Witold Pilecki - christianus miles, the patron of Heroes Struggle Against Totalitarianism 
"Heaven crown, courageous homeland him eccentric,
And we worshiped him king, Sarmatowie.
God, the fatherland, so outsiders together, decorate it,
inszych That he does not need to praise the title. But we carcass
this mind fertile kożdej virtues, he That
nazowiem Father of this new homeland. " ... posted at the end of the sixteenth century, Nicholas Szarzyński vulture. The hero of epigrams - King Stefan Batory, like his later successor of age - that famous monarch, who gave the nickname enemies
Lion Lechistanu signed up permanently in the consciousness of Europeans. The memory of the incomparable strategu, whose skill, two centuries later, he marveled at the Prussian military theorist Clausewitz, has survived over three centuries. Today the average citizen of Vienna, Ursynów, Nowa Huta and Grunwald, is able to answer correctly the question: "Who was John Sobieski?". The author's name Vienna Victory in ordinary bread eater produces a set of associations oscillating around such concepts as honor, courage, bravery, sacrifice, loyalty, love of country, courage. Known for its numerous portraits, powerful figure Sobieski, dressed in hussar karacenę armored regiment suitable companion to these terms of weight and splendor. This staffage Sarmatian, and moral, cultural and temporal distance, which we - today - split from King John, does not prevent the remembrance of his great achievements. Paradoxically, however, even if we touch a marble sarcophagus in the crypt of St. Leonard Castle, even though a close look at the Viennese trophies - the tents of Kara Mustafa, jataganom, kałkanom and horse rows, the inertia of our imagination makes it not only spiritual, but the material remains of past ages are inclined to be seen rather as an element of reality fairy tale than a witness of events that actually took place. In this way - and no small merit in the nineteenth and twentieth-century literature, the humanities - by falling into the trap of another delusion. Alleged
unreality (or - exotics), older forms, living conditions, and even the dilemmas faced by people not familiar with television, email and esemesów, tells us to treat with suspicion the principles on which their world was founded. Post-, and perhaps even post-postmodernistycznemu
homo ludens extremely difficult to accept that generations of his ancestors can treat it quite seriously everything that is hidden under the names of ancient virtues. A man brought up on commercials and game shows, ready
guess that
Iustitia, Fortitudo, and Sapientia Temperantia are the latest models of well-known car brands. And
Fides, Spes Caritas and
, in his eyes just in time to give signs of respectable insurance companies and pension funds.
need considerable effort of imagination to realize that even three or four generations ago, the cardinal and theological virtues - along with them the highest sankcjonującym References
point - were clearly part of everyday life. People from the generation who grew up before World War II, the obligations to treat the common good as something quite ordinary. And regardless of the environment in which they grew up, or belief, which is professed. Neither wyrzuconemu in September 1939 on the Argentine bank of Witold Gombrowicz, or if staying in Stockholm Casimir Badeniemu or thousands of Polish workers and peasants did not pass by the thought that when the history of the rascals
ignite our common home, reconciles shirk from his defense. Today, almost no trace of the people who - even if barely able to sign up - breathed air saturated horacjańskim
"exegi monumentum .." . People who - even if you've never heard the name of Seneca - lived in the deep conviction that
"commendable is to do what is right and what is not allowed" and that
"issue is not whether Kato will be free but on whether he will live among the free. " day with a candle would have to find someone who could with conviction, repeat with St. Paul. Augustine:
"True freedom advocates are taking only the eternal law." Even more difficult would be to find a man who honestly agree with Lord Acton, who claimed that
"Freedom is the rule of conscience" .
Simone Weil - one of those who have the most penetrating explored the mysteries of the Kingdom of the Spirit
- so here are identified to date (including today!) Sources of risk:
"Where people are not familiar with other motives than coercion, money, and carefully maintained and driven enthusiasm, freedom can not be. " interesting that the French Jewish woman, who like St.. Edith Stein, a former rabbi of Rome, Eugenio Zolli - in a Crucified found the truth about God and the truth about man, a remedy to perceive the totalitarian enslavement in returning to the ideals of past ages. The author
"Awareness of the supernatural" bombed by the Luftwaffe in London, has noted:
"You would have to satisfy the public life of a great abundance of borrowings from the Middle Ages full of genuine beauty" . I think it is worth remembering that remark. Also due to the date when you saved it. It is worth to remember this thought - chronologically parallel
the events described in the "Report Witold.
