Speeches

Remarks by H.E. Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of the Republic of Lithuania, at the ceremony of unveiling a plaque in tribute to Czesław Miłosz

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are here at Vilnius University to pay tribute to Czesław Miłosz, a prominent citizen of the world, a law student and graduate of this university, a laureate of the Nobel Prize for Literature, a towering poet and prose writer.

I would like to highlight the continued impact of his work and ideas on the present day. Czesław Miłosz - a great son of Lithuania and Poland whose centenary we are celebrating today - believed himself to be "the last citizen of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania". For us, he is important not only because of his renowned stature, but also because of his sense of citizenship uniting the Lithuanian and Polish nations.

He was born, in his own words, in the "heart of Lithuania" in Šateiniai, near Kėdainiai. Later, he studied at Stefan Batory University in Vilnius - a city that played an exceptional role in forming his personality. Miłosz was forever captivated by the city's multicultural atmosphere.

He maintained a lifelong allegiance to his native realm and he captured the world's imagination writing about it. A man of the world, he was also honored as one of the Righteous among the Nations. However, he was always a Lithuanian and a Pole in one person. He was a writer who helped bring about the end of Communist totalitarian rule.

Like Adam Mickiewicz, Czesław Miłosz stands as a historic figure for both Lithuanians and Poles. His powerful works bring out the unifying bond between our two nations. They reveal how close and how fruitful the ties between our people can be. They build up a person as an individual and pave the way to mutually beneficial relationships.

The centenary of birth of the Honorary Citizen of Lithuania, Honorary Doctor of Vytautas Magnus University, and Honorary Member of the Lithuanian Writers' Union is commemorated around the globe. In this year dedicated to Czesław Miłosz, we have to contemplate more deeply and disseminate more widely his literary heritage, which builds bridges between the people of Lithuania and Poland and is a source of great pride for our two nations.