World leaders mark 80th anniversary of start of World War II

Leaders from a number of countries are gathering in Poland on Sunday to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.

The ceremonies start early in Wielun, the first city to be bombarded by the German Luftwaffe on September 1, 1939. They begin shortly after 4 a.m. (0200 GMT) with speeches by Polish President Andrzej Duda and his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The long list of participants includes German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, Belgian Prime minister and President-elect of the European Council Charles Michel, as well as leaders from Croatia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Slovakia, Ukraine and Hungary.

US President Donald Trump was supposed to attend, but he canceled his planned trip saying that he needed to deal with a hurricane approaching the southeastern United States. Vice President Mike Pence is participating in the event in Trump's place.

A separate memorial service was set to take place at Westerplatte peninsula in Gdansk, which was also attacked by German forces in the early morning hours 80 years ago.

Gdansk will host, among others, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, deputy head of the European Commission Frans Timmermans as well as mayors of Polish and foreign cities that suffered during World War II, including London, Breda, Narvik and Osaka.

Few places suffered the level of death and destruction seen in Poland during World War II. It lost about a fifth of its population, including the vast majority of its 3 million Jewish citizens. After the war, Poland had to rise again from ruins and it remained under Soviet domination until 1989.

Fanning nationalism?

For Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, the memory of World War II is a central plank of its "historical politics," aiming to counteract what it says is a lack of appreciation in the West of the extent of the nation's suffering and bravery under Nazi German occupation.

Critics say the party's ambition is to fan nationalism among voters at a time when populists around the world are tapping into historical revisionism. PiS says the country's standing on the global stage and national security are at stake.

In a move likely to increase tensions between Poland and Germany, fuelled under the PiS government, Polish PM Morawiecki renewed calls for wartime reparations in recent days.

Germany, one of Poland's biggest trade partners and a fellow member of the European Union and NATO, has repeated that all financial claims linked to World War II have been settled.