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Invite you to a meeting
IN THE
DIRECTION
OF RECONCILIATION
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Wilhelm Oder
– SS Oberscharfurer in the Sipo and SD school in
Rabka, a war criminal
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Werner
Oder – Son of Wihelm Oder and advocate for
reconciliation between the perpetrators and victims of
war crimes |
Included in the meeting:
-multimedia presentation
“The Dark Secrets of Villa Tereska”
-remarks by Werner Oder and
his guest, Mark Goldfinger
-presentation of two
historical displays made available by IPN
“Samaritan from
Markowa” The Ulm family – Poles murdered for
helping Jews
“The Righteous from the
Nations of the World. Help for Jews from Polish people in Małopolska
1939-1945”
-showing of the film
“Sunshine street” directed by Bronisława Dąbrowa-Kostka
Music group: Anna Dytko
– keyboard, Daria Mamica – saxophone, Alina Jabłońska
– violen
August 16, 2011 at 4 PM
Building I LO IM. E. Romera,
Rabka Zdrój, John Paul II Street 41
Honorable Patron:
The Institute
of National Remembrance
Rzeszów Branch Office
Kraków Branch Office
One of the basic principles
of our world that all people recognize is balance. Balance
between day and night, joy and sadness, life and death. We
also have the understanding that all crime must be adequately
punished. This basic understanding has often been ignored
throughout man’s history. At the beginning of the twenty
first century the wounds of WWII are still not healed. What
took place then flies in the face of all moral principles.
Those who were to bring the greatest destruction heard that
the victors do not have to face justice and that there is not
punishment adequate for the crimes that were committed. They
had crossed all known barriers of terror and destruction. Even
today many Nazi and Communist criminals have not yet been
brought to justice. The guilty try to defend themselves by
making the executioner equal with the victim, by minimizing
the events, by escaping responsibility through a cover up of
the facts.
A basic sense of decency, justice and
righteousness is needed to break the curse of the circle of
crime. To be able to build normal relationships between people
again the past events need to be righteously judged and dealt
with, events that are beyond our ability to understand. Werner
Oder is one of those who are trying to deal with the
unfinished business of the past. Where individuals and
societies, as a whole, have tried to cover up or escape from
the facts.
Pastor
Werner Oder, the son of a former Nazi and war criminal Wilhelm
Oder, carries the weight of his father’s guilt.
Is he really an heir of his father’s guilt or another
victim? His family relationships as well as the thoughtless
justification of Nazism in Austria remind him that justice has
not been done. He experienced, first hand, the evil that
filled his father. Adolf Hitler was right (called by some
“the genius of crime”) when he said that the
perpetrators of the teachings of the Third Reich won’t
be held fully responsible for their crimes. In any case, the
moral balance must be restored, both consciously and
subconsciously. Werner
Oder wants to come to Rabka, the place of his father’s
crimes, with a message of reconciliation.
“In the direction of
reconciliation…” this is the title of the meeting
to which Werner Oder wants to invite the people of Rabka. The
meeting is being organized by the Cultural Avenue Association,
the Rabka Baptist Church, a group of historians who are
focusing on materials from WWII as well as the Rabka city
counsel. The meeting will focus upon heading in the
direction of reconciliation so that, when we reach the 70th
anniversary of the end of the war crimes, we can open a new
chapter in the relationships between the nations that were
guilty and those that were victims. Time passes quickly and
fewer and fewer people remain who were directly involved in
these events but the thinking behind such a meeting shows that
reconciliation is also needed for the following generations.
Genuine reconciliation has to be based on truth about the past
as well as wrong being brought to justice. Life must go on,
freed from the evil that took such a terrible harvest at that
time.
Jan Ceklarz
Cultural Avenue Association
foto Jan Ciepliński
The meeting was difficult to organize and,
as time passed, more problems arose. At the beginning it
seemed to us, the organizers, that its main message would be
reconciliation in the context of the historical events. We
were aware of how much it would mean to pastor Oder. Family
heritage always has a huge effect on the course of our lives.
Therefore pastor Oder’s attitude was very meaningful for
us. Because a person is a spiritual being, he has to give
expression to this through his actions. We use symbols to
communicate the emotional and abstract areas of our thinking.
We didn’t know what Werner Oder would want to say, but
being aware of the events of his life (his family was also a
victim of his father’s abuse) we didn’t expect the
meeting to take the form of apologies. We assumed that Oder
would focus on reminding us of the role of his country during
the time of World War Two and of the heritage of Nazism that
was never dealt with and of the world’s need to be free
from such sinister ideology. And that’s what we heard.
