[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 18, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H35-H37]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INSENSITIVE COMMENTS BY PRESIDENT OF OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from
Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) for 5 minutes.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, my first reaction upon reading Dr. Gordon
Gee's denigrating comments about the Polish Army was to see red--blood
red.
As a Polish American, I fail to see the humor when the president of
The Ohio State University described bureaucratic turf battles at his
school with administrators ``shooting each other'' as ``kind of like
the Polish Army.'' His comments revealed not only insensitivity to the
suffering of the Polish people over the past two centuries, but a
shocking lack of knowledge of history. Surely, the leader of a major
institution of higher learning should know better.
{time} 1040
Ohio State, after all, is home to the Center for Slavic and East
European Studies.
Having spent my public career trying to overcome ethnic stereotyping,
I thought about how to respond: Do I hold a press conference? Do I make
an official statement? The Polish American Congress quickly demanded,
received, and accepted an apology from President Gee.
But I kept thinking about my dear friend Colonel Marian
Wojciechowski, a true hero of Poland and America, who died last year at
age 97. I have known the Wojciechowski family for almost half a
century. Marian's brilliant daughter Mary Ann was my friend in high
school and the valedictorian of our class at St. Ursula Academy in
Toledo.
Her father, Marian, had commanded a Polish Army cavalry platoon at
the place where World War II started on land September 1, 1939. Against
impossible odds, the Polish Army secured a tactical victory in the
battle of Mokra. There was nothing disorganized or chaotic about
Marian's home unit, the 21st Regiment Pulku Ulanow Nadwisclankich,
which eventually was awarded the Virtuti Militari, Poland's highest
military honor.
No, President Gee, the Polish soldiers at Mokra did not shoot at each
other. In fact, they inflicted surprisingly heavy losses against the
more heavily equipped Nazi invaders, who lost 800 men. Eventually, the
Poles' situation deteriorated, as they ran low on ammunition and
medicine. No Western country came to their aid. No Western country. The
infantry commander considered surrendering, but the cavalry commander
ordered a charge. Polish cavalry soldiers bravely drew their swords,
positioned their artillery, and heroically charged German positions,
even though they were hopelessly overmatched by mechanized blitzkrieg
forces on the land, including two Panzer divisions, and Luftwaffe
planes in the air.
A fellow soldier from Marian's hometown of Polaniec thought Marian
had been killed and reported the sad news to Marian's family who held a
funeral for him. But in fact, Marian had survived, had moved east with
his remaining cavalry forces to fight the Red Army that attacked Poland
3 weeks later on the Russian front, on September 17. My friend Marian
was grazed in the head by a Russian bullet.
[[Page H36]]
He then joined the underground resistance for over 2 years in such
dangerous work until he was arrested, brutally tortured, sent to
Auschwitz in Death Block 11, and then transferred to Gross-Rosen and
finally to Leitmeritz in 1945, from which he escaped. I must mention
that the woman who had accidentally revealed his name was beheaded by
Nazi forces.
Of course Poland, which had been partitioned by adjoining empires
since the late 18th Century for daring to write its own democratic
Constitution in 1791--2 years after our own and upon which it was
modeled--was devastated by World War II. Poland lost a higher
percentage of her population than any other nation, approximately one
in five people. Cities such as Warsaw were razed because their people
fought unrelentingly until they were subdued.
Fleeing to Germany and a U.S. Army-run refugee camp, Marian met his
life-long love, Wladyslawa Poniencka, a Polish girl scout and also a
member of the women's Underground resistance. She and her family had
been arrested in Warsaw and sent to the notorious Pawiak Prison and
then she to Ravensbruck where unspeakable experiments were performed on
her while all of her closet relatives were killed. Marian and
Wladyslawa married. They had their first child, my friend, and
immigrated to America in 1950 under the Displaced Persons Act. They
were sponsored by Marian's cousin in Toledo. They raised their family.
And he published a Polish language newspaper Ameryka-Echo in Toledo,
for more than 7 years. He also built a career in neighborhood community
development, working until age 80.
Like Generals Kosciusko and Pulaski, Colonel Marian Wojciechowski
dedicated his life to the cause of liberty and community building. He
was an extraordinary man. In different times, I think he might have
been president of Poland. He surely should have run for office here.
I am going to send a copy of the book ``Seven Paths to Freedom,''
edited by Miroslawa Zawadzka and Andrezj Zawadzki, to President Gee. I
hope he reads it. It's over time for the President of Ohio State
University to show reverence and respect for Poland's heroic struggle
for liberty.
The Kosciuszko Foundation,
New York, NY.
Subject: Ohio State President Gordon Gee Must Be Reprimanded
For Polish Slur.
