[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 183 (Friday, November 15, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1454]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  30 YEARS AFTER THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL: HONORING HIS EXCELLENCY 
              LECH WALESA, THE FORMER PRESIDENT OF POLAND

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                          HON. ELIOT L. ENGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 15, 2019

  Mr. ENGEL. Madam Speaker, it is my great pleasure to be here today to 
help welcome back to Washington a true hero of democracy, former 
President Lech Walesa.
  Thirty years ago, we all watched with surprise and jubilation at the 
fall of the Berlin Wall, for decades the symbol of repression and 
tyranny that had fallen over the states behind the Iron Curtain. As it 
happens, that was my first year as a member of Congress. What followed 
the fall of the wall was the collapse of the totalitarian regimes and 
the restoration of those countries to their place among the world's 
democracies. This was an incredibly momentous occasion, we in Congress 
understand that.
  In November of 1989, a humble electrician from the working-class 
Polish city of Gdansk spoke before a joint session of the United States 
Congress. I remember it well. He described his years-long struggle for 
freedom and asked for support from the United States. That man, of 
course, was soon-to-be President Walesa.
  More than anyone else, President Walesa helped us understand the 
heroic and honorable fight that the people of Poland and others 
throughout central and eastern Europe were waging to win their freedom 
over dictatorship. We understood that the people of Europe needed our 
help in this struggle for freedom. And U.S. support was indeed critical 
in helping those countries transition to democracy.
  Thirty years later, some of those countries need our help again. 
While the specter of communism has faded, many countries in central and 
eastern Europe face renewed threats to democracy. Today at a hearing of 
the European subcommittee, President Walesa and other experts described 
some of these new threats, in countries like Poland, Hungary, and 
Turkey, where increasingly authoritarian leaders are undermining 
democracy and the rule of law. We owe it to President Walesa and all 
the others who continue to fight for democracy in the region to show 
our support.
  I want to close by thanking President Walesa for everything he has 
done in support of freedom and democracy, and for visiting with us 
today. And I want to urge everyone that we can best honor President 
Walesa's legacy by continuing the fight against authoritarianism 
wherever we may find it.

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