Foreign Minister is honored for role in shaping Polish-German relations

Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, was appointed an honorary citizen of Augsburg University and received an honorary doctor's degree from Marburg University. Also honored at Augsburg, was 80-year old Mietek Pemper, who had helped Oskar Schindler rescue Jews during World War II. Both men received the honors for their "distinguished contributions in Polish-German and Christian-Jewish reconciliation". In Marburg, Bartoszewski gave a speech on the challenges and dilemmas that Poles and Germans now face in shaping the future European Union. In light of the Ukrainian question, he drew a parallel between the Pope's visit to Poland in 1979, which gave the nation the moral strength to overthrow communism, and the pontiff's recent pilgrimage to the Ukraine, likely to have equally far-reaching historic consequences. Bartoszewski interpreted the Pope's appeal to the Ukraine to become an equal member of Europe, as one addressed to the European Union itself. (Gazeta Wyborcza, June 30-July 1, p.3) P.W.