World War II anniversary - Horrors that must never be repeated

THIS week we mark the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the most momentous and appalling conflict in human history.

On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and over the next six years 50 million people – some estimates put that figure as high as 70 million – lost their lives. Countries, civilisations, societies, cultures, ethnic and religious groups that had endured for millennia were all but destroyed. Millions were murdered because of their religious or ethnic background. Hardly a home or a family was untouched in the battle to preserve our civilisation. None survived unmarked.

Russia – and Poland – its armies and its peoples, suffered bestial cruelties and immense losses. Estimates vary here too but Russian losses are never recorded as less than 28 million and are often as high as 36 million.