I was fortunate to visit Chojnice in May 2014, in connection with the publication of the Polish translation of my Nietzsche and the Nazis book. My visit was made possible by the Fuhrmann Foundation and Mayor Arseniusz Finster.
I was impressed for several reasons. One was the beauty of Chojnice — its historical buildings and central square have been lovingly restored and enterprise seems to be flourishing. It is a credit to the leadership of Dr. Finster and his colleagues E. Pietrzyk and J. Zieliński that Chojnice is, after a difficult twentieth century, well positioned to participate in broader European and world culture in the twenty-first.
Also impressive to me was the public discussion of my book under the auspices of the Furhmann Foundation, headed by Mariusz Brunka. The give-and-take of the discussion was enjoyable to me, as the quality of the questions was high and the level of knowledge of the participants was strong. It is to Chojnice’s credit that it has regular public forums where the great questions of European history and philosophy are raised and debated.
I also was fortunate in meeting — and would like to give thanks to — Dr. Przemysław Zientkowski, who was the initial impetus, the main organizer, and the intellectual collaborator for my visit to Chojnice, as well as to my guide, Beata Królicka, whose cheerfulness, efficiency, and local knowledge were invaluable.
Stephen Hicks
November 2014
That sounds like a wonderful trip – “trip” being an inadequate word. There may well be far more receptiveness to your ideas there as they have lived through those you challenge in their right and left incarnations.