January 23, 2024
On January 23, we hosted a group from the 37th Panzergrenadier Brigade “Free State of Saxony” from the Bundeswehr – the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The training in Krakow and Oświęcim was aimed at deepening knowledge in the field of political and ethical education.
Taking into account the current armed conflicts in the world, as well as the political mood and the lessons learned from the two world wars of the last century, German soldiers wanted to reflect on the issues of moral harm inflicted on humanity and ways of preventing and dealing with them. It is important that international humanitarian law is respected in armed conflicts.
As part of the training in Oświęcim, soldiers visited the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau and participated in a lecture by Fr. Dr. Manfred Desealers entitled “Ideology and conscience on the example of the commandant of KL Auschwitz, Rudolf Hӧβ”, which touched upon the perspective of the perpetrators using the figure of the first commandant of Auschwitz and addressed the issue of Rudolf Hӧβ’s responsibility before God and people.