Journalism

Guy Sajer. A boy born on the French-German border, whose father was a Frenchman from the Central Massif and his mother a German woman from Saxony. In the autumn of 1942 Sajer, fascinated by the German uniform, joined the ranks of the German army to serve his new “homeland”. – to the Germans, for better or worse. A dozen or so years old private initially dreams of experiencing a great war adventure. Sajer is an idealist who is a silent admirer of the discipline and power of the German army, and who dreams of becoming a part of the German community as soon as possible. However, his first contact with the brutality of war, first as a transport unit soldier and then as a volunteer of the elite Großdeutschland division, makes all ideals and great slogans disappear.

Lwów is always faithful…

Lwów, the mainstay of Polishness in the east, remains to this day in the hearts of Poles. The city, with which hundreds of Polish artists, scientists and prominent politicians were associated, has always remained faithful to Poland. Even in the most difficult moments, such as the Battle of Lwów in 1918-1919. Lwów Eaglets, written by Professor Wojciech Roszkowski, is an extraordinary album release, with a beautifully conducted historical narrative and a delicate note of nostalgia, which, however, does not obscure the great respect for the Lwów Eaglets. This beautiful name is used to describe the generations of Polish youth and children who, brought up in respect and love for their city and free homeland, joined the bloody fight for Polish Lwów in the autumn of 1918. Reading the book, one should return to Professor Roszkowski, the objectivity he maintained and the enormous empathy for the young heroes from more than 100 years ago. Reading the book, the reader will often be amazed at the attitude of boys and girls for whom free Poland and their lovely city of Lviv meant more than their young lives. From today’s perspective, where the words sacrifice, perseverance or bravery are not given enough space for such words, the attitude of these young people makes them reflect on a lot. While reading the book, maybe I did not focus so much on the historical message itself. I was more interested in the direct experiences of the main characters in the fight for Lviv, whose memories are broadly presented in this work. In addition to describing the history of the Polish-Ukrainian war, Professor Roszkowski also presents the history of the Lviv eagles over the last 100 years. The memory destroyed, humiliated, brutally killed, but never taken from the hearts of Poles and Polish women scattered all over the world. An album such as Lwów Eaglets reminds us, quoting Professor Roszkowski, that the fate of a nation is not only what is here and now, what each of us sees before us. The fate of the Nation is a memory that needs to be nurtured and fought for …

I received the book courtesy of Biały Kruk publishing house, for which I would like to thank you very much. 10 zlotys from each sold copy of the book will be used for the construction of the Monument to the Eaglets of Lviv in Krakow.

On January 6th 2019 I was a guest of Mr. Piotr Łoś, with whom I talked about my book. During the programme I talked about the fate of the main character of my book, the problem of forced conscription of Poles to the Wehrmacht and the question of the Volkliste in Upper Silesia. I invite you to listen to the transcript of our conversation!

The memories included in the work are very diverse. Apart from extremely beautiful literary stories and stories full of personal reflections, we will also find those that are merely a chronicle record, and one that is devoid of any emotions. Each of the memories is an individual case of perceiving war through the eyes of young Estonians (almost all of them were born in the 1920s), whose wartime fate in the struggle for independent Estonia forced them to cooperate with Germany. On the pages of “Hope trampled into the mud” we can often read about the treatment of Estonians by German soldiers as cannon fodder or secondary units in supply.

Such a biography of the pontificate of John Paul II as “Hetman Christ” 40 years after the election of Karol Wojtyła as the capital of Peter was and is needed. Jolanta Sosnowska’s work may be a good beginning for understanding the personality and heritage of the pontificate of John Paul II. I recommend reading carefully especially to those who want to see more than just another monument, street or square named after him.