„A united Europe was not achieved and we had war"
Episode 3: Hatred and walls (The consequences of the World War II)
(...) After World War II, when Lower Silesia become incorporated into the borders of Poland, the German population was forced to head west. After them only their houses, their animals and the graves of their relatives were left. Then also the division of Europe came. The free, democratic West and the communist East dominated by the Soviet Union, were hostile towards each other. The continent was intersected by the Iron Curtain, the border which could be crossed only by very few people. (...)
Read more: „A united Europe was not achieved and we had war". Episode 3: Hatred and walls
„A united Europe was not achieved and we had war"
Episode 4: Overcoming Nationalism (European Plans of the Kreisau Circle)
(...) We are in Krzyżowa, in front of the House on the Hill. During World War II “Kreisau Circle” met here. It was a very original and mature secret anti-Nazi organization in the Third Reich. They were connected by the belief that one cannot be indifferent towards evil, that it should be fought, even if the highest price has to be paid for that. And many of them have actually paid the highest price. When the Gestapo discovered the Kreisau Circle, many of them were condemned to death. One of them was Helmuth James von Moltke, a co-founder of the Circle and the owner of the Krzyżowa estate. (...)
Read more: „A united Europe was not achieved and we had war". Episode 4: Overcoming Nationalism
„A united Europe was not achieved and we had war"
Episode 5: Against the fatalism of hostility (European and German-Polish reconciliation)
(...) Polish-German reconciliation was a very difficult process due to the scale of Nazi crimes against the Poles. Moreover, after the war, Poland was a communist country, separated from the democratic Federal Republic of Germany by the Iron Curtain. In this situation, the citizens, mostly the Catholics and Evangelicals, took matters into their own hands. They managed to change the attitudes of most of their fellow citizens and to convince the political elite to drop the logic of confrontation and to enter the road of reconciliation instead. The proclamation of Polish bishops to the German bishops with the memorable words “we forgive and ask forgiveness” passed into history. (...)
Read more: „A united Europe was not achieved and we had war". Episode 5: Against the fatalism of hostility
„A united Europe was not achieved and we had war"
Episode 6: Solidarity and freedom (Collapse of Communism)
(...) Today, we do not often appreciate enough what has been achieved since 1989. Minor problems and tensions disturb us in relishing that we were divided by an insuperable wall and it does not exist anymore.
Oppositionists in different countries of eastern Europe helped and inspired each other. Europe liberated itself, because it was faithful to its values. Brave people in the east of the continent opposed evil and took up the fight for freedom and dignity. (...)
Read more: „A united Europe was not achieved and we had war". Episode 6: Solidarity and freedom
