[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 128 (Friday, October 13, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1785]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        POLISH OFFICERS MONUMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENJAMIN L. CARDIN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 12, 2000

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, on Nov. 19, 2000 the National Katyn Memorial 
Committee will dedicate a monument in Baltimore, Maryland to the memory 
of more than 15,000 Polish Army officers who were massacred by Soviet 
soldiers in the spring of 1940.
  In September, I was honored to accept an award on behalf of Congress 
presented by Father Zdislaw J. Peszkowski, a survivor of the massacre. 
The medal was presented on behalf of the Katyn families in recognition 
of U.S. congressional hearings conducted in 1951 and 1952 that focused 
world attention on this World War II massacre that occurred in the 
Katyn Forest.
  While this massacre occurred more than 50 years ago, it is important 
that we remember what happened. In 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland 
from the west and the Soviet Union invaded from the east. In 1940, more 
than 15,000 Polish Army officers were placed in detention, then taken 
in small groups, told they would be freed and then were gunned down in 
the Soviet Union's Katyn Forest. In 1943, the German Army discovered 
the mass graves, which the Russians tried to blame on the Germans. It 
was long suspected that the massacre was the work of the Soviets. Final 
proof came in 1989, after the fall of the Soviet Union, when President 
Gorbachev released documents that clearly proved the Soviets, with the 
full knowledge of Stalin, had carried out the massacre.
  For more than a decade, the Polish-American community has raised 
funds to construct a fitting memorial to honor the victims of the 
massacre. The 44-foot statue has been permanently installed near 
Baltimore's Inner Harbor at President and Aliceanna Streets. I want to 
commend the Polish-American community and Alfred Wisniewski, Chairman 
of the National Katyn Memorial Committee, and the entire committee, for 
their tireless efforts in making this memorial to the victims of this 
atrocity a reality.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in paying tribute to the memory of 
these murdered Polish Army officers. The Katyn Memorial in Baltimore 
will be a lasting reminder to all of us that we must never tolerate 
evil and tyranny and that we must continue to speak out for justice and 
tolerance.

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