[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 594 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 594

Celebrating the centennial year of the birth of Jan Karski and honoring 
                 his extraordinary and courageous life.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            December 4, 2014

    Ms. Mikulski (for herself and Mr. Kirk) submitted the following 
             resolution; which was considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Celebrating the centennial year of the birth of Jan Karski and honoring 
                 his extraordinary and courageous life.

Whereas Jan Karski was born on April 24, 1914, as Jan Kozielewski, in Lodz, 
        Poland;
Whereas Jan Karski served in the Polish diplomatic service, enlisted in the 
        military, and was serving in the Polish army when German soldiers 
        invaded Poland in 1939;
Whereas Jan Karski was captured by the Red Army when the Soviet Union invaded 
        Poland;
Whereas in 1940, Jan Karski escaped the horrific Katyn Massacre, in which an 
        estimated 22,000 Poles, including 8,000 Polish military officers, were 
        brutally slain by Soviet soldiers;
Whereas Jan Karski escaped to Warsaw and joined the Polish underground 
        resistance movement, where he served as a courier delivering messages to 
        the Polish government-in-exile detailing the horrific brutality of the 
        Nazis in Warsaw;
Whereas Jan Karski risked his life on several occasions, including when he 
        infiltrated the Warsaw ghetto and the Izbica transit camp, and provided 
        some of the first eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust to the Polish 
        government-in-exile, the British government, and the United States 
        Government;
Whereas in July of 1943, Jan Karski traveled to the United States to meet with 
        President Roosevelt to describe the horrors of the Nazi genocide he had 
        witnessed;
Whereas Jan Karski remained dedicated throughout his life to raising global 
        awareness of the atrocities of the Holocaust;
Whereas after World War II, Jan Karski moved to the United States and enrolled 
        in Georgetown University, earning a Ph.D. in 1952 and teaching at the 
        university's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service for 35 years 
        until his retirement in 1984;
Whereas Jan Karski became a citizen of the United States in 1954;
Whereas Jan Karski was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 
        2012 for his courageous efforts in uncovering the atrocities of the 
        Holocaust and his commitment to sharing what he witnessed with the 
        world;
Whereas the Parliament of the Republic of Poland has designated 2014 as ``The 
        Year of Jan Karski''; and
Whereas on April 1, 2014, to mark Jan Karski's 100th birthday, the Senate 
        unanimously passed a resolution honoring his bravery and dedication in 
        telling the world of the atrocities that took place in Poland during the 
        Holocaust: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) celebrates 2014 as the centennial year of the birth of 
        Jan Karski; and
            (2) honors the life and legacy of Jan Karski.
                                 <all>