Piotr Gliński made the statement as he opened a new exhibition about the plight of Polish children during the war, state news agency PAP reported.
The culture minister told reporters earlier this week that the government had "a duty to preserve the memory of events of importance to the Polish community," including the fate of children killed and abducted by the country's Nazi German and Soviet occupiers during World War II.
Gliński said the new exhibition, held in the Polish parliament building, was "shocking" and should be displayed throughout Europe, as well as in the European Parliament.
The showcase depicts the brutal treatment of Polish children by Nazi German and Soviet forces during the war, according to officials.
It has been organised by the Museum of Polish Children Victims of Totalitarianism, a new institution based in the central city of Łódź, where an estimated 3,000 Polish children went through a Nazi German concentration camp, of whom some 200 died or were killed.
The new exhibition has been timed to coincide with the National Day of Polish Children of War, which falls on September 10, the PAP news agency reported.
The National Day of Polish Children of War was established last month “in tribute to the Polish children of war,” and as “a mark of respect and gratitude” for their contribution to the postwar reconstruction of the country, "despite having suffered as a result of the criminal actions of German and Soviet occupiers,” officials said.
Under Nazi Germany’s policy of genocide and mass terror, an estimated 2 million Polish children died during World War II, according to historians.
In addition, over 200,000 Polish children were abducted from their families, of whom some 170,000 disappeared without a trace, the PAP news agency reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, gov.pl