Following the relocation of its Berlin office to the political centre of the German capital, the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation (FWPN) organised its first major debate on 15 September, in cooperation with the Pilecki Institute. Under the title “War in the East – 1939–2025: Lessons for European Security?”, historian Prof. Dr Claudia Weber (European University Viadrina) and Piotr Buras (European Council on Foreign Relations) discussed historical and contemporary security policy challenges.
The numerous guests from the worlds of academia, politics and civil society were welcomed by: Joanna Kiliszek, Director of the Pilecki Institute in Berlin, Cornelius Ochmann, Board Member and Executive Director of FWPN, and Markus Meckel, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Co-Chair of the FWPN Council, who also moderated the discussion.
The meeting opened with a presentation by Piotr Buras, who drew a line from the German-Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939 to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, emphasising the urgent need for a solidary and self-assured European security policy. Prof. Claudia Weber deepened the debate with an analysis of the Hitler–Stalin pact and its impact on collective memory in Poland. The discussion moved vividly between the past and the present.
A particular aim was to make the Polish perspective on current threats more visible and thereby strengthen mutual understanding in Polish-German relations.
Author: Arkadiusz Szczepański