[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 6, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H1378-H1379]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        COMMEMORATING 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF POLAND'S REEMERGENCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleague, 
Representative Jackie Walorski, as co-chairs of the Polish Caucus.
  This year, we commemorate the 100th anniversary of Poland's 
reemergence as a European nation in 1918. As grateful Polish Americans, 
we join together on a bipartisan basis to acknowledge this historic 
achievement of freedom's advance.
  The reality is history has been brutal to Poland. In the late 1700s, 
Poland was erased from the map of Europe for 123 years by three 
adjacent predatory empires because it passed a constitution inspired by 
ours, which included a separation of powers.
  Poland became the first nation in Europe to abolish serfdom by the 
Polaniec Manifesto on May 7, 1794. Then, in 1918, following World War 
I, with the support of President Woodrow Wilson, Poland was restored to 
the map of Europe and resumed its torturous climb to freedom.

                              {time}  1030

  But then, in 1939, World War II began. As Poland was invaded, first 
by Nazi Germany, and then 3 weeks later by Communist Russia, Poland 
suffered an unimaginable loss of 20 percent of its population that 
perished during World War II, the most of any nation in that war.
  Of the 14 million civilians killed by Nazi Germany and Communist 
Russia, over 6 million were killed in Poland; 3 million Jews and 3 
million Christians, as well as Roma and Sinti, the disabled, 
homosexuals, and other innocents.
  Poland never surrendered. There never was a collaborationist Polish 
Government. Establishing a free government in exile, Polish armies 
fought on every front in Europe, including alongside American soldiers 
at Normandy.
  Despite the Nazi and Soviet campaign to wipe out Poland's most 
educated and accomplished and, indeed, Poland's history, Poland 
resisted at home with the largest underground resistance movement in 
Europe. Poland never surrendered, nor did it ever surrender to Nazi nor 
Communist, murderous ideology.
  At Katyn, Communist Russia, with bullets to the back of their heads, 
killed over 12,000 Polish leaders from its military, civil society, 
their educational community, and their religious leadership.
  1945 brought allied liberation to a war-torn Europe, but not to 
Poland, which fell under the Soviet yoke, repressed, and blocked from 
its own identity, indeed, even denied a true representation of its 
wartime history of heroism, tragedy, and terror.
  But in 1989, after 43 years of increasing resistance to occupation 
inside Poland, its fierce love of liberty spilled over into successful 
resistance and massive electoral victory won by Solidarnosc, the labor 
movement that yielded ultimate liberty for Poland. This was the first 
wave of major popular and anti-Communist opposition across the Soviet 
bloc that resulted in the Berlin Wall's collapse in 1989, the wall that 
divided liberty from tyranny and, ultimately, communism's demise.
  Poland has accomplished much in the generation of freedom that 
followed. She has achieved a steady economic growth in each year since 
its return to freedom, the most robust of any nation in Europe. Yet, 
the millions of souls who perished in Poland across every faith, 
confession, and ethnic origin, most remain unknown to history. Our 
globe is still weighed down with the collective sense of unresolved 
grief and the lack of historical truth that humanity must address.
  For the millions who perished, this anniversary year of Poland's 
rebirth should be an occasion to uplift that historical truth to heal, 
not divide. As we speak, vicious Russian aggression aims to destabilize 
Europe and our precious transatlantic and NATO alliance, essential to 
liberty. Free nations, including Poland and her critics, should

[[Page H1379]]

use this moment to recommit to liberty and rule of law, setting aside 
language and gestures that inflame divisions across Europe.
  Now is a time for unity, not division. Now is a time for restraint, 
not antagonism. Now is the time for reasoned dialogue, not media 
taunts. And let me commend the Polish-Israeli Reconciliation Commission 
for its reasoned progress and recent statement.
  Now is the time for diplomatic excellence and military readiness, not 
provocative gestures, legislative or otherwise. Now is the time for 
robust archival restoration so the full truth of millions who perished 
can be known and recorded forever. Now is the time to strengthen 
freedom's umbrella, not weaken it.
  May I extend all congratulations and blessings to Poland on its 100th 
anniversary of reborn nationhood.

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