Rola Dietricha Bonhoeffera w kształtowaniu fundamentów etycznych opozycji demokratycznej w PRL-u

The legacy of the Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of the leading theologians of the 20th Century, and a Second World War martyr, are a valuable inspiration not only to Christian Churches, but also for overcoming German-Polish prejudices. Bonhoeffer’s stance vis-à-vis Nazism, which in Poland was perceived as parallel to communism, inspired Poland’s post-socialist leftists, who after the student demonstrations of March 1968 had ceased to believe in the possibility of reforming so-called real socialism. It also brought them closer to Catholic Intellectuals. Bonhoeffer’s thought thus provided a common moral foundation for the democratic opposition in the People’s Republic of Poland in the 1970s and 1980s. The peace-ethic it contains played a major role in shaping the original concept of self-organization by the Polish opposition movement. Furthermore, it evoked the opposition’s ethical attitudes, and thus helped to overcome the conspiratorial and revolutionary models of resistance that historically had marked Polish opposition movements.