Foreign Secretary David Miliband is visiting Poland on 1 September to take part in the commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II in Gdansk.

As the Foreign Secretary said in an article in today's Gazeta Wyborcza "I am glad and honoured to be able to attend this event. It recognises an anniversary which has a particular and painful significance for Poles." He paid tribute to the Poles' brave resistance in face of the brutal attack by Nazi Germany. Read Mr Miliband's full article here.

This is the Foreign Secretary's second visit to Poland this year. In June, he took time out of a working visit to Warsaw to visit the graves of his ancestors in Warsaw's Jewish cemetery and met the team working on establishing the new Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw. Following that visit, he wrote in an article for the Jewish Chronicle that "Poland is my roots" and recalled the emotions stirred by his visit to the graveyard, as he saw in Poland a "counterpoint of normality and tragedy, centuries of construction and a decade of destruction, heroism alongside sadism".

The Foreign Secretary will be joined at the commemorations, hosted by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and with the participation of President Lech Kaczynski, by 41 other international delegations, including German Chanceller Angela Merkel and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

---

Read about Foreign Secretary's first visit to Poland

Back to newsroom

Back to top