[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 137 (Monday, October 5, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S11503]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          SKIERNIEWICE, POLAND

 Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, five years ago, Mr. Irving Gross of 
Londonderry, Vermont returned to his father's birthplace, Skierniewice, 
Poland for the first time. During his trip he visited the city's Jewish 
cemetery. Like many other Jewish cemeteries in Poland, Skierniewice's 
had been destroyed by the Nazis and ravaged by time. The grounds were 
unkempt and monuments and headstones were broken, overturned or missing 
completely.
  Today, through the efforts of Mr. Gross, Mr. Tadeusz Zwierzchowski, a 
former member of the Polish underground and a Skierniewice resident, 
and local Skierniewice authorities, the cemetery has been 
rehabilitated. It now stands as a memorial to the Polish Jews who 
perished under Nazi persecution and serves as a powerful reminder to 
the residents of Skierniewice of the vibrant Jewish culture that once 
enriched their city and their lives.
  Mr. President, I would like to recognize all those who participated 
in this important effort to commemorate the role of the Jewish people 
in Polish culture and their plight during the Holocaust. In bearing 
witness to the past, the residents of Skierniewice have made a valuable 
contribution to their city's future.

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