[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 182 (Wednesday, November 8, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H8646-H8647]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           POLAND CELEBRATES 99TH ANNIVERSARY OF INDEPENDENCE

  (Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, on November 11 in this year of 2017, the 
nation of Poland will celebrate its 99th anniversary of independence.
  To commemorate this historic event as well as to recognize the values 
the United States and Poland have shared since the 1700s, I rise along 
with my fellow co-chairs of the House Poland Caucus to introduce this 
bipartisan resolution.
  As early as 1791, Poland adopted the first constitution in Europe 
based on America's Democratic principle of liberty. Poland became the 
first nation in Europe to outlaw serfdom. As a result, Poland was 
tragically removed from the map of Europe for over a century-and-a-
quarter, divided and split between three imperial powers: Russia, 
Prussia, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
  Nevertheless, valiant Poles did not give up their values, but they 
kept

[[Page H8647]]

alive the free spirit of Poland during foreign occupation and tyranny 
for a century-and-a-quarter. Then, in 1918, with the help of President 
Woodrow Wilson following World War I, they triumphed in bringing their 
nation back onto the map of Europe in the form of a republic.
  Today, American and Polish military cooperation through NATO is 
critical to defending the spirit of liberty. Let this resolution serve 
to reaffirm the close bonds between our two great nations.

                          ____________________