[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 52 (Wednesday, April 14, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2251-S2254]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              EXPRESSING SYMPATHY FOR THE PEOPLE OF POLAND

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Illinois is 
recognized.

[[Page S2252]]

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 479, submitted 
earlier today.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report the 
resolution by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 479) expressing sympathy for the 
     people of Poland in the aftermath of the devastating plane 
     crash that killed the country's President, First Lady, and 94 
     other high ranking government, military, and civic leaders on 
     April 10, 2010.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to 
reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or 
debate, and any statements related to the resolution be printed in the 
Record.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 479) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 479

       Whereas the United States and Poland are close allies, with 
     a shared bond of history, friendship, and international 
     cooperation;
       Whereas Polish immigrants were among the first Jamestown 
     settlers, and Casimir Pulaski immigrated to the United States 
     to fight in the Revolutionary War;
       Whereas more than 9,000,000 Americans of Polish descent now 
     reside in the United States, bringing vitality to major 
     metropolitan areas such as Chicago, Detroit, and New York 
     City;
       Whereas Polish-Americans have been leaders in all walks of 
     American life;
       Whereas the American people stood in support of the 
     Solidarity movement as it fought against the oppression of 
     the communist government of Poland through peaceful means, 
     eventually leading to Solidarity members being elected to 
     office in open democratic elections held on June 4, 1989, 
     events that helped spark the movement to democracy throughout 
     eastern Europe;
       Whereas Poland joined the North Atlantic Treaty 
     Organization (NATO) in 1999, joined the European Union in 
     2004, and has contributed to United States and NATO 
     operations in Iraq and Afghanistan;
       Whereas Poland has enjoyed a thriving and prosperous free 
     market democracy since the end of the Cold War;
       Whereas the President of Poland Lech Kaczynski and 95 other 
     people, including Poland's First Lady, the deputy foreign 
     minister, dozens of members of Parliament, the chiefs of the 
     army and navy, and the president of the national bank, were 
     tragically killed in a plane crash in western Russia on April 
     10, 2010;
       Whereas President Kaczynski and his colleagues were 
     traveling to Katyn, Russia for a memorial service to mark the 
     70th anniversary of the Soviet secret police killing of more 
     than 20,000 Polish officers, prisoners, and intellectuals who 
     were captured after the Soviet Union invaded Poland in 1939;
       Whereas Anna Walentynowicz, the former dock worker whose 
     firing in 1980 sparked the Solidarity strike that ultimately 
     overthrew the communist government of Poland, was also killed 
     in the crash;
       Whereas Ryszard Kaczorowski, who served as Poland's final 
     president in exile before the country's return to democracy, 
     also perished in the crash;
       Whereas Chicago suffered the loss of a respected artist 
     when Wojciech Seweryn, whose father was killed in Katyn, died 
     in the crash;
       Whereas Mr. Seweryn recently completed a memorial to the 
     victims of Katyn at St. Adalbert Cemetery in Niles, Illinois, 
     which President Kaczynski planned to visit in May;
       Whereas President Barack Obama said, the ``loss is 
     devastating to Poland, to the United States, and to the 
     world. President Kaczynski was a distinguished statesman who 
     played a key role in the Solidarity movement, and he was 
     widely admired in the United States as a leader dedicated to 
     advancing freedom and human dignity.'';
       Whereas Former Solidarity leader and ex-president Lech 
     Walesa said, ``Today, we lost part of our intellectual elite 
     in a plane crash. It will take a long time until the wounds 
     of our democracy are healed.''; and
       Whereas thousands of Poles gathered in the center of Warsaw 
     and elsewhere around the world on Saturday to mourn those 
     killed in the crash and affirm their continued solidarity 
     with the people of Poland: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) expresses its deepest sympathies to the people of 
     Poland and the families of those who perished for their 
     profound loss;
       (2) expresses strong and continued solidarity with the 
     people of Poland and Polish-American communities in the 
     United States; and
       (3) expresses unwavering support for the Government of 
     Poland as it works to address the loss of many key public 
     officials.

