Lidia

'And now, for the first time, the dream of thousands of years begins to come true. In a small town on the coast of France people from the most diverse lands and nations have assembled. . . understanding one another, speaking to one another as brothers, like the members of one nation . . . We all stand on a neutral base, we all have truly equal rights; we all feel like members ofone nation, like members ofone family. . .'

His audience listened in respectful silence. Among the faces of young and old, men and women, there were shining expressions. His voice grew more assured. 'We shall show the world that mutual understanding among people of different nations is perfectly possible . . . that the barrier between the peoples is not something inevitable and etemal, that understanding between creatures of the same species is no fantastic dream, but a perfectly natural phenomenon, which has only been long delayed by very sad and shameful circumstances, but which had to come sooner or later and which has now come . . .'

'Our literature is already very large', he went on, 'our magazines are very numerous, we now have Esperantist groups and clubs all over the world, and our name is now known to every educated person in the world. When I look at our present brilliant position, I remember with emotion the first pioneers, who worked for our cause in that unhappy time, when we met with nothing on every side but sneers and persecution.'

Some in the audience could see Zamenhof s hands begin to tremble as he neared the end of his speech.

'Soon the work of our Congress, dedicated to the true brotherhood of mankind, will begin,' he continued. 'In this solemn moment my heart is full ofsomething not to be defined, something mysterious, and I feel I want to ease my heart with some prayer, to turn to some greater Power and invoke its aid and blessing. But just as in this moment I am not a member of any one nation, but a simple human being, even so I also feel that at this moment I do not belong to any national or sectarian religion, but am a simple human being. And at this moment all that is before the eyes of my soul is that high moral Power which every human being feels in his heart, and to this unknown Power I direct my prayer.

To Thee, O mysterious, bodiless Force,

O Power of the WorId, all-controlling,

To Thee, source of Love and of Truth, and the source

OfLife in its endless unrolling,

Whom each may conceive in his way in his mind,

But the same in his heart, in his feelings, shall find,

To Thee, the Creator, To Thee, holding sway,

To Thee, now, we pray.

We turn to Thee now with no creed of a state, With no dogmas to keep us apart; Blind zeal now is hushed, and fanatical hate; Now our faith is the faith of the heart. With this truest faith, this unforced faith and free Which all feel alike, we are turning to Thee We stand now, the sons of the whole human race, In Thy holy place.

Thy creation was perfect and lovely, but men Are divided, and war on each other; Now peoples rend peoples like beasts in a den, Now brother makes war on his brother; Mysterious Power, whatever Thou art, O hear now our prayer, our true prayer from the heart: O grant us Thy peace, O give peace once again To the children of men!

We are sworn to strive on, we are swom to the fight Till mankind is as one; O sustain us; O let us not fall, but be with us, O Might, Let no walls of division restrain us. Mysterious Power, now bless our endeavour, Now strengthen our ardour, and let us, for ever, Whoever attacks us, however they rave, Be steadfast and brave.

We will hold our green banner on high now, unfurled,

A symbol of goodness, and, blessed

In our task by the Mystery ruling the world,

We shall come to the end of our quest.

The walls that divide shall divide us no more;

They shall crack, they shall crash, they shall fall with a roar,

And love then and truth shall, all walls overthrown,

Come into their own.'

'When Zamenhof sat down,' Privat recalled, 'prolonged applause broke out again, and many eyes were wet.'

The leaders had been wrong. Zamenhof s sincerity and his message had touched the hearts of all.

THREE

The Inner Idea

Over the years, Ludwik Zamenhof had come to realize that there was another barrier that divided men even more severely than native language: religious prejudice and fanaticism. He had experienced firsthand the ugliness of anti-Semitism and the violence of pogroms. Until religious hatred was ended, Zamenhofnow believed, the human family would not become united.

In the wake of the Revolution of 1905, anti-Jewish violence in Russian Poland became so bad that a prominent French Jewish Esper- antist and noted oculist, Emilejaval, wrote Zamenhof suggesting that he take his family to Paris, where they would be safe. But Zamenhof would not leave Warsaw. Though he admitted life there was 'indeed terrible', he thanked him for the offer but refused.