I, a Polish Catholic, belong to a generation that has personal experience of helplessness in the face of evil. I also spent seven months in Auschwitz… - Władysław Bartoszewski

Fortunately, Poland today complies with the conventions of the civilized world. If chauvinistic or extremist voices are heard anywhere in the world they have to be denounced loudly. We must have the courage to stand against what assaults our sense of honesty and justice. Today, personal courage is necessary to surmount the fear of publicly addressing unpopular subjects. This is why it is necessary to teach young people that it is important to stand by their principles even if there are moments of pain and hardship. We must be careful not to allow any deviation to counteract certain positive patterns of normal behaviour.

I can say, that no man can judge his own life. So no man can say that he could have done more. The older I get, the greater the certitude I have, that it is the correct, sincere answer. It is possible to expect courage from people and even heroism. But it is necessary to understand the simple fact that they are people.

Enmity is incomparably easier than reconciliation. After all, it happens that we feel almost friendly towards an enemy, being able to shift the responsibility for all our misfortunes to him. […] And reconciliation? How can we live amongst the rubble? How to rid oneself of the memory of wrongs? How can we forget the suffering which filled a victim's entire life? […] Reconciliation requires reflection, moral sensitivity, conscience, great spiritual effort. It requires parting from delusions, from the mythology of hatred and seeing – in the old enemy and in oneself – a person under the same heaven.