In the Swiss Valley in Warsaw, a monument was unveiled to a Pole and a Hungarian who, working together during World War II, saved the lives of 30,000 people, including 5,000 Polish Jews.
- It is said that nothing appeals to the human imagination more than a cold stone or two lumps of bronze... This is true, as long as behind these comparisons there are real people and real values," said Marek Kuchciński, Speaker of the Sejm, during the ceremony.
In November 1939, Henryk Slawik, with the help of József Antall, organized the Citizens' Committee for the Care of Polish Refugees in Hungary. Together with his co-workers, the Vatican Nunciature and the Catholic Church, they provided humanitarian aid, work for adults and education for children of Polish refugees. Without their involvement, thousands of Poles would never have made it into Sikorski's army in France or into the air force of the United Kingdom to fight and even give their lives in the name of freedom, independence and democracy.
In 1944. Sławik and Antall were arrested by the Gestapo. Sławik, tortured and beaten, did not betray his friend, thus saving his life. For years Henryk Sławik was doomed to oblivion, which was emphasized by Marshal Kuchciński when he thanked for "bringing back to memory, to reality those forgotten until recently. Only in 2010. Henryk Sławik was awarded the Order of the White Eagle by President Lech Kaczyński.
The construction of the monument was initiated by Grzegorz Łubczyk, former Polish ambassador to Hungary and vice president of the Henryk Sławik Memory and Work Association. The monument has received honorary patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda. The ceremony was attended by marshal of the Sejm Marek Kuchciński, deputy marshals of the Senate Maria Koc and Adam Bielan, Minister of Culture and National Heritage Piotr Gliński, Hungarian Ambassador Ivan Gyurcsik, Warsaw Metropolitan Archbishop Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz, Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich, veterans and members of Sławik and Antall's families, as well as the delegation of the authorities of Budapest, where a twin monument will be erected.
The unveiling of the monument was preceded by a mass at the Archcathedral Basilica in Warsaw, presided over by the Warsaw Metropolitan Archbishop, Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz.
text/photo Marta Olejnik
