Bartoszewski- moral authority of young Poles

[Jaga]

Wladyslaw Bartoszewski is a known politician, historian, professor . He was a minister of foreign affairs, earlier he was a prisoner in Auschwitz.

He is over 80 years old

He actively supported PO in the elections and partly thanks to his support this party win. One of his big tools to fight against kaczynski's party were his lectures for young people. Here in one of the lectures available on youtube. It is wonderful, I recommend to everybody if only you understand some Polish:

[Jaga]

Here is about Bartoszewski from Wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C5%82adys%C5%82aw_Bartoszewski

[Jaga]

This is amazing. Since he was a member of a Red Cross... he was released from Auschwitz. Later he was imprisoned by communists.
Here is more about it:

On 19th September 1940, Bartoszewski was detained in one of the Warsaw’s district – Zoliborz during a massive Nazi manhunt. Since 22nd September 1940 he had been a prisoner of the concentration camp in Auschwitz (his inmate number was 4427). He was released from Auschwitz on 8th April 1941 due to the actions undertaken by the Polish Red Cross.

[Jaga]

Poland Puts Holocaust Survivor In Charge of German Relations

Poland has announced that former Polish Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Bartoszewski will be a foreign policy advisor for Warsaw's complex relations with Germany, Russia and Israel, which have all come under strain recently.

Bartoszewski's official position will be secretary of state in the prime minister's chancellery where he will advise Poland's new Prime Minister Donald Tusk and new Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski.

Wladyslaw Bartoszewski's nomination had a "symbolic character" and was meant to raise the country's profile on the international stage, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at a news conference in Warsaw on Wednesday, Nov. 21.


"He is a patron of a new chapter in Polish history," said Tusk, whose government took office last week.

Poland gives a sign of good will

Tusk has pledged to mend fences damaged by his nationalist predecessor Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who had a turbulent relationship with Germany.

The ousted premier regularly raised the spectre of Polish suffering at the hands of the Nazis during World War Two as he accused Berlin of trying to dominate the Europe Union.

After his appointment as state secretary, Bartoszewski, who spoke in both Polish and German at the press conference, said his priorities would the German-Polish relationship and the Jewish Diaspora.

"With my appointment to this position, Poland has given Germany a sign of its good will," the 85-year-old historian said.

Poland now expects "gestures of good-will" in return, he added.

Six months in Auschwitz

Bartoszewski, a Roman Catholic, was a member of the Polish underground during the Nazi German occupation during World War Two. He was arrested in Warsaw in 1940 and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp in occupied Poland.

After his release from Auschwitz in 1941, he continued to fight against the Nazis and to save Jews from the extermination camps.


Despite his experiences under the Nazi regime, Bartoszewski has close ties to Germany. From 1982 to 1989 he taught at universities in Berlin, Munich, Eichstätt and Augsburg. In 1986, he was awarded the prestigious Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.

Opposition politicians have accused Bartoszewski of being soft on Germany.

Bartoszewski was Poland's foreign minister in 1995 and again from 2000 to 2001.

www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2960568,00.html