The author refers to the concept of tolerance and insists that this valuecan not be understood only as a passive tolerance to others. It requires taking onresponsibility for own actions and omissions, the willingness to genuinely recognize whowe really are and the mutual dependence of our existence and the existence of thosewho are different from us.The poem «First they came for the Communists» authored by Martin Nimёller(1892–1984), a German pastor and theologian, is in the center of the paper. The poemillustrates the requirements of tolerance: attitude to life from the perspective of anoutside observer, the position of non-interference, when the number of injustice is beingdone with regard to those who seem different from you, the keeping silence at themoment when human rights are violated leads to the fatal loneliness. It has the effect ofthe absence of an opportunity to defend oneself when you become a victim of assault.