"Within an hour's journey of this castle lies a monument to the darkest impulses of man. Today, I saw Auschwitz, the sites of the Holocaust and Polish martyrdom; a place where evil found its willing servants and its innocent victims. One boy imprisoned there was branded with the number A70713. Returning to Auschwitz a lifetime later, Elie Wiesel recalled his first night in the camp: I asked myself, God, is this the end of your people, the end of mankind, the end of the world?
"With every murder, a world was ended. And the death camps still bear witness. They remind us that evil is real and must be called by name and must be opposed. All the good that has come to this continent -- all the progress, the prosperity, the peace -- came because beyond the barbed wire there were people willing to take up arms against evil.
"And history asks more than memory, because hatred and aggression and
murderous ambitions are still alive in the world. Having seen the works of evil firsthand on this continent, we must never lose the courage to oppose it everywhere."
- President George W. Bush, remarks to the people of Poland delivered at Wawel Royal Castle, Krakow, Poland
via The White House
Posted by Alan at May 31, 2003 02:05 PM