I have to disagree with that. Live in Germany for a while and you will see that exactly the opposite is true. They are openly admitting what happened during WW2 (can't hide it anyway), and they will never evade an attempt to discuss the topic. The younger generations are often times not willing to accept the blame for something that their great grandparents did though, but that's totally understandable IMO. There is no collective guilt in all eternity, even if certain governments would like to see it that way. If there would, almost every freakin' nation on the planet would be to blame for some dirty little secret in their past.
If your ancestors were in the "Wehrmacht"...
Spot on. Germany, especially the former West Germany and Berlin, has faced up to its past.
Poland remained the only major occupied continental European country NOT to have an interim Nazi puppet state
That is because the Germans did not allow such a puppet state to come into existence. Poles collaborated on plenty other levels, given the chance. Ever heard of the Blue Police?
Harry
5 Mar 2015 / #214
That is because the Germans did not allow such a puppet state to come into existence.
They were required under the terms of the German-Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty of 28 September 1939 not to allow such a state to come into existence.
The Government of the German Reich and the Government of the U.S.S.R. consider it as exclusively their task, after the collapse of the former Polish state, to re-establish peace and order in these territories and to assure to the peoples living there a peaceful life in keeping with their national character. To this end, they have agreed upon the following:
ARTICLE I.
The Government of the German Reich and the Government of the U.S.S.R. determine as the boundary of their respective national interests in the territory of the former Polish state the line marked on the attached map, which shall be described in more detail in a supplementary protocol.
...
ARTICLE III.
The necessary reorganization of public administration will be effected in the areas west of the line specified in article I by the Government of the German Reich, in the areas east of this line by the Government of the U.S.S.R.
ARTICLE I.
The Government of the German Reich and the Government of the U.S.S.R. determine as the boundary of their respective national interests in the territory of the former Polish state the line marked on the attached map, which shall be described in more detail in a supplementary protocol.
...
ARTICLE III.
The necessary reorganization of public administration will be effected in the areas west of the line specified in article I by the Government of the German Reich, in the areas east of this line by the Government of the U.S.S.R.
avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/gsbound.asp
Apparently Stalin didn't want there to be a Polish state. German Ambassador in Moscow Count von Schulenburg wrote a report to Hitler of a meeting he had on 25 September 1939 with Molotov and Stalin:
Stalin and Molotov asked me to come to the Kremlin at 8 p. m. today. Stalin stated the following: In the final settlement of the Polish question anything that in the future might create friction between Germany and the Soviet Union must be avoided. From this point of view, he considered it wrong to leave an independent Polish rump state. He proposed the following: From the territory to the east of the demarcation line, all the Province of Lublin and that portion of the Province of Warsaw which extends to the Bug should be added to our share. In return, we should waive our claim to Lithuania.
avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/ns082.asp
They were required under the terms of the German-Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty of 28 September 1939 not to allow such a state to come into existence
Also Polish Government after loosing the war didn't sign an agreement with Germans for the surrender, and by doing so exposed the population of the country to harsher treatment.
Harry
5 Mar 2015 / #216
Also Polish Government after loosing the war
In the eyes of the Polish government the war was never lost, only the battle.
When I lived in Berlin during the late '80s, nobody wanted to even discuss the matter.