The Polish-Jewish Auschwitz survivor and President of the International Auschwitz Committee, Marian Turski, has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the Senate of the Polish Marie Curie Sklodowska University in Lublin.
In a moving presentation ceremony attended by many friends and companions of the 95-year-old journalist, representatives of the university senate emphasized the reasons for the award: Marian Turski is being honoured as a “Guardian of Memory”, as an “advocate and defender of the freedom of expression” and as co-author and protagonist of the Eleventh Commandment “You should never be a bystander”.
Numerous speakers thanked Marian Turski for his national and international commitment to fighting for democracy in Europe. A commitment that has very tragic significance at this time of new armed conflict in Europe.
In his acceptance speech Marian Turski recollected his feelings of September 1939: “Fear, confusion and helplessness” dominated the first days of the German invasion of Poland. And now, when looking at Ukraine, he has a definite feeling of déjà vu, but he is convinced that Ukraine has also started to write a heroic Ukrainian epic in the battle against the aggressors, a Ukrainian Song of Roland.
In Berlin Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, commented on the award for Marian Turski as follows:
“Auschwitz survivors across the globe are deeply moved by this gesture of recognition honouring Marian Turski, particularly because many of them were unable to have a normal education, because the years of their youth were shattered. Marian Turski has made a lasting impression on the memories of many young people in Europe with his breadth of knowledge, his intellect and his warmth and human kindness. In this way he has become one of the most outstanding ambassadors of the survivors’ memories.”