Chairman Leslie H. Wexner,
Board of Trustees, Ohio State University, Bricker Hall,
Columbus, OH.
Dear Chairman Wexner and Trustees of Ohio State University:
As a son of Polish war heroes, I ask that you publicly
admonish University President Gordon Gee for his unacceptable
comment that your staff, ``were shooting at each other . . .
like the Polish Army.'' In addition, the Board of Trustees
must truly serve the 465,000 Polish-Americans living in Ohio
by funding classes on Polish history at the University. With
a President who lacks erudition, how can you expect to
educate your students about World history, or Poland?
I can assure Mr. Gee that my father, Corp. Dionizy
Storozynski was shooting straight as a motorcycle scout for a
Polish tank division during the allied invasion of Normandy.
Afterwards, he was awarded the Polish Army Medal, and three
medals from the British Army. And I can assure Mr. Gee that
my grandfather, Sgt. Wladyslaw Krzyzanowski was shooting
straight when his Polish regiment, the Anders' Army, helped
drive the Germans from North Africa, and when he destroyed
two German tanks in the Battle of Monte Cassino in Italy. For
this he received three Polish medals and three British
medals. And I can assure Mr. Gee that the Polish WWII pilots
that set records in accuracy in destroying German Luftwaffe
planes during the Battle for Britain were shooting straight.
It's Mr. Gee who is not a straight shooter. Gee has made a
half-hearted apology. That is not enough. Gee has a history
of putting his feet in his mouth and having to apologize. Yet
the Ohio State Board of Trustees has made him the highest
paid college president in the United States, paying him $1.6
million annually.
As Trustees, you are the governing body for a state
university in a state that has nearly half a million Polish-
American taxpayers and voters. Yet you offer few classes in
Polish language and literature, and no classes in Polish
history. With your university receiving $493 million in state
appropriations and $426 million in other government funding
in 2012, surely you can afford to rectify this situation.
This should be put on the agenda for your next Board of
Trustees meeting on Feb. 9.
After Mr. Gee made his unenlightened comment, he said,
``Who did I embarrass now?'' For starters, Mr. Gee
embarrassed himself and Ohio State University. This is also
an embarrassment to United States foreign policy.
With thousands of Polish soldiers who have served in Iraq
and Afghanistan, Gee's comments have caused a stir in Poland.
And the Polish soldiers supporting the American mission in
Afghanistan will not be pleased with Mr. Gee's benighted
opinion. Poland's Special Forces unit shut down oilrigs in
the Persian Gulf during the invasion of Iraq, and the Polish
Army played a major role in the war.
When I traveled to Iraq in 2006 to write an article for the
New York Sun, U.S. Army lieutenant general, Peter Chiarelli,
told me that the Polish troops ``are doing an absolutely
outstanding job. They've been one of the most steadfast
members of the coalition. And these are two of the most
peaceful provinces in all of Iraq, Diwaniyah and Wasit. And
that's largely attributable to the great leadership of
successive Polish generals who have come down here and the
Polish units who have served here.''
The Polish Army has made major contributions to European
and American history. King Jan Sobieski turned back the
Ottoman Empire during the Siege of Vienna in 1863 when the
Turks invaded Europe and tried to turn it into a Muslim
colony. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the largest
country in Europe at the time and Sobieski's Hussar Knights
were the most feared soldiers in Europe.
The President of a major university should also know the
military contributions of Poles to this country. The Father
of the American Cavalry, Gen. Casimir Pulaski saved George
Washington's life at the Battle of Brandywine. Gen. Thaddeus
Kosciuszko built the largest fortress in America, West Point
and suggested putting a military academy there. That was
before he devised the plans for the Battle of Saratoga, the
turning point of the American Revolution. And Abraham Lincoln
appointed Wlodzimierz Krzyzanowski Brigadier General in the
Union Army during the Civil War. Would Abe Lincoln have
picked a Polish general if he could not shoot straight?
Mr. Gee further exposed his ignorance about Poland when
after his witless comments about the Polish Army he told the
crowd at the Columbus Metropolitan Club, ``Oh, never mind,
who did I embarrass now? I'll have to raise money for Poland
now.''
If Mr. Gee read the Wall Street Journal he would know that
despite Europe's financial woes, over the past several years,
Poland has had one of the fastest growing economies in
Europe. So no, Poland does not need Mr. Gee to help it raise
money. But he can help himself by curing his foot-in-mouth
disease and working to rehabilitate his image with the many
Polish-Americans in your state.