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I also want to join Senator Reid in 
acknowledging the cosponsors of this resolution, and I am sure this 
list will grow as our colleagues come forward and ask to be added, but 
I thank Senator Johanns for joining me in this effort. I give special 
thanks to Senator Mikulski. We know of her pride in her Polish heritage 
and we know of her deep respect for the people of Poland and our shared 
grief over the loss to that great nation. Senators Kerry, Voinovich, 
Brown of Ohio, Cardin, and others have also joined me in considering 
this resolution.
  I come to the floor of the Senate, Mr. President, with a heavy heart. 
I express my sympathy to the people of Poland and to Ambassador 
Kupiecki who is here representing them. I shared a moment with him 
earlier this morning and mentioned that when I heard the news of this 
tragic loss, my thoughts went back immediately to 47 years ago when we 
lost our President, John Kennedy, and what it meant to our Nation and 
how devastating it was. This city ground to a halt on that day, and the 
bells began to peal in the church towers all across Washington every 
hour on the hour as our Nation reflected on its great loss. It was a 
time of great sadness, as it should have been in our history, and as I 
am sure it is now in Poland, as people reflect on the morning of 
Saturday, April 10, when a plane carrying Polish President Lech 
Kaczynski, his wife Maria, and 94 other high-ranking government, 
military and civilian leaders crashed while traveling to a memorial 
service in Russia that was to recognize and memorialize the dreadful 
Katyn massacre.
  The tragic accident is a devastating loss to the Nation of Poland and 
to their friends around the world. This photo I brought to the floor 
shows literally thousands of Poles who gathered in Warsaw on Saturday 
evening to remember those who died. They were outside St. John's 
Cathedral in Warsaw grieving for the loss of their President and so 
many leaders of their nation.
  The pain of this sad moment is felt around the world but especially 
in the city of Chicago, which I am honored to represent. It is home to 
more Polish American families than anywhere else in the United States. 
And what a proud heritage they bring to our city, our State, and our 
Nation; what a contribution they have made. The grief they feel today 
is a grief we share.
  Yesterday, as I mentioned, my fellow Senators joined me in offering 
this resolution. The United States and Poland share a strong bond of 
history, friendship, and international cooperation. Polish Americans 
have become leaders in all walks of life. In the Senate, Senator 
Mikulski and others of Polish heritage have shown that their 
contribution to America continues to this day. We joined with Poland in 
our Revolutionary War, and we are so grateful for those Poles who, like 
Casimir Pulaski and others, stepped forward and joined us in our effort 
to gain independence. When the time came many decades later, and Poland 
was seeking its own independence after the Solidarity movement, the 
United States stood by their side.
  We know President Kaczynski was part of that effort, and we know he 
was in fact interred in prison because he fought for democracy in 
Poland. He was respected throughout his country for the role he played 
and the leadership he brought to this modern, free, democratic Poland 
today. We have stood by Poland as the Solidarity movement grew into a 
strong, vibrant democracy. We have supported Poland's membership in 
NATO, so that we are joint allies in an effort to defend the values we 
share and in the European Union where they have become a modern economy 
and a major leader in Europe. Poland also stood by the United States as 
well in our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  As Poles struggle to come to terms with this week's tragedy, the 
United States will stand with them and will support their government as 
it works to overcome the loss of so many of its great leaders.
  President and Mrs. Kaczynski and their delegation were on a mission 
to try, so many years later, to close a deep wound to the Polish people 
of the Katyn massacre of World War II, where more than 20,000 Poles 
were executed by Soviet secret police and buried in

[[Page S2253]]

mass graves in that forest. As the Ambassador said to me this morning, 
that Katyn Forest is a holy and a cursed place because now this tragedy 
is added onto the memory of the loss that took place so many years ago.
  Russia and Poland have begun to deal with this tragedy, and that is a 
positive thing. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin recently joined 
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk at a ceremony marking that tragedy. 
Prime Minister Putin--the first Russian leader to attend that memorial 
service--said:

       We bow our heads to those who bravely met death here.

