Grzegorz Kowalski (@gakowalski)

Jozef Pilsudski on the Russians. "Please continue to maintain friendly relations with the Russians, because whether we want to or not, whether we like or abhor them, we have to live with them across a border, and this is by no means easy or simple... Just be careful, I know them well and longer than you know them. Remember that the soul of a Russian, if not of every Russian, then of almost every Russian, is permeated with the spirit of hatred for every free Pole and for the idea of a free Poland. They are easy and capable of feeling even a great friendship and will love you sincerely and warmly, like a brother, until they feel that in your heart you are a free man and that you are afraid of their love, in which the dominant element is the lust for protection over you, in other words: power. This is a blemish on their souls, hereditary and centuries old, for their slavery, for the Tartars, for Ivan, for the oppressors, for the eternal revolts drowned in blood. If our own freedom is unattainable, the freedom of others arouses envy and disgust. For centuries we have been too painful an example for them, a denial of their own fate. I fear that it will take a long time before they understand that no one and nothing, except death, will take away our right to freedom..." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zef_Pi%C5%82sudski