[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 371 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 371

  Honoring the legacy of Jan Karski by designating April 24, 2014, as 
                          ``Jan Karski Day''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 5, 2014

  Mr. Menendez (for himself, Mr. Kirk, and Mr. Durbin) submitted the 
   following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the 
                               Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Honoring the legacy of Jan Karski by designating April 24, 2014, as 
                          ``Jan Karski Day''.

Whereas Jan Karski was born on April 24, 1914, in Lodz, Poland;
Whereas Jan Karski managed to escape the Soviet massacre in the Katyn Forest in 
        1940, in which almost 22,000 Polish citizens lost their lives;
Whereas Jan Karski became a key emissary in the Polish underground resistance, 
        the Home Army, against Nazi occupation;
Whereas Jan Karski risked his own life after escaping a prisoner-of-war camp, 
        having endured Gestapo torture, to continue to act as an emissary for 
        the Polish Underground, in order to provide critical intelligence to the 
        Allied war effort and alert Allied governments about the Holocaust and 
        the dire situation on the ground in German-occupied Poland;
Whereas Jan Karski traveled to Allied capitals and provided critical eyewitness 
        testimony about the horrors of Hitler's ``Final Solution'' and the 
        extermination of Jews and others in Nazi-occupied Poland to British 
        Foreign Minister Anthony Eden and United States President Franklin 
        Roosevelt;
Whereas Jan Karski, after living through the atrocities of World War II, went on 
        to earn a Ph.D. from Georgetown University in 1952;
Whereas Jan Karski became a United States citizen and taught generations of 
        students of foreign policy at Georgetown University for 40 years, 
        dedicating the rest of his life to strengthening the idea of tolerance 
        and respect for different religions and cultures and ensuring that the 
        full extent of the Nazi atrocities are never forgotten; and
Whereas Jan Karski was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously on 
        May 29, 2012, one of the highest civilian honors in the United States: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) designates April 24, 2014, as ``Jan Karski Day'';
            (2) recognizes the life and legacy of Dr. Jan Karski, and 
        expresses its gratitude for his efforts alerting the free world 
        about the atrocities committed by Nazi and totalitarian forces 
        in occupied Poland during World War II; and
            (3) applauds the awarding of the Presidential Medal of 
        Freedom to Jan Karski for his efforts during World War II and 
        reaffirms the importance of the United States-Poland bilateral 
        relationship.
                                 <all>