  This was the beginning of the closure of a critical chapter in the 
history of those two nations. This is the beginning of healing, which 
is long overdue. Sadly, the Katyn tragedy has now been compounded by 
the loss of so many of Poland's leaders who were destined to head to 
this location in memory of those who had fallen.
  Aboard the plane were some of Poland's highest military and civilian 
leaders--the Deputy Foreign Minister, the Chiefs of the Army and Navy, 
the president of the national bank, and dozens of Members of 
Parliament. Two prominent civilian leaders aboard the plane were 
Wojciech Seweryn and Anna Walentynowicz.
  Seweryn was an artist from Chicago and an influential member of 
Chicago's Polish community. Mr. Seweryn's father died at Katyn, and it 
soon became his life's passion to honor his father's memory with 
beautiful memorials that he had built in the United States and in the 
location of the Katyn Forest. What a bitter irony that he would lose 
his life journeying to this memorial occasion. Throughout his life he 
brought awareness to the Katyn tragedy. He led an effort in the Chicago 
area to construct a memorial in remembrance of the Katyn massacre at 
St. Adalbert Cemetery, which Poland's President Kaczynski was planning 
to visit in just a few weeks.
  Anna Walentynowicz was a famous civilian leader and a former dock 
worker whose firing in 1980 sparked the Solidarity strike that 
ultimately overthrew the Polish Communist government. Due in part to 
her inspiration, Poland has emerged as a thriving and prosperous free 
market democracy since the end of the Cold War.
  Poland shares a state partnership program with my home State's 
National Guard, a partnership that has been in place since shortly 
after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is one of the many partnerships 
our Illinois National Guard has with former Warsaw Pact member nations. 
Since 1993, hundreds of Illinois National Guard members have 
participated in exchanges with Polish forces in cooperative efforts 
supporting the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and in other military 
training and exchanges.
  Among those killed in last week's tragedy are officers who were well 
known to the Illinois National Guard. Several troops in the Illinois 
Guard have served under the officers who were on President Kaczynski's 
aircraft. These fine soldiers are in the thoughts of all the people of 
Illinois and the 13,000 men and women of the Illinois National Guard 
today.
  On Saturday I visited the Polish Consulate in Chicago to pay my 
respects and leave my regards in the condolence book. People were 
starting to flock to this site, people in Chicago, driving with Polish 
flags proudly displayed over their vehicles, to come to this consulate 
to express their own sorrow for this loss, to join in the long line 
signing the condolence book, and to leave flowers at the flagpole 
bearing the Polish flag right outside of the consulate.
  I have such admiration for the people of Poland who have endured so 
many trials and struggles. What has brought them through time and again 
is faith and family, and those two enduring qualities will help them as 
they try to cope with this massive crisis that is facing their country.
  As the ambassador said to me this morning, there is no doubt that 
Poland will emerge strong; that this government is going to be stable; 
that it is going to move forward. He can count as well that we will be 
at his side and the side of the people of Poland as they rebuild their 
government and their nation from this tragedy.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in cosponsoring of this measure and 
support passage of the resolution which we just considered on the floor 
of the Senate.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Nebraska is 
recognized.
