Jan Karski: "At Jan Kazimierz University in Lwow, I enrolled after high school in 1931. Beginning with the second year, I studied in two faculties: Law and diplomatic studies, and got two M.A.s. Diplomatic sciences in 1935, my last year of my studies, the director and professors organized tremendous affair, to which were invited all students of the entire University and the public. Students could volunteer. And the point was, who is the most intelligent, sophisticated, stylish as an orator. So I volunteered. I used a sort of a trick. The sense of my speech was: Louis XVI, King of France, whose head was cut by the Revolution. But now, 150 years past, we know much more than that dumb Robespierre etc. knew about him when they cut his head. Consequently, a new trial is necessary. A trial not of the King but of the memory of the King. Was he a good King, or did he deserve death? I carried the study and I cited the sources.”

"I went to the archives. I speak French, etc. And I determined: He was guilty! So now: I am prosecutor of the memory of King Louis XVI. I appoint you all in this audience: You are the jury. And I ask you to condemn the memory of King Louis XVI. Damn the memory! Let it die forever! And then the chairman of this, Professor Ehrlich, he was taken by surprise. 'Well, I don't see anything against it. Please, vote. Who agrees with Jan Kozielewski, with the prosecutor?' [motions: hands flying into air] 'Liberte, fraternite, egalite! Mort au Roi!' Almost unanimous, I got the first award as the greatest orator in Lwow at the Lwow University. 'Adeptus Eloquentissimus'-- it means the most eloquent student of diplomacy. It was an amusing story, but I am proud of it."

[Regarding a later oratorical competition in Lwow]

"On the right side, the first rows were my followers-- Pilsudskites from Legion Mlodych, etc. On the left, Nationalists, shouting 'Down with the dictator! Down with Pilsudski!' And in the back, Jews. All of them I knew. Shouting, 'Liberte, fraternite, egalite! Mort au Roi!'"  

[On receiving his military certificate]

"This is cadet school. I entered Horse Artillery. So after one year of cadet school, we were given degrees. We were altogether over 100, and I got the highest, the first. [28 June 1936]. First, yes, first out of 78, there. As a result of it, I received an honorary silver sword from the president of the Polish Republic. Not personally, he sent it. And with that sword I went to war."

"The man who promoted me, proposed to the officers, instructors that I should get the highest, his name was Captain Rankowicz; he later became colonel. He liked me, but he had his own way of teaching and keeping under control. When we had-- how do you call it?-- riding horse, where you have to jump off horse, on the horse. Equestrian maneuvers. Yes. It was very very difficult. So he liked to stand in middle of the field of the boys, so very often he would say, 'Hey you over there! Where are you going, Kozielewski? If you were as tall as you are stupid, you would be able to kiss the moon's ass on your knees!' And I from the horse: 'Yes sir!'"

[On Karski’s encounter with Hermann Goering]

"This must have been 1934 or 1935. At that time, Polish-German relations were very good. Exchange of students. I was in the group of Polish students who went to Germany on the Parteitag-- every year there was Parteitag, which means 'day of the Nazi party.' Tremendous hullabaloo. Tremendous hall, I went there with French, Belgian, German students etc. An amphitheater, like a circus, enclosed. In the back, foreign students. Speeches, 'Heil Hitler,' enthusiasm. And at a certain point, darkness. All lights out. Shock-- and nothing happens. So immediately, the boys with the girls [laughs; puts arm around imaginary girl]. Then lights, with some fantastic power, like the sun descended in one point. There stood the man, the god-- big, fat, orders on his chest, gold around him. Then he delivered a beautiful speech:

‘You have to take responsibility for the human race, because you belong to the superior race! You will make sacrifices for it. We are destined to govern, to bring order to the world, to create a lasting peace! And only the honest, decent youth of Germany can make such peace. Bourgeois morality does not count anymore. To achieve this end, all means must be used!' And then tremendous interruption: 'Seig Heil! Seig Heil!' all around. I look, Jesus Christ, what happened? Superiority. In my heart, 'Oh God, why was I not born German, so I can be superior too? To govern the world is a pretty good proposition, but I am only a Polack.'"

[Nurnberg, 1936. Karski, on a diplomatic apprenticeship, attends a function with Belgian & French counterparts and Hitlerjugend, who trampled flowers in the streets as they goose-stepped, cheered by the masses. At the rally location, the boys started milling about with the girls of the Hitlerjugend, scamming on them here and there. Huge speakers were set up around the perimeter, and soon they suddenly blared: “"Achtung!" Nothing more. After a pause, the mating rites went on. Then "achtung" again; another pause, another resumption of the milling about. This cycle went on several times. Then, under a spotlight, Goering appears. "Seig Heil!" bellows his voice through the speakers, followed by a deafening roar of applause (much of which, Karski later learned, also came through speakers). Karski and the other foreigners listen to Goering talking about the destiny of the Aryan race, and they feel some longing to be part of this master race. Sounds like fun to them.”