Delving into reading certificate from Auschwitz Captain, certificate, without which it is impossible to understand to what extremes - size and degradation - may be the man come to the conclusion that without the "Report Witold" also can not be meaningfully and fairly (sic) answer the question of what Auschwitz was. It is impossible to answer the question, what was done and what was not done, the devil
experiment realized on Polish soil. It's probably good enough reason to "report Witold" spread. Reflections on a trampling of the most basic human rights could lead us in other areas. Prisoner No. P-4859, staying in the camp under the name Thomas Serafiński was - as he often declares, and as confirmed by his relatives - a man of deep faith. However, any
mysticism was alien to him from the ground. Perhaps this is why so strong make an impression on the reader a clear reference to the Report of Divine Providence. Perhaps it is precisely the factual honesty of the military instrument in combination with sensitivity to the suffering of others and modesty of the author's self-esteem, can sharpen a metaphysical context for the events described.
Both the "Report Witold" and last chapters biography of Captain, in a very sharp show the incompatibility of two worlds. World demonic principles governing the master race
and one that - like the whole European civilization - is based the Sermon on the Mount
and
Parable of the Good Samaritan . With bated breath we observe, as in the unequal battle are opposite each other: the lords of life and death - twentieth-century descendants of the barbarian
kynoskefaloi and brought back to the level of subhuman
defender of our world.
we ask the question at this point:
unde bonum? Location in an ideal world of evil have taken up good? Where to beat its sources? A careful reading of the "Report Witold" brings to mind the libertarian tradition of the romantic and the Polish insurrectionist. But there is a deeper bottom. This Community foundations, which for centuries became known as the Christiana
Europe. The guardian of this order is a Christian knight. Archetype of the earthly militia
Christiani is the figure of St. George - God's warrior. While the biography of legendary conqueror of the dragon, unfortunately, did not survive (the church), the test of time, the pattern of the Christian knight, also marks another - this time as the most historic - character. This is it - what I think anyone in Poznan, you do not need to convince - Św.Marcin of Tours. According to the administration, that Roman legionary from the fourth century, faced with a half-naked in winter beggar drew his sword, cut in two, his precious cloak, and put him poor. The next night in a dream, Christ appeared to Martin dressed into this half of the mantle, which gave the soldier a beggar. Then Jesus said to the angels surrounding him:
"In this robe clothed me catechumen Marcin" .
can not help but bring up a good knight - a personification of active mercy and brotherhood in the context of the activities of Witold Pilecki Auschwitz. How many witnesses testify - among others. Konstanty Piekarski and Joseph Garliński, One of the objectives of the Association of Military Organization, founded by Witold Pilecki secret organization was - in addition to intelligence gathering and preparation for armed resistance against the crew of the SS - to maintain prisoners on the spirit and assistance in obtaining food.
people today, even the best intentions przepełnionemu, and while not deprived of a sense of empathy is very difficult to understand the motivations, what motivated the heroes of the past. All those who, in spite of incredibly difficult circumstances, they could bring themselves to face the heroism and totalitarian monsters. 60. anniversary of the death of the Hero of Auschwitz confronts us back to the question about the sustainability of the noblest roots of our culture.
"The pursuit of fame and honor of chivalry is inextricably linked with the cult of heroes, which mingles medieval and Renaissance elements. Knight Life is the imitation of certain patterns. " - had already written a hundred years ago Johan Huizinga. "Report Witold" - this outstanding evidence of apparent in times of contempt - can and should become a modern, at least, the people of the Middle Ages Latin exempla were
. How much stronger impression on us makes the text that is not confined to a dry description of the facts, confirmed by historians. The text, which the author not only uses an excellent style, but somehow at the margins to formulate proposals worthy of the greatest tragedians. In this way, the reality portrayed in the "Report Witold" acquires a symbolic dimension. The scenes in which the swashbuckling Captain describes the march of a column of prisoners to the Death Block, illegal Christmas Eve 1941, and after escaping the first break in the forest, urastają almost to the level of myth. Ethical universalism message "Report Witold "puts him one of the most important texts in Western culture.