The meeting caused lots of controversy both
before and after in the form of personal conversation and in
internet forums. The main criticism came in the form of
questioning the reason for the meeting. Many asked why Oder is
coming to Rabka and what does he want to say, since it
wasn’t him that did the shooting and killing. Others
said that it was probably about promoting his person and the
Baptist church. Some emphasized that these actions are needed
in Germany and Austria, where those groups of people should
remember their own history and deal with it. One can only
agree with the statement that Germans and Austrians need to
remember the black period of their history and learn
appropriate lessons for the future. I cannot really speak
about the aims of the Rabka Baptist church, but they surely
contributed a lot to organizing the meeting.
The emotions that were aroused by the
meeting, as well as the many critical comments made show that
the wounds of the Second World War are not yet healed. People
have not forgotten the evil that was done. Questions about the
relevance or need of such a meeting are really questions as to
whether any meetings in the context of WWII are still needed
at all. The meeting on August 16 answered those questions. The
fact that more than 200 people showed up prove that such
meetings are, in fact, relevant and needed. A large part of
the audience were older people who were teenagers or children
during WWII. It seems to me that they came because the crimes
that were committed shouldn’t be forgotten and left
undealt with. We need to give honor to the victims of these
crimes, although the way of doing this is for each individual
to decide. The historical setting of the meeting was important
as the history of the SS school in “Tereska” and
the events that took place there were remembered. Retired
British police officer, Robert O’Neil, presented his
book “The Rabka 4”, giving the account of four
Nazi criminals who were active in Rabka. Werner Oder was
surprised and pleased with the IPN exhibit highlighting the
part many Poles played in rescuing Jews. His understanding of
Polish-Jewish relationships was very stereotype. He said that
anti-Semitism came to Poland together with Nazism and was
re-enforced by the emptiness of communism. It was worthwhile
discussing these things with him, so that he might better
understand his own prejudices.
The main message of the meeting was;
“In the direction of reconciliation…” This
goal was realized. Werner spoke clearly about his
father’s war crimes and the attitude of his family and
country after the war. True reconciliation cannot be reached
without a full disclosure of the truth. We should respect his
attitude, knowing that he is an outcast in Austria as a
result. Reconciliation requires at least two parties who want
to relate to one another in peace in the future. Werner spoke
about the continuing threat of Nazism or a similar
totalitarianism. It can appear in various forms and always
brings destruction. Werner’s life story illustrates what
he said. Werner calls for an attitude of openness and mutual
understanding, and, as his book is entitled, “Battling
with the Demons of Nazism”.
Jan Ceklarz
Cultural Avenue Association
Part of the opening
comments by Jan Ceklarz, president of Cultural Avenue
Association at the meeting „In the Direction of
Reconciliation”
...
Werner Oder asked the Rabka Baptist Church, here represented
by Aleksander Matysiak, to organize a meeting and they asked
us, Cultural Avenue Association, to help them. We
couldn’t imagine speaking about the SS school in
“Tereska” without the help of the group
responsible for the History of Rabka blog. They have already
done a very good treatment of the subject in the book The
Dark Secrets of Villa Tereska. For this reason Grzegorz
Moskal and Michał Rapta have also helped in the organization
of the meeting. Werner Oder wanted to speak to the people of
our city so it seemed logical for us to include the city
officials in the meeting. The city counsel was very interested
and helpful in organizing the meeting and it was good that
Werner officially addressed the mayor of Rabka, Ewa Przybylo.
Romer High School, where the meeting is now taking place, was
also helpful in the organization. We are thankful for the help
of the director, Marek Świder as well as Piotr Kolecki (the
vice president of Cultural Avenue Association and professor at
Romer High School) and many other people who they involved.
Thank you to everyone. We also want to thank the music group;
Anna Dydko, Daria Mamica, and Alina Jabłońska as well as the
translator, Anna Mróz.
We are also very thankful to the Rzeszow and
Krakow branches of The Institute of National Remembrance for
providing exhibits, greetings to IPN representative, Mateusz
Szpytma. The exhibits are large and heavy so we are thankful
for help with transportation from the NZS 80 association and
greet vice president Adam Kalita who is with us today. We also
want to thank the BizBud company for help with the
transportation
...
Photo ::: gallery |
