Born: February 19, 1922, Warsaw, Poland
Holocaust deniers object In 1996 Bishop of Essen (Germany) awarded Bartoszewski Heinrich Brauns Prize. A group of professors from KUL (The Catholic Univesity of Lublin) protested against this decision. In this group was a Holocaust denier Ryszard Bender who is also a board member of right-wing Radio Maryja. Bender described Auschwitz as “not a death camp, but a labor camp. Jews, Gypsies and others (sic!) were killed by hard labor, not always that hard and not always killed.” The Academic Senate of the Catholic University distanced itself from Bender’s views, which it termed “noxious.” Bender’s remarks were also repudiated by Archbishop Jozef Zycinski of Lublin, and he was criticized, among others, by the Polish Union of Former Political Prisoners of Nazi Prisons and Concentration Camps, which also attacked Radio Maryja for allowing Ratajczyk (another Holocaust denier) and Bender to voice their views. It’s worth to note that in 1985 Bender became a representative to the Polish Communist parliament (Sejm) when underground Solidarity appealed to boycott the elections.
Early days. In 1937 he finished the St.Stanislaw Kostka Gymnasium (Junior High) in Warsaw and in 1939 got the “matura” (Senior High diploma) at “Przyszlosc” Liceum (Senior High) in Warsaw . In 1940 he was arrested by the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. He was released in 1941 thanks to the Red Cross.
WWII underground activities. In 1941 he gave the report of his imprisonement in concentration camp to the High Command of AK (underground Polish Home Army). In 1942 he joined an underground Catholic organization FOP: Front Odrodzenia Polski (Front of Poland’s Revival). In the same time he became an AK soldier and worked in the Office of Information and Propaganda of AK. In September 1942 he joined “Zegota” which in December 1942 became the Council for Helping the Jews “Zegota”subordinated to the Delegate of the Polish Government in Exile and he worked there till Warsaw Rising of 1944. In 1942-1943 he was the secretary of the editorial board of the underground Catholic monthly “Prawda” and of “Prawda mlodych”. During 1941-1944 he studied Polish Studies at the Humanities Department of the underground Warsaw University
Warsaw Rising 1944. Bartoszewski took part in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising as an aide of the chief of “Asma.” He edited also Wiadomości z Miasta i Wiadomości Radiowe. In September he was awarded Silver Cross of Merit with Swords. In October 1944 he was awarded Cross of Valor. Later this year he was transfered to Cracow where he worked in the AK Office for Information and Propaganda and then moved back to Warsaw to work for “Nie”
Stalinist period. For his activity in PSL (the only legal opposition party ) Bartoszewski was imprisoned by the communist regime in 1946-1948 and in1949-1954, falsely accused of spying, and rehabilitated in 1955. In 1948 he was admitted to the Humanities Department of the Warsaw University. In 1958 he was admitted to Polish Studies at Philology Department of Warsaw University but was expelled in 1962. In retaliation for his oppositional activities he was banned from 1970 till 1974 from publishing in Poland. As a journalist Bartoszewski worked for the Catholic weekly Tygodnik Powszechny, headed the Polish PEN-Club (1972-1982), taught modern history at Catholic University of Lublin, and cooperated with the Radio Free Europe. In 1976 he participated in the protest against changes in the Polish Constitution. He was imprisoned during the 1981-1983 martial law in Poland. In the years 1980-1981 he was a member of NSZZ "Solidarność" (Solidarity).
Free Poland. He served as ambassador of Poland to Austria (1990-1995), and minister of Foreign Affairs in 1995 and 2000. From 1997 until 2001, Bartoszewski was a senator in the Senat, the upper house of the Polish parliament. Since June 2001, he has been the chairman of an organization committed to preserving the memory of past victims of wars and persecution, the Rada Ochrony Pamieci Walk i Meczenstwa. He is also the chairman of the International Auschwitz Council. After Aleksander Kwasniewski became Poland’s President, Bartoszewski resigned from his position. He was again the minister of Foreign Affairs in Buzek’s government from 2000 to 2001. He was a Chairman of the Council of Polish Institute for Foreign Affairs. He resigned this position in 2006 in protest of Aleksander Macierewich’s (vice-minister of Foreign Affairs) statement that the majority of ministers of Foreign Affairs of the III Republic were Soviet agents.
Honors and awards. For his help to Jews during WWII he was awarded in 1963 the Cavalier’s Cross of the order Polonia Restituta. In 1966 he got from Yad Vashem the medal Righteous Among the Nations. In 1983 he was awarded the title of the professor by the Bavarian government Doktor honoris causa of several universities (PUNO - London 1981, Hebrew College - Baltimore, USA 1984, University of Wroclaw, Poland - 1994, Phillip University in Marburgu, Germany - 2001, University of Warsaw- 2002, University of Gdansk -2005). In 1986, he was granted the Commander's Cross with a star of the Order of Polonia Restituta by the president of the Polish government in exile for his work in the field of Polish-Jewish relations. The same year he was selected to become the Vice-Chairman of Oxford’s Institute of Polish-Jewish Studies. In 1991, he was granted honorary Israeli citizenship. In 1995, he was awarded the Order of the White Eagle and in 2001 the German Great Cross of the Order of Merit for his contribution towards the reconciliation of Germans, Poles, and Jews. Kisiel Prize in 1995.
Publications Władysław Bartoszewski has published over 40 books and 1200 articles in various languages. Most of them are related to the history of Poland during the World War II, as well as the Holocaust and the Polish relations with the Jews and with the Germans. The list below is a partial bibliography of works in English:
1968 Warsaw Death Ring: 1939-1944, Interpress; 1969 Righteous Among Nations: How Poles Helped the Jews 1939-1945, ed. with Zofia Lewin, Earlscourt Pub, UK; 1970 The Samaritans: Heroes of the Holocaust, ed. with Zofia Lewin, Twayne Publishers, New York; 1988 The Warsaw Ghetto: A Christian's Testimony, Beacon Press; 1991 The Jews in Warsaw: A History, ed. with Antony Polonsky, Blackwell Publishing; 1991 The Convent at Auschwitz, George Braziller. See Wikipedia for more texts.
Based on the articles that appear in Wikipedia (English and Polish version):
Wikipedia
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
Other sources:
Wprost
Spiegel interview
Canadian Foundation of Polish-Jewish Heritage
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