Germany’s president Frank-Walter Steinmeier asked Poland for forgiveness for the “tyranny” unleashed by Nazi Germany, as leaders gathered in Warsaw on Sunday to mark the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the second world war.

Speaking in Wielun in western Poland — a town of no military significance that was one of the Luftwaffe’s first targets on September 1 1939 — Mr Steinmeier apologised for the “racist barbarity” and “desire to annihilate” inflicted by Germany on Poland.

“What happened in Wielun was a warning flare — a terrorist attack by the German Luftwaffe and a harbinger of all that would follow over the next six years,” said Mr Steinmeier, before apologising in both Polish and German. “We call it war — because we lack a proper way to describe all the horror of those years?.?.?.?It was meant to eradicate Polish and European culture, to make way for the delusions of a criminal.”