Reconciliation and “the Revolution of Conscience”

WWII at 80: The turning point actually came in 1979 — in the place where conflict exploded 40 years earlier

The biggest international news from the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II? The man who wasn’t invited: Russian President Vladimir Putin. Much changes — and doesn’t change — in 80 years.

The Germans started World War II on September 1, 1939 and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeierin was in Warsaw humbly apologizing for a war whose total impact killed an estimated 80 million.

“I stand here humbly and gratefully…This war was a German crime,’’ Steinmeierin said. “Its impact is a legacy that lasts generations… We will never forget… Your spirit of freedom tore down the Iron Curtain… That a German president is allowed to stand in this square… shows the Miracle of Reconciliation.’’

Poland, Germany and America are now part of a united NATO alliance ready to defend each other against potential aggression from Russia. Leaders from around the globe each, one-by-one, rang a “Remembrance and Warning” bell in Warsaw’s Piłsudski Square. Poland President Andrzej Duda reminded the allies Germany wouldn’t have succeeded in 1939 had the Allies honored their commitment to immediately fight Germany if Poland was invaded. He said new imperialist moves must be met by a strong united NATO alliance.

More importantly, the United States is moving troops from Germany to Poland to defend Poles from any potential Russian invasion in the future. Duda has agreed to purchase more American weapons, finance much of the cost and has even talked about calling a new base Fort Trump.

Seventeen days after the German attack in 1939, the Russians joined the Germans (though Germany later attacked the Russians as well). Russian communists joined the Allies to beat the Germans then gobbled up and kept half of Europe as compensation for their efforts.

Decades later, the Cold War ended, communism collapsed in Europe and all sides seemed to make peace though nuclear weapons remained (just in case).

From 1917 to 1991, the Russian-run Soviet Union was atheistic, answering to no higher authority than itself. The Russian Orthodox Church is back in a more religious Russia today but the Russians were tweeting boasts about winning the war for the Allies rather than confessing their role in starting WWII and subsequent conflicts.

Russia, rather than repenting, literally mocked the Allies by tweeting out a World War II era American propaganda poster reminding the world that America considered Russian communists “your friend’’ during the American years in World War II, an alliance that began in 1941 after the Soviets joined forces with the USA and UK in fighting Germany.

“God bless Poland and may God bless the United States of America,’’ U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told the allied nations. Pence stressed the powerful words of Russian Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who said the crimes of the entire 20th century could precisely be summed up in four words: “Men have forgotten God.’’

The loudest voice at the Piłsudski Square ceremonies — singled out by both Pence and Steinmeierin — was the towering leader who reminded the world of God: St. John Paul the Great. John Paul’s story and impact is detailed in the new film, The Divine Plan set to debut November 6. Both leaders recalled John Paul’s June 2, 1979 address on that same spot that still reverberates throughout the world to this day.

Pence quoted JP’s words directly: “Man cannot understand who he is nor what his true dignity is nor what his vocation is nor what his final end is without Christ.’’

Pence added, “and when the Holy Father spoke those words, millions of Poles gathered here fearlessly spoke for their nation and for their history. Lifting their voices, they sang ‘We want God, we want God’ and their voices echoed across this nation and around the world.’’

Pence’s warning to the world: In June 1979, Pence added “one of Poland’s greatest sons in this very square preached that the Polish people could not understand their history or their future apart from their greatest source of strength. His visit caused a revolution of conscience throughout the land.’’

Within 16 months, the Solidarity movement began to challenge communism head on, leading to the June 4, 1989 elections where Solidarity crushed their communist rivals.

And in a messaage to all who seek to revive socialism in America and elsewhere, Pence recalled the ways of the people who placed the needs of government above the needs of God and the people: “All morality became socialist morality, whatever served the power of the state became justified.’’

“During the five decades of suffering that followed the outbreak of World War II, the Polish people never lost hope,’’ Pence said. “You never gave in to despair and you never you let go of your thousand-year history.’’

Eighty years ago and in the following decades, Pence stressed: “Your life shone in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it. The character, faith and determination of the Polish people made all the difference. It would, in time, turn shattering defeat into glorious victory.’’

He quoted President Trump’s 2017 Warsaw address, where the American president said, “There is a courage and a strength deep in the character of the Polish people that no one could destroy.’’

Pence added: “Today we also remember the 16 million Americans who left the peace and comfort of their homes to fight in Europe and over 400,000 young Americans including thousands of Polish Americans who gave their lives… But no one fought with more righteous determination or fury than the Poles.’’

Related story: Why September 1 still matters

Below: As we learn in “The Divine Plan,’’ Ronald Reagan, watching the news coverage of Pope John Paul II’s June 1979 visit to Poland, leapt up and told Dick Allen, “That’s it.’’ Reagan immediately sensed (18 months before winning the White House) that a partnership with John Paul II would be the essential key to confronting and overwhelming communism and the Soviet Union. The strong ABC News coverage of that visit below gives a sense of what was apparent even then, as history was being made: