[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 147 (Thursday, December 4, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S6352]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENATE RESOLUTION 594--CELEBRATING THE CENTENNIAL YEAR OF THE BIRTH OF 
     JAN KARSKI AND HONORING HIS EXTRAORDINARY AND COURAGEOUS LIFE

  Ms. MIKULSKI (for herself and Mr. Kirk) submitted the following 
resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

                              S. Res. 594

       Whereas Jan Karski was born on April 24, 1914, as Jan 
     Kozielewski, in Lodz, Poland;
       Whereas Jan Karski served in the Polish diplomatic service, 
     enlisted in the military, and was serving in the Polish army 
     when German soldiers invaded Poland in 1939;
       Whereas Jan Karski was captured by the Red Army when the 
     Soviet Union invaded Poland;
       Whereas in 1940, Jan Karski escaped the horrific Katyn 
     Massacre, in which an estimated 22,000 Poles, including 8,000 
     Polish military officers, were brutally slain by Soviet 
     soldiers;
       Whereas Jan Karski escaped to Warsaw and joined the Polish 
     underground resistance movement, where he served as a courier 
     delivering messages to the Polish government-in-exile 
     detailing the horrific brutality of the Nazis in Warsaw;
       Whereas Jan Karski risked his life on several occasions, 
     including when he infiltrated the Warsaw ghetto and the 
     Izbica transit camp, and provided some of the first 
     eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust to the Polish 
     government-in-exile, the British government, and the United 
     States Government;
       Whereas in July of 1943, Jan Karski traveled to the United 
     States to meet with President Roosevelt to describe the 
     horrors of the Nazi genocide he had witnessed;
       Whereas Jan Karski remained dedicated throughout his life 
     to raising global awareness of the atrocities of the 
     Holocaust;
       Whereas after World War II, Jan Karski moved to the United 
     States and enrolled in Georgetown University, earning a Ph.D. 
     in 1952 and teaching at the university's Edmund A. Walsh 
     School of Foreign Service for 35 years until his retirement 
     in 1984;
       Whereas Jan Karski became a citizen of the United States in 
     1954;
       Whereas Jan Karski was posthumously awarded the 
     Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012 for his courageous 
     efforts in uncovering the atrocities of the Holocaust and his 
     commitment to sharing what he witnessed with the world;
       Whereas the Parliament of the Republic of Poland has 
     designated 2014 as ``The Year of Jan Karski''; and
       Whereas on April 1, 2014, to mark Jan Karski's 
     100th birthday, the Senate unanimously passed a 
     resolution honoring his bravery and dedication in telling the 
     world of the atrocities that took place in Poland during the 
     Holocaust: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) celebrates 2014 as the centennial year of the birth of 
     Jan Karski; and
       (2) honors the life and legacy of Jan Karski.

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