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64 MAŁGORZATA MŁLCHfOR

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Małgorzata Melchior

THK ETHOS OK BOY-SCOUT SOLDIKRS (SZARK SZKRKGI)

This analysis, revcrting to the ąuestion of how ethical paragons cmerge from \ .viluatuoiLs encounjtered dii iwar, coaicentrates on one hrsuynLca-l exaimple, The oase of Boy-Scout Soldiers (Szare Szeregi), their system of values and morał opm-io:i*. (Szare Szeregi was an edfucatioaial ongainizalion aetive from September 27.

i to January 17, .'1945 in the General Gouvernement and the provinces aimexed to the Reich. Its activity was conceived as continuation of the Boy-Scout program. Uzuier inilitary ^jpervLsio»n by the Home Army (Armia Krajowa) groups of ortder boy, from Szare Szeregi madę part of Raid Formations (Grupy Szturmowe) of the Home Army cfuriing the Warsów Uprising and in battations ‘Zośka and .Parasol cpnstótuted their anai/n force).

The otho.s of Boy-Scout Soldiers was recoaustructed from coiiversa<t Louis held iu 1978 with former members of that organization, from documents dating back to the Second World War and pertinent publicalions. The first cluster of problems i> connected with the    generał picture of the war    and its    morał concomitants as re-

l.uea by the respondenta. The ethos in ąuestion    can be    characterized by the    lack

o; ^implif ications. The Boy-Scout Soldiers not iniireąuently ddscu!s<sed ethical a«-pecis of their combat    methods, a .specific war codc. They    went through mental    con-

fiicts connected with    having to kill the enemy.    Killing    is often classified as    mo

ra! evil, but it is also often said to be a military necessity.

Since <Lt seemis that (killiaig the enemy had <never becn <t alken for grarJted the ethos of Boy-Scout Soldiers may 'be offered as one axiological model a-cLofpted by an organization devoted to the struggle for national independence. Another model is to be found in some terroristic organizations whose members train themselves in callous readiness to kill the enemy without compunctions. The Boy-Scout Sol-diers did not indulge the simplification that the war is the ultimate end of their s'ruggle.

The second clustar of problems is coaicerned with eva-luatiom of attitudes and behaviour at -the Time of German oceupation and Warsa w Upris-ń j*g. The Boy-Scout Soldiers, as they recaiLl it now, did not aąpire to łbe a social elito. They felt it was their natural and indubitable du-ty to fight as soldiers but they did not exlcnd that obligation over those who felt differently. They cast no discredit upon those who decided not to join them, and to this day it is not a basie criterion of merit in their eyes whether one had or not been active in the clandestine activities. In other words. the stringent exigencies that they adopted for themselves had not