From this perspective may also be tempted to try revaluation. The average citizen of the global village, who will take the trouble to reach for the "Report Witold" (which, of course, we have to allow it to), it can be concluded here that, apart from the finger wyssanych adventures of superheroes, there are - or rather his consciousness may occur - heroes of flesh and blood. Real Heroes Struggle with Totalitarianism. People whose biographies are the loftiest odpowiedź na najtrudniejsze wyzwania. Być może takim wyeksploatowanym przez polityków i przemysł rozrywkowy, wielkim słowom, jak: poświęcenie, honor, ojczyzna, służba, uda się odzyskać choć część dawnego blasku. Być może i my sami z odrobiną pokory zechcemy spojrzeć na średniowieczne biografie rycerzy doskonałych. Ich bohaterami nie są przecież sami
Don Kichoci . Jeśli to się uda, choćby w niewielkim stopniu, być może zdołamy w relacji średniowiecznego francuskiego kronikarza usłyszeć echo słów całkiem współczesnych. Autor piętnastowiecznej
„Livre des faicts " devoted to the history of the Burgundian knight nicknamed Boucicaut, describes his character as a type of knight, a modest, pious, and educated dwornego literature. Recalling
essential characteristic of true knight, which according to medieval people's contempt for riches, or rather growing out of the Gospel know that you can not simultaneously serve God and Mammon, chronicler cites the following statement by a wealthy father, Mr. Boucicaut:
"If my children are fair and brave - he says - it will have enough, and if they are worth nothing, it would be unfortunate to leave them so much. " Several hundred years later, though - one might say - yet in some sense in the same epoch - the words of a medieval scribe had an echo to bounce away from the eastern reaches of France
sweet. They had to bounce resonance in particular, half-joking
testament, under which Pilecki shortly before the outbreak of war, appointed his daughter, the heiress
fresh air ... "Bravery is a virtue (...) and respectable (...) commendable (...) So in fact, as the four evangelists and the twelve apostles were closer to our Lord, than others, so brave are honored more than others, it is very fair, because the purchase and earn name brave with great difficulty, toil, effort and effort, day and night without respite. And their noble deeds ... are recorded in the books and chronicles. The books in fact, the memory of the brave and honorable men of ancient times (...) " - posted fourteenth-century chronicler Jean Froissart. Let's try that no one who can answer the question Who was Jan Sobieski, had no trouble finding the certificates century totalitarianism and parallels to the passage quoted
old French Chroniques .
do not waste our perspective, we have appointed predecessors, better than contemporaries aware of what is ultimately our survival
soaring.
SONET IIII
About our war that we lead with Satan, the world body and
Room - happiness, but the battle
Being our soaring. On grim darkness and light
Hetman greedy vanity
About our hurry to make zepsowanie.
not enough for this, of our mighty Lord! This
our house - Body for fugitive delight
inadvertently zajźrząc spiritual sovereignty,
Crashing the request will not stop forever.
What I did in that terrible battle,
is weak, imprudent, in divided against itself?
universal King, a true peace
my salvation, the hope is in you!
You me at the attitudes and przespiecznie
I will make war and win sedately. You, Lord Captain, have received their reward. We, the poor trembling from the cold, forgive me that so clumsily trying to stand upright, raise his head. We watch them in the glare of archangels wings standing right next to the shadows of your ancestors: Gilgamesh Hector Roland.
remember.
Text presented at the scientific session "between the two totalitarian systems", 20 May 2008 at the Palace Działyńskis in. NOTES:
1) miles christianus - Lat. the medieval ideal of a Christian soldier
2) in January 2008, the Foundation inaugurated Paradis Judaeorum social action "Recall of Captain" ("Let's Reminisce About Witold Pilecki"). One of its aims is to establish May 25 - the anniversary of the death of Witold Pilecki - European Day of Heroes of the Struggle Against Totalitarianism.
3) Nicholas Sarzyński Vulture (ok.1550 - ok.1581) next to the eminent poet Jan Kochanowski soup. Motto text - Vulture Szarzyński line "in the image of the Stefan Batory, Polish King"
4) Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) - Prussian theorist of war, general and writer.
5) Ursynow, Nowa Huta - districts of Warsaw and Krakow, Grunwald - the place of the Polish-Lithuanian zwycięstwa nad Zakonem Krzyżackim, a także nazwa jednej z dzielnic Poznania.
6) karacena – ozdobna zbroja husarska, wykonana z metalowych płytek nakładanych na skórzany kaftan.
7) jatagan – wschodnia broń biała, kałkan – turecka okrągła tarcza, koński rząd – uprząż.
8) homo ludens – człowiek bawiący się.
9) Iustitia (sprawiedliwość), Fortitudo (męstwo), Sapientia (roztropność), Temperantia (umiarkowanie) – cnoty kardynalne
10) Fides (wiara), Spes (nadzieja), Caritas (miłość) – theological virtues.
11) Point of Reference for the highest virtues (the cardinal and theological) is the source of being, namely God.
12) Witold Gombrowicz (1904-1969) - writer, Kazimierz Baden (b. 1912) - o.Joachim, senior Polish Dominicans.
13) rascals from history - see row Z. Herbert, "The Lord of Nature."
