Remarks by Ambassador Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis at Henryk Sławik Memorial Conference

Holocaust Memorial Center, Budapest, September 14, 2012

- as delivered -

Distinguished guests, ladies, and gentlemen:  

I am honored, yet humbled to address you this morning as we commemorate a true hero of humanity.  The story of Henryk Sławik is very inspiring.  During some of history’s darkest hours, his bravery saved many thousands of innocent lives and spurred others to take action as well.  I was deeply moved to read of his heroism in Hungary where he sought refuge as a Polish national fleeing the Nazi occupation of his homeland.  As that occupation pushed more and more Polish refugees into Hungary, Sławik did not stand aside, but took action.  Working closely with Jozsef Antall, Sr., father of the late Prime Minister, Sławik secretly provided Polish and Hungarian Jews new identity documents to disguise their Jewish heritage. I am very honored to meet Mrs. Antall here this morning.
 
During my visit to Auschwitz with the March of the Living last April, I was struck by the vast, cruel system which robbed its victims of their individual identities, replaced their names with numbers, and murdered them.  But at a time when dehumanization was at its height, Sławik saw people as individuals, regardless of religion or nationality.  He often said:  “One can only segregate people based on whether they are good or bad.  Always remember, that’s all there is to it.”  

Of Sławik’s many heroic acts, one in particular stands out in my mind: the orphanage he created in Vác on the Danube Bend.  As I noted, Sławik’s tireless efforts inspired others to rise above fear and take bold action.  A Hungarian colleague recalled how Sławik’s humanity permeated the orphanage, “People with kind hearts surrounded [the children] to try to compensate, even if only to a small degree, for the hell they had gone through…. Finding ways to do good was a means to defy evil and at the same time maintain one’s own sense of dignity.”  With the Nazi occupation of Hungary in March 1944 and a bounty on his head, Sławik managed to carefully disband the orphanage and ensure the survival of every single child.  

All of us here today wish we could say that the hatred and prejudice that claimed the lives of millions of Jews and other victims of Nazi atrocities had vanished from our world.  Unfortunately, there are still those who try to appeal to our basest instincts by preaching hatred and intolerance toward others.  Henryk Sławik gave his life sheltering thousands of people from that type of hatred.  

Fortunately, today our sacrifices need not be so great in order to combat the voices of hate and fear.  But we must clearly and unequivocally condemn incidents of anti-Semitism and extremism.  We must make sure that such hatred is never met with silence, but with many voices speaking in unison, saying, “No, never again.”

Today’s commemoration as well as the events marking the centennial of Raoul Wallenberg’s birth this year are a vital part of a larger conversation about the turbulent history of the twentieth century.  Unfortunately, that history does not always mention brave people like Henryk Sławik who motivated others to take action as well.  

In this context, I would also like to mention two other important Polish citizens that helped spur others to action during this time, in the United States.  

Recently, I was given a copy of a small book about the life of Jan Karski.  Through his brave infiltration of a detention camp in Southeast Poland, Karski was one of the first eyewitnesses of the Holocaust who was able to bring those accounts to the Allies.  In 1943, he went to London and met with British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden to report what he had seen.  He then travelled to the United States and met twice with President Roosevelt.  Jan Karski struggled with great difficulty to get these leaders to understand the gravity of what he had witnessed.  United States Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, after meeting with Karski said, “I did not say that he was lying.  I said that I could not believe him.  There is a difference.”

But Karski was soon followed by another brave Polish officer who helped to raise the alarm among the Allies.  Major George Tabau escaped from Auschwitz and wrote a testimony of his experience there.  His horrifying account first appeared in 1944, and along with other information that had by then been accumulated, became known as the Auschwitz Protocols.  These first-hand testimonies galvanized the U.S. government and public to take action.  In that year, President Roosevelt instructed his War Refugee Board to assist the Jews of Hungary.  The Board eventually recruited and, with the Swedish government, financed Raoul Wallenberg’s brave actions in Hungary. 

It is very painful to go back and sort through the terrible history of the Holocaust.  For all of our countries, including the United States, we can only ask the question, “What if?”

Heroes like Jan Karski, Major Tabau, Henryk Sławik, and Jozsef Antall Sr. should be sources of great pride for every Hungarian and Polish person.  Their selfless actions provide a redeeming light in a dark era. We must all carry that light.  We do so today by honoring Henryk Sławik.  I will close with the thought-provoking statement he made to his young daughter Krystyna before he died, “…a person…who is righteous and honest is always at peace when looking in the mirror.”

Thank you.