  Mr. JOHANNS. Mr. President, let me start my comments today by 
thanking the senior Senator from Illinois. It has been an honor to join 
with him on this important resolution.
  I rise today to pay my respects to the people of Poland, to 
acknowledge the great work of their President, President Lech 
Kaczynski, to acknowledge the death of his wife and 94 other Poles who 
died in the plane crash in western Russia this last Saturday, April 10.
  They were traveling to Katyn, Russia for a memorial service to mark 
the 70th anniversary of the Soviet killing of more than 20,000 Polish 
officers in 1940.
  Among the Polish leaders killed in the plane crash last Saturday were 
dozens of members of Parliament, revolutionary heroes from 1989, senior 
military commanders, and the president of the national bank. This is a 
terrible, heartbreaking loss, not just for Poland but for its close 
friend and ally, the United States.
  The tight bond that has been forged between Poland and this country 
has been one of the most welcome results of the end of the Cold War. 
Since the fall of communism, in which the Polish Solidarity movement 
played a major role, Poland has led the way in building a pro-United 
States free market democracy. Poland's access to NATO in 1999 has led 
to invaluable Polish contributions to peace and stability around our 
world. Polish soldiers have fought side by side with Americans in Iraq 
and Afghanistan, including in key coalition leadership positions. We 
have suffered together when our troops took casualties, and today we 
grieve together.
  The foundation of our close partnership was laid by many Polish 
immigrants to America. Today, over 9 million Americans of Polish 
descent reside in the United States, including the State of Nebraska. I 
am very proud to be one of them. My grandparents immigrated here from 
Poland many decades ago.
  The Polish are an important part of this great country and have been 
since the earliest days of our Nation when they helped settle 
Jamestown, VA. I am very pleased to introduce this resolution along 
with the senior Senator from Illinois. The senior Senator may not know 
this, but he represents some of my relatives in Chicago, and represents 
them well. I joined with him and all of our colleagues in a moment of 
silence, as we have done today. I want to pay our respects to the 
Poles, both in this part of the country and across this great Nation, 
as well as in Poland. I also acknowledge the great contributions they 
have made to our country.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Maryland is 
recognized.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I, too, join with my colleagues to rise 
to express my deep and heartfelt condolences to the people of Poland on 
this unbelievable and tragic loss. I thank my colleague Senator Durbin 
for organizing this time, joined by Senator Johanns of Nebraska.
  As one who notes the Senate floor today, I see we stand here not as 
Democrats and not as Republicans but as Americans who want to extend 
our heartfelt sympathy to the people of Poland. I thank my colleague 
for organizing this resolution and for all of his efforts in support of 
Poland--from the years of trying to get the truth out about the Katyn 
Forest, to his very able and unstinting efforts to bring Poland into 
NATO and to advance Polish democracy. I thank him.
  I rise here today as a granddaughter of a woman who came from Poland 
over 100 years ago, when women did not even have the right to vote. 
When she got off of that boat at Fells Point in Baltimore she was a 16-
year-old girl in search of the American dream. Little did she dream 
that less than 100 years later, her granddaughter would stand on the 
floor of the Senate, advocating for democracy in Poland, righting the 
wrongs of World War II. And little did I realize, with the great honor 
the people of Maryland have given to me, that

