Major honours:

  • Silver Cross of Merit with Swords (20 September 1944 awarded by order of Warsaw Home Army District Commander-in-chief, General Antoni “Monter” Chruściel, on the recommendation of Colonel Jan Rzepecki, head of the AK Information and Propaganda Bureau);

  • Cross of Valour (4 October 1944);

  • Knight’s Cross of the Polonia Restituta Order (18 April 1963, on the recommendation of the Jewish Historical Institute, “for helping Jews during WWII”);

  • Righteous Among the Nations of the World Diploma (Israel 1963);

  • Righteous Among the Nations of the World Medal (Israel 1966);

  • Honorary Ring of the Austrian PEN Club for his contribution to Polish-Austrian cultural cooperation, Vienna 1977;

  • Herder Prize ( Austria, Vienna, 1983);

  • Diploma of recognition from the American Jewish Committee (USA, New York, 1984);

  • Commander’s Cross with Star of the Polonia Restituta Order (Great Britain, London, 1986; awarded by President Edward Raczyński);

  • Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (Germany, Frankfurt am Main, 1986);

  • Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bonn, 1991);

  • Honorary Cross for Science and Art, First Class, (Austria, Vienna, 1993);

  • Mitteleuropapreis, (Austria, Vienna, 1994);

  • Gold Medal with Red Riband for Service to the Republic of Austria (Vienna, 1995);

  • Romano Guardini Prize (Germany, Munich, 1995);

  • Regensburg Bridge Prize, (Germany, Regensburg, 1995);

  • Diocese of Essen Heinrich Brauns Prize (Germany, Essen, 1996);

  • Gold Medal of Gustav Stressemann Association “in recognition of contribution to the reconciliation and understanding between the Poles and Germans (Germany, Mainz, 1996)

  • Heinrich Heine Prize (Germany, Duesseldorf, 1996);

  • Baden-Württemberg Medal of Merit (Germany, Stuttgart, 1997);

  • Great Cross of Merit with star of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bonn, 1997);

  • Saint Liborius Medal for Unity and Peace (Germany, Paderborn, 1997);

  • Medal for Particular Services to Bavaria in a United Europe (Germany, Munich, 1998);

  • honorary medal “Pro meritis” of the Mauthausen Camp Community (Germany, Mauthausen, 2001);

  • Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for “his contribution to the reconciliation between the Poles, Germans, and Jews” (Germany, Berlin, 2001);

  • Order of the White Eagle (Poland, Warsaw, 1995);

  • Humanities Award of the Classical Philologists’ Association (Germany, Cologne, 2001);

  • Eugen Kogon Prize (Germany, Königstein im Taunus 2002);

  • International Award of the City of Goerlitz/Zgorzelec (Germany, Goerlitz, 2002);

  • Grzegorz Jakubowski Prize for the Custodian of National Remembrance (Poland, Kraków, 2004);

  • TOTUS Prize for “achievements in the field of Christian culture” (Poland, Warsaw, 2004);

  • Tolerance Medal of Ludwik Zamenhof Association (Poland, Białystok, 2006);

  • Adalbert International Prize (Slovakia, Bratislava, 2007);

  • European Prize of Pro Europa Foundation (Germany, Frankfurt an der Oder , 2008);

  • Adam Mickiewicz Prize for contribution to Polish-French-German cooperation within the framework of the Weimar Triangle (Germany, Weimar, 2008);

  • “The Glass of Reason” Award of the City of Kassel (Germany, Kassel, 2008);

  • Coudenhove-Kalergi Society European Prize (Austria, Vienna, 2008);

  • German Society Prize for Polish-German Understanding (Germany, Berlin, 2008);

  • Free University of Berlin Freedom Prize, (Germany, Berlin, 2008);

  • European Civil Rights of Sinti and Roma Prize (Germany, Berlin, 2008);

  • Kaiser-Otto-Preis of the City of Magdeburg “in recognition of commitment to the policy of Polish-German reconciliation and understanding as an important element of uniting Europe (Germany, Magdeburg, 2009)

  • Richeza-Preis of the land of North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany, Brauweiler Abbey near Dusseldorf, 2009);

  • Józef Krainer Prize (Austria, Graz, 2008);

Honorary Doctorates:

The Polish University Abroad – London, Great Britain, 1981;

Hebrew College – Baltimore, USA, 1984;

Wrocław University – Wrocław, 1994;

Philipps University of Marburg, Germany, 2001;

Warsaw University – Warsaw, 22 November 2002;

Gdańsk University – Gdańsk, 29 September 2005;

Catholic University of Lublin – Lublin, 29 January 2008;

Opole University – Opole, 10 March 2008;

University of Haifa, Haifa (Israel), 4 June 2008;

University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, 4 June 2009;

Łódź University, 16 September 2009;

Honorary citizenship: Warsaw, Gdynia, Wrocław, Szczecin, Sopot, Lower Silesia, Honorary Citizenship of the State of Israel (15 July 1991).