Here's where he can start. Thaddeus Kosciuszko was given
500 acres on the Scioto River in Ohio by the Founding Fathers
for his exemplary service in the American Revolution. That
original tract of land borders the Ohio State University
campus in Columbus. Today, part of that land is the Riverside
Drive Park in Dublin, Ohio, and in May the city will rename
it Thaddeus Kosciuszko Park. In addition to his military
service, Kosciuszko put his money where his mouth was when it
came to standing up for liberty. Kosciuszko donated his
salary from the American Revolution, $17,000 and asked that
it be used to purchase slaves, and to free and educate them.
Kosciuszko was a virtuous straight shooter who did the
right thing. If Mr. Gee is as much of a straight shooter as
Polish soldiers, and has any semblance of decency, he should
pay to erect a statue of Kosciuszko in that park. With a
salary of $1.6 million per year, Mr. Gee can clearly afford
it.
Alex Storozynski,
President & Executive Director,
The American Center for Polish Culture.
____
Piast Institute,
Hamtramck, MI, January 17, 2012.
President E. Gordon Gee,
The Ohio State University, Bricker Hall, Columbus, OH.
Dear President Gee: I like many others both inside and
outside the Polish American community, was surprised and
dismayed by your remarks that played off deeply offensive
stereotypes of Poles and Polish Americans. I am glad that you
have recognized the inappropriateness of your statements and
have tendered an apology. Nevertheless, it is disheartening
that such remarks should come from the President of one of
America's major universities. It shows that our society still
has a long way to go in dispelling prejudice.
I am sure that you and the university's trustees have also
received quite a number of letters detailing at some length
the story of Poland as source of a world-class culture, a
distinguished democratic tradition, courageous soldiers who
have fought consistently for freedom for themselves and
others and an unparalleled contribution to the history of
liberty and human dignity in our time, through the efforts of
heroes such as John Paul II and Lech Walesa.
Many of those who have written have asked for redress in
the form of greater attention to the history of Poland and
Polish Americans in courses and programs at The Ohio State
University. Such projects would indeed help the people of
Ohio better appreciate the contribution of Poland to world
civilization and to give students a valuable historical and
cultural perspective on universal issues such as human
dignity, the price of liberty, and the various dimensions of
tolerance, pluralism and non-violence. The Piast Institute
heartily supports such a program, which is at the heart of
its mission.
[[Page H37]]
Nevertheless, such a program no matter how far reaching,
will be of limited success unless it also addresses deep-
seated negative images of Poles and Poland that lie buried in
our culture. It will be hard for most people to even hear,
let alone incorporate more positive images of Poland and
Poles until these are attacked and extirpated. As Malgorzata
Warchol-Schlottmann pointed out in her study of stereotypes
of Poles in German culture ``Positive personal experiences or
empirical knowledge of Poland did not modify the
stereotypical images''. On the basis of my experience, I
believe that the same is true of American culture.
I do not think that you picked the image of incompetent
Polish soldiers shooting at each other at random out of thin
air. It would have left your listeners puzzled if you had
chosen 'The Norwegian army'' as your example. You were
drawing, certainly without deep reflection, perhaps ever
reflexively on deeply embedded negative images of Poles and
Poland in American culture.
These stereotypes took shape in Europe in the 18th century
as part of propaganda by Prussia, Russia and Austria to
justify their unprecedented partition of Poland and the
destruction of the Polish constitution. They were later used
to justify Nazi genocide against Poles. Those images were
transmitted to America in the 19th century and became a
distinct American bigotry in response to the large influx to
Polish immigrants. Those stereotypes still exist and have
power. This is clear from the fact that a President of a
major American university could invoke them so unthinkingly
and cavalierly.
I would hope that any program to provide redress would also
include a mandate to examine the character and roots of anti-
Polonism in courses and special programs designed to deal
with racism, bigotry and prejudice in American Society. The
Piast Institute, which is a national research and policy
institute, would be pleased to assist in curriculum
development and materials for such classes and programs.
We maintain close ties with the Polish community in Ohio
and have worked with them on educational and cultural
programs as well as providing demographic analysis of the
Polish American population in Cleveland and Akron. The work
of the Institute on such projects as our national survey of
1,400 Polish American leaders published as Polish Americans
Today (2010) and our work in preparing curricula for the
genocide curriculum in the California schools and for the
National Catholic Holocaust Education Center at Seton Hill
College has given us unparalleled recognition in Polish
American communities and among their leaders. I also served
for eight years as President of St. Mary's College founded by
Polish immigrants and for many years a national center for
Polish studies in the U.S.
I look forward to working with you and the university to
turn this unfortunate event into a positive project to lessen
prejudice and create a genuine pluralism at Ohio State as
well as to build bridges to the half a million Polish
Americans who live in Ohio and the 10 million Polish
Americans in the United States.
Sincerely yours,
Thaddeus C. Radzilowski, Ph.D.,
President.
____________________