Volume 14, Issue 5/6, 2004
Warsaw Uprising 1944: Part One
Andrzej Grzegorczyk, Marek Gołębiowski
Pages 167-171
A Philosophy for That Time
The Philosophy of Selflessness
The author reflects on the moral attitudes displayed by Poles fighting in the Warsaw Uprising. He believes that the sacrifice and selflessness with which Varsovians battled for their city had its roots in the general mentality of the Poles, who for generations had been raised in the spirit of “mutual and willing endowment”. He also notes that the noble ideals of the wartime generations have today been largely replaced by mercenary selfishness.