[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 117 (Tuesday, September 17, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1579-E1580]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  IN REMEMBRANCE OF THE VICTIMS OF THE KATYN FOREST MASSACRE AND THE 
                       WORLD TRADE CENTER ATTACKS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROBERT MENENDEZ

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 17, 2002

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the victims of 
senseless and unspeakable atrocities. The New Jersey Division of the 
Polish American Congress sponsored a memorial service to remember those 
who lost their lives during the tragic Katyn Forest Massacre sixty-two 
years ago, and those killed during the attack on America, September 11, 
2001. The service was held at the Katyn Monument site in Jersey City, 
New Jersey, on September 15, 2002.
  After Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union maliciously invaded Poland in 
1939, the Polish

[[Page E1580]]

citizenry fought bravely against both adversaries on two fronts. 
Unfortunately, in the process of valiantly defending their homeland, 
over fifteen thousand Polish soldiers, officers, intellectual leaders, 
prisoners of war, and other Polish citizens were brutally murdered. 
Perhaps one of the most unforgettable acts committed by the Soviet 
Union against Poland was later uncovered with the discovery of 4,500 
bodies found in a single mass grave at the Katyn forest, near Smolensk 
in the Soviet Union. This horrendous discovery became known as the 
Katyn Forest Massacre.
  And in an egregious attack against humanity, over three thousand 
Americans and citizens representing more than 80 nationalities were 
lost at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the fields of 
Somerset County, Pennsylvania, on September 11, 2001. The heinous 
attacks on American soil reaffirmed our commitment to Democracy in 
defense of a free and open society, threatened by evil, injustice, 
hatred, and tyranny.
  Today, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the lives lost in 
these tragedies. We shall never forget these acts of barbarism. And we 
shall never forget the innocent lives lost as we strive, as a People, 
to create a peaceful world.

                          ____________________