[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 16932-16933]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  IN REMEMBRANCE OF THE VICTIMS OF THE KATYN FOREST MASSACRE AND THE 
                       WORLD TRADE CENTER ATTACKS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROBERT MENENDEZ

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 17, 2002

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the victims of 
senseless and unspeakable atrocities. The New Jersey Division

[[Page 16933]]

of the Polish American Congress sponsored a memorial service to 
remember those who lost their lives during the tragic Katyn Forest 
Massacre sixty-two years ago, and those killed during the attack on 
America, September 11, 2001. The service was held at the Katyn Monument 
site in Jersey City, New Jersey, on September 15, 2002.
  After Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union maliciously invaded Poland in 
1939, the Polish citizenry fought bravely against both adversaries on 
two fronts. Unfortunately, in the process of valiantly defending their 
homeland, over fifteen thousand Polish soldiers, officers, intellectual 
leaders, prisoners of war, and other Polish citizens were brutally 
murdered. Perhaps one of the most unforgettable acts committed by the 
Soviet Union against Poland was later uncovered with the discovery of 
4,500 bodies found in a single mass grave at the Katyn forest, near 
Smolensk in the Soviet Union. This horrendous discovery became known as 
the Katyn Forest Massacre.
  And in an egregious attack against humanity, over three thousand 
Americans and citizens representing more than 80 nationalities were 
lost at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the fields of 
Somerset County, Pennsylvania, on September 11, 2001. The heinous 
attacks on American soil reaffirmed our commitment to Democracy in 
defense of a free and open society, threatened by evil, injustice, 
hatred, and tyranny.
  Today, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the lives lost in 
these tragedies. We shall never forget these acts of barbarism. And we 
shall never forget the innocent lives lost as we strive, as a People, 
to create a peaceful world.

                          ____________________