[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 49 (Thursday, April 5, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E563]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




IN RECOGNITION OF WLADYSLAW BARTOSZEWSKI THE FOREIGN MINISTER OF POLAND

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROBERT MENENDEZ

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, April 4, 2001

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Polish Foreign 
Minister Wladyslaw Bartoszewski for his contributions to the political 
and social freedoms enjoyed by the citizens of Poland today, after 
enduring decades of Soviet domination.
  From September 1940 until April 1941, Wladyslaw Bartoszewski was 
imprisoned in Auschwitz. During World War II, he was active in the 
Polish military; secretly founded the Zegota Council for Aid to Jews; 
participated in the Rebirth of the Poland clandestine movement; and 
proudly took part in the Warsaw Uprising as a Home Army soldier.
  Minister Bartoszewski's activism did not stop at the end of the war. 
He became involved in the Polish Peasant Party and became the co-editor 
of Gazeta Ludowa (Peasant's Daily). His work with these groups landed 
him in communist jails twice during that period. After his 
incarceration, throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Minister Bartoszewski 
continued to fight for the freedom of Poland by participating in Radio 
Free Europe and the Polish Independence Alliance. In November of 1980, 
he founded the Committee for the Defense of Those Harassed for Their 
Beliefs. Once again, the Minister was arrested for his efforts and 
placed in the Jaworze Internment Center.
  In addition to his dedication to Poland's independence movement, 
Minister Bartoszewski has spent a great deal of his life in the field 
of education. He taught at the Catholic University in Lublin, and at 
universities in Munich, Eichstadt, and Augsburg. In addition to writing 
1,000 papers and 40 books, Wladyslaw Bartoszewski holds many honorary 
academic titles from universities all over the world.
  Wladyslaw Bartoszewski reached his position of Minister of Foreign 
Affairs in December of 1995. During the 1990s, he also served as a 
Senator and as the Polish Ambassador to Austria.
  Today, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Foreign Minister 
Wladyslaw Bartoszewski for his great struggle to bring freedom to 
Poland and its people and for his many years of service to his country.

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