Znak Publishing House has recently published the book of Władysław Bartoszewski „Mój Auschwitz” („My Auschwitz”). It is a movingly sincere account of a former inmate of a concentration camp, who writes: “we stopped discussing whether the fact that we were being beaten was terrible or inhumane. In our understanding, it was the concrete facts that were the most important at that time: is it better to be hit in the face or in the kidneys? The face is better, as long as it is not done with a stick, so that the skull would not break”. Prof. Bartoszewski was sent to the camp on September 22^nd, 1940 with the Warsaw transport. 5500 other inmates were brought together with him. Władysław Bartoszewski received the number 4427. He was released from Auschwitz on April 8th, 1941 thanks to the efforts undertaken by the Polish Red Cross.

Prof. Bartoszewski writes about his experience, describes how in the conditions of complete negation of values that guided him so far, he tried to remain faithful to these values. He wanted to be a decent man. Knowing that he had hardly any influence on what was happening, he did not want to allow the annihilation of morality. Bartoszewski dedicates his book to a professor of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Adam Haydel, who died in the camp hospital in 1941. Prof. Haydel became for Władysław Bartoszewski a symbol of suffering of the Polish intelligentsia. The construction of the book adopted by the author enables him to describe both the fear and the ethos, the helplessness and the moral imperative he felt at that time. In effect, the attempts of heroism do not have their designatum in this narration – thanks to this, the story has not been transformed into fiction.

After being released from Auschwitz, Prof. Władysław Bartoszewski became a soldier of the Home Army. He was a member of the Council to Aid Jews “Żegota”, took part in organizing help for the participants of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943) and participated in the Warsaw Uprising (1944). During the Polish People’s Republic he was imprisoned and repressed. He played an important part in the creation of a democratic opposition in Poland, he was a member of the “Solidarity”. He contributed on a large scale to the Polish-German reconciliation process, he also always attached great importance to the Polish-Jewish relations. As a politician and diplomat, he had many important and responsible functions, he was, among others, the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of Józef Oleksy. To this day he remains active in politics – currently he is Secretary of State in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland. He received numerous awards and distinctions, among them the Order of the White Eagle (1995). On December 14^th, 1965 the Yad Vashem Institute honored Władysław Bartoszewski with the title of the Righteous Among the Nations for his merits for saving Jews during the Second World War. He is chairman of the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites and of the International Auschwitz Council. Together with Zofia Lewinówna, he has written down the stories of rescue and help given to Jews by the Poles during the Nazi occupation – the figures of the Poles who saved Jews during the Second World War have been presented in the book „Ten jest z Ojczyzny mojej. Polacy z pomocą Żydom 1939-1945” (“Righteous Among Nations: How Poles Helped the Jews 1939-1945”).