Poland Marks 70th Anniversary of End of WWII

Poland marked the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II (WWII) on Thursday midnight (local time) with a ceremony on the Westerplatte Peninsula in Gdansk.

Among those present at the ceremony were Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, European Council President Donald Tusk, who is Polish, and the presidents of Ukraine and several Central European countries.

Half an hour before the ceremony started, blue light beams illuminated a monument to the Polish defenders of Westerplatte to the playing of the Polish national anthem and a gun salute. Polish soldiers laid wreaths and singers sang songs in memory of the deceased soldiers.

A participant at the ceremony said the celebration is actually a lesson, which united all people and took them to the beginning of WWII and gathered necessary information about the place.

The Westerplatte peninsula is considered to be a place that witnessed the first battle of WWII in 1939. Exactly 70 years after Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945, Poland continues to hold grand event to remember the soldiers' sufferings and celebrate the victory.