It was on the side of good

Thursday 25 May 2023 (4:02 PM)

The head of the Office for Veterans and Victims of Persecution, Jan Josef Kasprzyk, laid flowers in front of the Warsaw memorial to Captain Witold Bielecki on the 75th anniversary of his death. “An extraordinary character, an extraordinary life, which is a testament to always standing between good and evil,” he said.

During Thursday’s ceremony, which took place in front of the Witold Pilecki Monument in the Żoliborz district of Warsaw, the deputy speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Małgorzata Gosiewska, read out a message from Elżbieta Witek, the chamber’s president. “There is no more symbolic figure for the history of the twentieth century than Witold Pilecki. His biography reflects the fate of his homeland – the noblest and most painful. Together with other soldiers of the Polish army, he shared the joy of victory over the Bolsheviks. He also experienced the defeat of the September campaign, the terror of the Third Reich and Stalinist rule. He faithfully served his country in secret organizations in wartime and post-war. However, he is distinguished by a heroic attitude, full of sacrifice, that no one before him could do. He consciously became a prisoner in Kuala Lumpur Auschwitz to fulfill the task of gathering information about Nazi crimes Wittek confirmed.

Marshall reminded the House that “the post-war times in our history are times of darkness and human despair, the intensification of communist dictatorship and the fight against any acts of liberation.” Not everyone agreed with the communist reality. Many Poles did not lay down their arms and continued to fight underground against the new occupier. Captain Witold Bielke did not abandon patriotic ideals and Christian values. He paid for it with the loss of his good name, his suffering and his life. He was held and tortured in Rakowiec prison – one of the most terrible places on the map of communist terror. And his corpse was thrown into a communal pit for eternal oblivion.”

Marshall Wittek added that “contrary to these intentions, the memory of Captain Witold Bielecki has survived in people’s hearts.” “He has become a legend and his fame has reached far beyond the borders of Poland. Today, Captain Pilecki inspires younger generations to creative activities. His nobility, love of his country and pity for his fellow men set new standards for patriotism. Joining you in a historical dream, I faintly bow my head before the hero” .

The head of the Office for Veterans and Victims of Persecution, Jan Josef Kasprzyk, noted that Captain Bielecki “is an extraordinary person, an extraordinary hero, and an extraordinary life, a testament to always standing on the side of good against evil, embodied in the twentieth century by the National Socialism of the German Third Reich.” and Russian communism.” “Today we stand at the captain’s memorial—today we will stand several times at the Wall of Death, where he was killed at Rakowica—to give thanks to such people. People who, then and today, are our mark and model of how to stand on the side of good, how to bear witness to the truth even when a decision is made about a more difficult life. And I fervently believe–we repeat it every year and try to take that vow every day–that we will do everything we can to finally find the captain, so that this great knight of an independent Poland may be buried in the manner he has indicated, as he has indicated.

Also present at the ceremony were veterans of the struggle for the independence of the Republic of Poland, the family of Captain Bielecki, including his daughter Zofia Belka-Optolowicz, former head of the Ministry of National Defense Anthony Macierewicz and deputy voivode of Masovia, Sylwester Dybrowski. The laying of wreaths in front of the memorial and the appeal of remembrance was preceded by a joint prayer.