was lying several metres from here... I ran up to her after the planes passed over. I tried to pick her up, her dark hair was hanging and her face was full of blood, and her hands dropped lifelessly. I could see she was dying," Kolodziejczyk said, recalling the first few moments after the bombing. The Polish town of Wielun was the first victim of the war in Europe, even before the tiny Polish military outpost on Westerplatte, in Gdansk, some 250 miles (400 kilometres) to the north on the Baltic Sea, which was shelled by the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein just five minutes after Wielun. Westerplatte is the site of Monday's state ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the start of the war in Poland, to be attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. But Wielun defends its place in history and will hold its own anniversary ceremonies with the participation of President Lech Kaczynski. Last year it nominated itself for the Nobel Peace Prize, arguing that its wartime past qualifies it to carry a message of pacifism, along with Guernica, the Spanish town in the Basque Country that was heavily bombed on market day by the German air force, with the collusion of Franco, during the Spanish Civil War, and became a symbol of war's barbarity. The attack on Wielun was a harbinger of what Poland and the rest of Europe had in store for them as the continent faced total war: some 1,200 of the town's 15,000 citizens were killed and more than 70 percent of the buildings turned to rubble. During the Nazi occupation, Poland lost some six (m) million citizens and more than half its national wealth in destroyed factories, burned down museums, libraries and villages. The country was also to be used as a base for the occupying Nazis' genocide machinery; the concentration camps Auschwitz, Majdanek, Sobibor were all located there, among others. It is not entirely clear why Germany chose Wielun, just 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the border, as its first target. But in a book published in Berlin in 1939 German Luftwaffe (Air Force) officers said they believed Polish troops were stationed in the city. "The entire Second World War was a war of total destruction. And this did actually start in Wielun. Westerplatte is the symbol of bravery, and Wielun is the symbol of annihilation of defenceless civilians," said Jan Ksiazek, head of the town's historical museum. Today, the main square is framed by low, modern houses that filled in the void left after the old, historic buildings were demolished. There are no reminders of the bombings except for the stone foundations of a 14th century church in the town centre. Despite vivid memories of wartime horror, Kolodziejczyk has a message of reconciliation: "Unfortunately it happened. But it was not the fault of the German people," he said. "It was the fault of madmen who wanted to rule the world, and they met their end the way they did," he added. At 95 years-old, Marian Wojciechowski is now the oldest surviving soldier from the 21st regiment of the Nadwislanski Lancers in the Wolynska Cavalry Brigade. He fought in the battle of Mokra, a small town between Wielun and Czestochowa, known for its famous monastery of Jasna Gora. Wojciechowski has lived in the US for nearly fifty years now, and is the only Polish veteran from the US joining ceremonies in Mokra. His regiment fought against German tanks despite poor supply lines and inferior weaponry. "We didn't have enough ammunition, we did not have enough weapons, we were not prepared at all, " Wojciechowski said. Wojciechowski's unit, the 21st regiment, received the highest Polish military award for bravery in battle, the Virtuti Militari. Wojciechowski is also a former prisoner of the Gestapo in Radom, and of the concentration camps in Auschwitz, Gross Rosen and Leitmeritz, from April 1942 to May 1945. But he says he feels no bitterness. "All the other countries were also fighting later on for freedom. And we started the fight, we were first to fight."