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The 20th century is called the age of totalitarianism, which claimed several dozen million victims. Leaders of authoritarian and totalitarian states did not hesitateto hesitatehesitate to use mass violence to achieve their goals. Concentration camps and mass murders were used by the Third Reich and the USSR armies against both representatives of other nationalities and their own citizens. During the second world war, Germans led by Adolf Hitler planned and started the extermination of the entire Jewish nation - the Holocaust. At least six million European Jews were killed. Despite the experience of the last century, the modern world is not free of autocratic political systems.

In autocratic (undemocratic) political systems, citizens are completely deprived ofdeprived ofdeprived of the possibility (totalitarianism) or have a limited ability (authoritarianism) to:

• participate in free elections of the most important state bodies,

• influence the manner of governance and decisions made by the authorities,

• create social and political organizations freely,

• express their views, including political ones.

In 1941, on the initiative ofon the initiative ofon the initiative of Eleanor Roosevelt (the wife of the President of the USA, Franklin Delano Roosevelt), the Freedom House organization was established, which researches the state of democracy and freedom in countries around the world. Its website publishes the results of annual reports on the matter. You can check how the situation in Poland and other countries is assessed.

Totalitarian states destroyed natural social bonds: families, neighbourhoods, nations. The authorities, through the widespreadwidespreadwidespread use of terror, not only violated the fundamental human rights, but also led to the extermination of individuals and entire communities. All social values were supplanted withsupplanted withsupplanted with the blind obedience to the leader, the omnipresentomnipresentomnipresent fear destroyed trust and increased mutualmutualmutual hostility.

Holocaust (Shoah)

Holocaust (Shoah) is the destruction of six million European Jews conducted by the Third Reich during the second world war.

Ghettos

During the second world war, the German occupation authorities forced the Jewish population to live in ghettos. The largest one was located in Warsaw. Robbed of their property, crowded into a small area, people died of starvationstarvationstarvation and easily spreading diseases. They were victims of murders committed by the Nazis. In 1942, the authorities of the Third Reich proceeded to implement the plan of total extermination of the Jewish people. Deportations of the ghetto inhabitants to extermination camps began.

German concentration and extermination camps

As we can read on the auschwitz.org website:

„All over the world, Auschwitz has become a symbol of terror, genocide, and the Holocaust. It was established by Germans in 1940, in the suburbssuburbssuburbs of Oświęcim (...) Auschwitz (...) was the largest Nazi concentration camp – a place for the gradualgradualgradual annihilation of prisoners – and, at the same time, the largest center for the immediate, direct extermination of Jews.”

The Nazis deported at least 1,3 million people of over twenty nationalities to Auschwitz. Jews constituted 85% of all deportees and 90% of the total murdered.

Before the outbreak of the second world war, Poland was a multinational and multi‑religious state. The Jewish community with 3 million people accounted forto account foraccounted for about 10% of the population of the state. Only few survived the war. According to the Polish Census of 2011, approximately 2000 Polish citizens declare Jewish identity as the only one.

There are righteous among us

The Jewish nation did not forget about those who risked their lives to save Jews during the second world war. The Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem established the Righteous Among the Nations medal, awarded for saving Jews during the second world war. By 1 January, 2017, 26 513 such awards were granted, of which 6 706 were received by Poles. The honored receive a specially mintedmintedminted medal and a diploma of recognition. Their names are immortalizedimmortalizedimmortalized on the wall of honor in the Garden of the Righteous in Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. Remember that during the occupation in the Polish territories the people who helped the Jewish population were threatened with the death penalty. Germans used collective responsibility, punishing also the family, and often the neighbours of those who hid the Jews.

The medal of the Righteous bears the Jewish saying “Whoever saves a single life, saves an entire universe” (Mishnah, Sanhedrin 4:5, Talmud).

Since 1996, the International March of the Living has been organized on the site of the former Auschwitz concentration camp. The participation in the March is supposed to give testimony to the memory of people murdered by Nazi Germans during the second world war. It is also a manifestation of attachment to such values as: dignity and equality of all people, tolerance, the right of every person to live in peace. See the photo gallery below documenting this event.

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Fotografia przedstawiająca manifestujących ludzi, którzy niosą transparent z napisem "March of the living dwa tysiące piętnasty". Marsz odbywa się na terenie byłego niemieckiego obozu zagłady Auschwitz.

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Fotografia barwna przedstawia uczestników Marszu Żywych. Na pierwszym planie byli więźniowie Auschwitz, z tyłu młodzi uczestnicy marszu.

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Fotografia barwna przedstawiająca uczestników Marszu Żywych. Są wśród nich mężczyźni w kapeluszach i jarmułkach, jeden z nich niesie Torę. Inni uczestnicy niosą flagi Izraela.

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Fotografia barwna przedstawiająca młodego człowieka z flagą Izraela na plecach. Pochyla się nad torami kolejowymi prowadzącymi do obozu w Auschwitz, by położyć tabliczkę upamiętniającą ofiary Holocaustu. Obok znajduje się wiele takich tabliczek.

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Fotografia barwna przedstawiająca drewniane tabliczki, na których uczestnicy Marszu Żywych upamiętnili ofiary Holocaustu.

The 20th century – a century of genocide?

The term “crime against humanity” is often used interchangeablyinterchangeablyinterchangeably with the notionnotionnotion of genocide, because both refer to cases of radical violations of the basic human right, which is the right to life. However, a crime against humanity is a broader concept and also includes situations in which the actions taken do not directly consist in death, but often lead to death (e.g. gulags in the Soviet Union). Crimes against humanity include: genocide, murder, extermination, deportation, persecutionpersecutionpersecution, and other acts committed with the intention of destroying all or part of the national, ethnic, racial or religious group. The 20th century was particularly abundant inabundant inabundant in crimes of this nature.

The Polish way to democracy

How was it in Poland after the Second World War? From 1944 to 1989, the Polish society was subject to the imposedimposedimposed communist rule. Citizens were deprived of the possibility to influence the decisions of the authorities, and their freedoms were very limited. The opponents of the regime were repressedrepressedrepressed. The authorities suppressedsuppressedsuppressed all forms of social resistance, activeness and independence. The establishment of the Independent Self‑Governing Trade Union “Solidarity” marked the beginning of a long way to a democratic, sovereign state.

Martial law

In order to curbto curbto curb the growing activity and independence of Polish society, on 13 December, 1981, the communist authorities imposed martial law in Poland. Fundamental human rights were restricted, e.g. curfewscurfewcurfews were introduced and the functioning of trade unions was suspendedsuspendedsuspended. The leaders of “Solidarity” were interned.

At the news of the introduction of martial law, a protest started in the coal mine “Wujek”. The striking miners demanded, among other things, the release of all arrested activists of “Solidarity”. The strike was brutally suppressed - nine miners were killed and twenty‑four woundedwoundedwounded.

Keywords

totalitarianism, authoritarianism, autocracy, Holocaust, Shoah, genocide, crime against humanity, internment, nationalism, chauvinism, ghetto, extermination/concentration camp, Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority, Righteous Among the Nations

Glossary