Ceremonies marking the beginning of WW II will take place today all over Poland in memory of the first shots fired by Nazi Germany at the garrison in Westerplatte on the Baltic coast.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Bronislaw Komorowski will be at a ceremony in Monument Square in Westerplatte, near Gdansk. A wreath laying ceremony will also take place in the morning at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw.

In parts of the speech which President Bronislaw Komorowski will be giving today, released early to the press, he will say that in remembering the events of 71 years ago year we can see the fight for freedom culminating the ideals of the founding fathers of the European Union.

“Today is Europe we can feel safer and can better and more effectively defend Polish and European freedom,” says the speech which Komorowski will deliver before setting off for Brussels on his first trip abroad since being elected head of state on July 4. (pg)