Wladyslaw Bartoszewski; photo - PAPBartoszewski, an irrepressible figure who continues to serve in the Chancellery of Prime Minister Donald Tusk and who was Poland's ambassador to Vienna in the years 1990-1995, was born in Warsaw in 1922.
During WW II he was mentored by Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, one of the key figures in the founding of the Council for Aid to Jews, later known as
Zegota, an underground organisation which helped Polish Jews and found them safe-houses during the German Nazi occupation.
Following the war, Bartoszewski was twice imprisoned by the communists, for alleged spying (46-48, 1949-54), but he was rehabilitated in the thaw that followed Stalin's death.
A historian, he took part in the flying universities of the Solidarity era, and was interned again by the Communist authorities.
Following the collapse of the Iron Curtain, Bartoszewski became a prominent figure in Polish politics, serving as a senator between 1997-2001. He currently works for the ruling liberal Civic Platform party, and he has been decorated by numerous countries, including Israel.
When asked, during an interview with the weekly Tygodnik Powszechny about whether he considered that his life was a success, he gave a modest reply:
“I have been very fully rewarded, and that is no illusion. Beyond anything I deserve. Heroism? I did indeed take part in aiding the Jews, but I was also damned frightened. Terribly frightened... No one knows that, because I would have been ashamed to admit it... However, the fact that I was able to help someone to some degree, minimal in regard to my willingness, turned out to make sense.”
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