German president asks Poles for forgiveness on eve of 80th anniversary of Warsaw Uprising

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Germany’s president has asked the Polish people for forgiveness during observances marking the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising. Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Wednesday that Germans must never forget the immeasurable suffering inflicted on the neighboring nation. On Aug, 1, 1944, the Polish underground army launched an uprising against German forces after nearly five years of their brutal occupation of Poland during World War II. Poorly armed insurgents held on for 63 days in the cut-off city, inflicting heavy losses on the well-armed German troops before being forced to surrender. The Germans crushed the insurgents, carrying out a massacre of 200,000 Poles and destroying the city.