Abstract
The life of Bolesław Ałapin (1913- 1985), one of the most picturesque members of the Warsaw psychiatric circles after the war, illustrates the history of Jewish Poles. It attests the victory of the need for self-realization over death, optimism over the pessimism caused by the atrocities of war, but also proves that the consecutive experiences of Shoah and then Stalinism at times rendered people defenceless in the face of the communist mirage of a better and more just world.