ENGLISH / GERMAN
For the year 2024 the Kennedy Society has decided to award John F. Kennedy's book: "Profiles in Courage" to the former President of Poland Lech Walesa. The Kennedy Society has chosen Lech Walesa for his courage in fighting for a free Poland.
In June 1963 in his Berlin speech President John F. Kennedy talked about the communist world order versus the free world, and expressed his wish that all men one day would become free:
"All free people, wherever they live, are citizens of Berlin, and as a free man I am therefore take pride to say: Ich bin ein Berliner."
In line with these words Lech Walesa bravely fought for free conditions in Poland, and free elections were introduced in 1989. In 1990, Lech Walesa was elected president of Poland by an overwhelming majority, which he was until 1995.
Lech Walesa spoke in the US Congress on November 15, 1989, and said the following:
"We respect the dignity and rights of every person and every nation. The way to a brighter one future of the world goes through honest reconciliation of conflicting interests and not through hatred and bloodshed. To follow this path means to strengthen the moral force of the all-embracing idea of human solidarity."
Lech Walesa's words are also completely in line with Kennedy's words in the "peace speech", which was held on June 10, 1963, at the American University of Washington D.C. After the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union may have appeared as the weakest side, but Kennedy stretched out his hand and said thus:
"I'm talking about real peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that makes people and nations able to grow and hope and build a better life for their children - not just peace for Americans, but peace to all men and women - not just peace in our time, but peace for all time."
Kennedy went on to say: "Too many people believe that peace is impossible, and that peace is unrealistic, but this leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable. We do not have to accept that view. Our problems are created by mankind; therefore, they can only be solved by humans."
Lech Walesa loves his country, and he writes at the end in his autobiography "Way of Hope":
"Sometimes I feel like I belong to a bygone era - the one described so well in our national anthem, Poland is still alive. But the conditions that existed when this hymn was written still apply, and so do the hopes and virtues it represents: courage, rebelliousness, and pride. But there will come a time which I probably won't get to witness, where the harmony and the peace that reigns on our entire globe must be expressed in another song, and I want our children's children to be able to say after us: The World is still alive!."