Page 49 - Centrum Dialogu im. Marka Edelmana. Edelman

1st Convention, member of Citizens’ Committee
with Lech Wałęsa, participant of the Round Table
talks and, in free Poland, co-founder of a number of
political parties, including The Freedom Union.

“Was it worth it?” he asked himself in 2008. And
replied: “It was worth it, because we live in a free
country now. Whatever we don’t like, we aim to
change”.
In the 90s, Edelman became engaged in international
affairs. He believed that the democratic Poland had
an obligation to fight for dignity and human rights
all over the world, wherever those rights were being
broken. He personally went with humanitarian aid to
Sarajevo and brought children in need of medical care
from Yugoslavia to Poland. He spoke against the war
in Kosovo and Chechnya, genocide in Rwanda and
Zaire, and discrimination in RSA and Israel. He wrote
open letters to governments, including the leaders of
NATO about sending troops to Kosovo, to the presi-
dent of Czech Republic about the wall separating the
Roma people and an appeal to release Flora Brovina
from prison – a doctor who faced persecution for
helping the children of Alban refugees.

“If you watch evil and turn your head or refuse to
help, then you become complicit. You turning your
head away helps those that commit the evil acts”
Marek Edelman used to say. This statement might
be his most important message for us and future
generations. As are his words from his last book,
I była miłość w getcie (And There was Love in the
Ghetto), published in 2009: “We have to teach in
schools, kindergartens, universities that evil is evil,
that hatred is evil and that love is an obligation. We
have to fight evil so that those that commit to it
understand that they will not be met with mercy”.

Marek Edelman died on October 2, 2009. He lies in
the Jewish Cemetery on Okopowa Street in Warsaw.
Two cities he was closely associated with, Lodz and
Warsaw, have declared 2019 the year of Marek Edelman.

Joanna Podolska,
Lodz, April 2019