[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.

                          ____________________