14) "exegi monumentum .." - the title song Horace. In translating Lucjan Rydel:
I appeared a monument more durable than the spiży.
ranging from royal Pyramids above;
Neither rain consuming it, nor Akwilony There she'll live
powerless than
countless number of years, nor the time flying in the depths of eternity.
not altogether die, a lot of me here is
beyond the grave. The child fame forever young,
grow together as long as I am, as long as the stairs of the Capitol
vestal priest quiet walks.
Where the noise goes up a wild Aufidus,
Where Daunus ruled the country in a dry meadow peoples
There will be talk about me that I, a low wprzódy,
rose to the heights, and that I moved to the nation's first
Italów Aeolian rhythm lines.
Melpomeno, take pride, What about merit increases,
I Delphic laurel crown my brow with joy. 15) Seneca (the Elder) - Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c. 44 BC - 40 AD), orator, author of "History of Rome"
16) St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) - philosopher, theologian, one of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church.
17) Lord Acton (1834-1902) - John Emerich Dalberg-Acton - British historian, political philosopher and politician.
18) Simone Weil (1909-1943) - French philosopher and Christian thinker (although baptism is not accepted) of Jewish origin.
19) Edith Stein - St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (1891-1942) - Carmelite nun, philosopher and theologian, patron saint of the Catholic holidays, and Europe, died in a gas chamber in Auschwitz.
20) Eugenio Zolli - Israel Zolli Anton (1881-1956) - Chief Rabbi of Rome, under the influence of benefits, which experienced by Pope Pius XII, he converted to Catholicism.
21) "Report Witold" from 1945 written at the command of General Wladyslaw Anders poignant testimony of Witold Pilecki with the period of his stay and escape from Auschwitz. Witold Pilecki was in a concentration camp under the name Thomas Serafiński.
22) Sermon on the Mount - Mt 5,1-7,28; Parable of the Good Samaritan - Luke 10,30-37.
23) kynoskefaloi - psiogłowcy. Barbarian warriors from the Migration Period, cult associated with the wolf, dog or bear. During the battle, they transform into animals. In contrast to the heroic initiation, the initiation ritual was to kynoskefaloi surrender to the forces of demonic possession.
24) unde bonum? - Lat. "Whence (comes) is good?".
25) Europa Christiana - Lat. Christian Europe.
26) św.Jerzy - patron saint of knights, scouts and boy scouts. Chief patron of England, Georgia and Lithuania, one of the Fourteen Saints Wspomożycieli. Given the doubts about the historicity of this figure, the Catholic Church has removed from the directory św.Jerzego holy martyrs.
27) Św.Marcin of Tours (ok.316-397) - bishop, patron of soldiers in the Catholic Church, the Holy Orthodox Church, the street dedicated to him is the most representative artery in Poznan.
28) Konstanty Piekarski - Auschwitz prisoner No. P-4618 and Buchenwald, a member of the Association Military Organization, a friend of Witold Pilecki. After the war, a professor of metallurgy, the author of the memoirs of camp, "slipping hell."
29) Garliński Joseph (1913-2005) - an officer of the Home Army, a prisoner of Auschwitz and Neuengamme, longtime president of the Association of Polish Writers Abroad, a historian with a rich heritage and social activist of Polish migration policy, the author of many books, including "Auschwitz fighting."
30) Johan Huizinga (1872-1945) - Dutch historian. In the text quoted from his monumental work Fri "Autumn of the Middle Ages."
31) exempla - Lat. "Examples". Medieval literary form which recalls past events (non-fictional or authentic) in order to convince the public of the truth of an issue.
32) "Livre des faicts - starofranc. "Book of deeds" - characteristic of late medieval literary form whose purpose is the biography of a perfect knight. The quoted text was used by J. Huizinga, "Le livre des faicts du Marechal Boucicaut", describing the history of Jean le Meingre called Marechal Boucicaut, a participant in the battle with the Turks at Nicopolis in 1396, the
33) You can not simultaneously serve God and Mammon - Mt 6,24-34.
34) Jean Froissart (ok.1337-ok.1405) - one of the greatest historians of the Middle Ages. His "Chroniques" (Chronicle) for centuries served as a perfect description of France and England. The text is a quote from M. Mollat \u200b\u200b"medieval origins of modern France."
35) Sonnet IIII Nicholas Szarzyński Vulture.
36) ... Gilgamesh, Hector, Roland - see Z. Herbert "The Message of Mr. Cogito"
Figure: relief from the portal of the church in Poznan Św.Marcin (photo Michael Tyrpa)
MICHAEL Tyrpa - columnist, president of the Foundation Paradis Judaeorum initiator of social action, "Recall of Captain" ("Let's Reminisce About Witold Pilecki")
