Recently we have also had a special occasion to celebrate another example of generous human spirit. Ms. Irena Sendler, 93 a Holocaust heroine has been rewarded with the Jan Karski Freedom Reward for Valor and Compassion, becoming known better to many Americans. President Aleksander Kwaśniewski recognized her with the highest Polish distinction, the Order of the White Eagle. This Pole of extraordinary courage and profound humbleness saved twenty five hundred Jewish children from a certain death in the Warsaw Ghetto. Irena Sendler risked her life to make every effort to save not only the children’s lives but also their Jewish identity.

And the last but not least reason to be proud is the decision of the Library of Congress to reward a great Polish philosopher Leszek Kołakowski with the first edition of the Kluge Prize. Leszek Kołakowski’s intellectual courage and wisdom had inspired Poles to overthrow yoke of communism and enriched the European culture.

Przemysław Grudziński