[[Page S2254]]

I would stand on the floor of the Senate and express sympathy at this 
tragedy of unimaginable magnitude.
  Poland has suffered a loss where the wounds might not ever heal. The 
facts are now well known. Poland lost their President, Lech Kaczynski, 
a great leader with a lifetime of service to this country.
  The Polish people lost their First Lady, Maria, beloved by the people 
for her good works and her good deeds. More than 90 other dedicated 
Polish patriots perished that terrible Saturday morning--esteemed and 
decorated military officers, the equivalent of our Joint Chiefs; 
experienced diplomats; elected leaders; the head of their central bank, 
and citizens who have put their lives on the line for Poland. All were 
Polish patriots. My heart weeps for the terrible loss and for the 
people of Poland.
  We know the terrible story of the Katyn massacre that brought them to 
this site, this unbelievable site for the last 70 years saturated with 
incredible melancholy. In the spring of 1940, the Soviet secret police 
executed over 20,000 Polish prisoners of war--20,000 Polish military 
officers. Then there were other intellectuals from law, from science, 
from medicine. A whole generation of Polish patriots and lenders was 
murdered in that terrible place, people who died for Polish freedom.
  Part of Stalin's efforts to destroy the Polish people was to destroy 
its leaders. The Nazis then continued what Stalin had begun. Then the 
world--after a brutal war, the terrible death camps--at Yalta and 
Potsdam the West abandoned Poland, and Poland, against its will, was 
forced behind the Iron Curtain.
  What do we know about the Polish people? Their nation never dies 
because their nation does live not only in a government, not only now 
under a rule of law and a constitution that is serving them so well at 
this troubled time, but Poland lives within the hearts of its people. 
No massacre, no Iron Curtain, could ever take it away from them.
  During those dark years when Poland continued to be under Soviet 
domination, there were those who worked to tell the story of what 
happened at Katyn. Joining with my colleagues in the Congress, I fought 
for many years to release the information about that horrific massacre, 
even contacting President Gorbachev, as part of his glasnost and 
perestroika, to at least release all the information. Finally, in 1990 
they began to do it. But it was only now, last Wednesday, 1 week ago, 
at the site where the massacre occurred, the Prime Minister of Poland, 
Mr. Tusk, with Mr. Putin, met in that forest where Putin issued a 
formal apology to the Polish people and said all information and 
archives would be open.
  We were so filled with joy. It was a time of great reconciliation. 
That is what Saturday was about, it was the continuation of a great and 
grand reconciliation between these nations.
  Kaczynski traveled to bring the leadership there. In the leadership 
were people who had been trail blazers. Mr. Kaczynski himself had been 
a member of Solidarity, his wife solidly at his side. And now, as he 
was President of Poland, forging new relationships, mending the wounds 
with the Jewish community, it was a time of Polish leadership reaching 
out to the world in efforts of reconciliation. In this case, Russia 
reached back.
  One of the people who died--it was so poignant--was a woman named 
Anna Walentynowicz. She was in many ways the Rosa Parks of Solidarity 
movements. She was a crane operator in the Gdansk shipyard. They fired 
her for trying to form a union and when Anna stood up, so did Lech 
Walesa, and Solidarity was born. When he leapt over that wall he took 
the whole world with him. Down it came, after years of martial law and 
occupation. We had Solidarity and then ultimately a free Poland.
  At this time of great tragedy as we honor those who died in the 
forest in 1940, and those who died in the forest on Saturday, we can 
see that hopefully some good would come out of this. It has been a 
triple tragedy--the massacre of 1940, the coverup by the Soviet Union, 
and now the Saturday airplane crash. But out of this we hope would come 
a new sense of cooperation. I acknowledge that the Russian Government 
has been working with the Polish Government to recover the bodies and 
send them home with dignity and honor. Their promises of a complete 
investigation seem to be unfolding and they have invited Polish 
officials to join with them, side by side.
  We hope out of this tragedy might further come other acts of great 
reconciliation. That is what we need to think about, how Poland 
continues to move the world to peace and to reconciliation.
  I want to acknowledge the people from Poland and what they did for 
the United States. Pulaski helped fight in our Revolution. Kosciuszko 
built West Point, was one of the architects of the American Revolution. 
When he went back home to help Poland be free, he left money with 
Thomas Jefferson to fight for the abolition of slavery.
  Through all of the wars, Poland has always been on the side of the 
West. During World War II, those who would escape from Poland led the 
armies in exile. They were at Monte Cassino, they flew in the 
Kosciuszko Squadron with the RAF, they have been at our side in Iraq 
and Afghanistan. Wherever there is a fight to be made for freedom, the 
Poles are there and they need to know, when they make those fights, the 
United States of America is with them.
  For those who died on Saturday in that terrible, melancholy forest, 
our hearts go with them. To the people of Poland we express our 
sympathy, but we also express our pride in their stalwart, unrelenting, 
unflinching commitment to peace and justice in their own country and in 
the world.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Illinois is 
recognized.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Maryland. She is 
of proud Polish heritage. When she spoke of her grandmother coming to 
Fells Point in Baltimore, I couldn't help but think of my grandmother 
coming to that same place, 99 years go, from Lithuania, to become part 
of this American family. I would like to acknowledge, too, on behalf of 
many who followed her, our gratitude to Poland over the years. Poland 
was first to democracy in the region, and stood by the Baltic States, 
particularly Lithuania, their neighbor, as they reached their own level 
of democracy and freedom.
  The Senator from Maryland will be heartened to know that we have just 
been notified by the cloakrooms that all 100 Senators have asked to be 
added as cosponsors of this resolution, to show our solidarity with the 
people of Poland.
  I thank the ambassador for his attendance this morning and hope he 
will express to his government and the people of his country our 
profound grief at his loss and our determination that our strong 
friendship with Poland continues.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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