Kardinál Stefan Wyszyński - Nekorunovaný král Polska – Latka Rafal M, Zamiatała Domin, Mackiewiczová Beata, (2021)

This biography presents the life of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, the Polish “Primate of the Millennium” and a renowned defender of human dignity, individual rights and the rights of the Church. Stefan Wyszyński (1901–1981) was a man in the right place during a period of harsh communist repression. Even under difficult conditions, he supported the faith of the Polish people in cities and the countryside. He read Marx’s Capital three times so that he would know how to engage in an ideological struggle with his opponent. Although the Polish communists interned him and even attempted to kill him, he remained calm and sought ways to coexist with the communist authorities without compromising the Church with materialist ideology. He was uncompromising on essential matters, but open to compromise on secondary ones: “We have the right to sacrifice ourselves in everything, but we must not sacrifice the dioceses, the Church or the faithful.” In the face of communist state structures, he defended human rights and the right of the Polish Church to a normal life. He could not be bought: “Prison is better than privileges, because in prison I will stand beside those who suffer most.” He was also highly practical: “Speak to everyone in the language of love.”