Death Of A Hero
Editorial from N.Y. Jewish Week, July 21, 2000
The story is all too familiar these days: a survivor dies, and another vital link to the Holocaust is lost.
A different kind of link was lost last Thursday with the death of Jan Karski, the onetime Polish diplomat whose heroism in bringing eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust to Allied authorities is the stuff of legend.
By now, Karski's story is well known - his Partisan exploits, his clandestine visit to the Warsaw Ghetto and a concentration camp to gather information, his four harrowing trips to the West bearing detailed accounts of the horrors unfolding in his country.
Decades later, the details have been subsumed into the vast body of Holocaust knowledge, but the symbolism of his personal witness remains as powerful as ever. It was the witness of a Christian who didn't need to get involved with the troubles of the Jews, but did anyway. It was the witness of a man who repeatedly risked his life to do the right thing, only to find that the leaders he entrusted with his horrific information were not willing to listen, or unable to cope with the immensity of what they heard. It was the witness of a man driven by a deep sense of morality and personal responsibility that endured even in a time when so many of his countrymen cast morality aside for the dubious comforts of uninvolvement. It was the witness of a Pole who spoke with special authority about the essentially Jewish character of the Holocaust, while not diminishing the suffering of his own people under Nazi domination.
For decades, Karski refused to speak about his wartime experiences - according to some reports out of a profound rage at the way Western leaders expressed shock at postwar revelations of the Nazi atrocities. Karski knew better; he personally delivered the message to British and American leaders, including President Franklin Roosevelt, and he witnessed their refusal to act on that information when it might have made a difference. Eventually, he was convinced that his testimony was too important for silence.
After 1980, he appeared at countless Holocaust conferences and educational events. He became a unique asset for that community of dedicated Jews and non-Jews who are determined to make sure the memory of the Holocaust and its vital lessons are not lost after the last survivor has died.
That community will keenly feel the loss of Jan Karski, a beacon of decency, integrity and bravery that penetrated even the evil darkness of the Nazi genocide.