[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 5, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S1323]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 371--HONORING THE LEGACY OF JAN KARSKI BY DESIGNATING 
                 APRIL 24, 2014, AS ``JAN KARSKI DAY''

  Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. Kirk, and Mr. Durbin) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the 
Judiciary:

                              S. Res. 371

       Whereas Jan Karski was born on April 24, 1914, in Lodz, 
     Poland;
       Whereas Jan Karski managed to escape the Soviet massacre in 
     the Katyn forest in 1940, in which almost 22,000 Polish 
     citizens lost their lives;
       Whereas Jan Karski became a key emissary in the Polish 
     underground resistance, the Home Army, against Nazi 
     occupation;
       Whereas Jan Karski risked his own life after escaping a 
     prisoner of war camp, having endured Gestapo torture, to 
     continue to act as an emissary for the Polish Underground, in 
     order to provide critical intelligence to the Allied war 
     effort and alert Allied governments about the Holocaust and 
     the dire situation on the ground in German-occupied Poland;
       Whereas Jan Karski traveled to allied capitals and provided 
     critical eyewitness testimony about the horrors of Hitler's 
     ``Final Solution'' and the extermination of Jews and others 
     in Nazi-occupied Poland to British Foreign Minister Anthony 
     Eden and United States President Franklin Roosevelt;
       Whereas Jan Karski, after living through the atrocities of 
     World War II, went on to earn a Ph.D. from Georgetown 
     University in 1952;
       Whereas Jan Karski became a United States citizen and 
     taught generations of students of foreign policy at 
     Georgetown University for 40 years, dedicating the rest of 
     his life to strengthening the idea of tolerance and respect 
     for different religions and cultures and ensuring that the 
     full extent of the Nazi atrocities are never forgotten; and
       Whereas Jan Karski was awarded the Presidential Medal of 
     Freedom posthumously on May 29, 2012, one of the highest 
     civilian honors in the United States: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) designates April 24, 2014, as ``Jan Karski Day'';
       (2) recognizes the life and legacy of Dr. Jan Karski, and 
     expresses its gratitude for his efforts alerting the free 
     world about the atrocities committed by Nazi and totalitarian 
     forces in occupied Poland during World War II; and
       (3) applauds the awarding of the Presidential Medal of 
     Freedom to Jan Karski for his efforts during World War II and 
     reaffirms the importance of the United States-Poland 
     bilateral relationship.

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