[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 5293]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             JAN KARSKI DAY

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary 
Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 371 and 
the Senate proceed to its consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 371) honoring the legacy of Jan 
     Karski by designating April 24, 2014, as ``Jan Karski Day.''

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Menendez 
amendment to the resolution, which is at the desk, be agreed to, the 
resolution, as amended, be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the 
Menendez amendment to the title, which is at the desk, be agreed to and 
the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, 
with no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment (No. 2956) was agreed to, as follows:

       Beginning on page 2, strike line 2 and all that follows 
     through ``(3) applauds'' on page 3, line 3, and insert the 
     following:
       (1) recognizes the life and legacy of Dr. Jan Karski on the 
     centennial of his birth, and expresses its gratitude for his 
     efforts alerting the free world about the atrocities 
     committed by Nazi and totalitarian forces in occupied Poland 
     during World War II; and
       (2) applauds

  The resolution (S. Res. 371), as amended, was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, as amended with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 371

       Whereas Jan Karski was born on April 24, 1914, in Lodz, 
     Poland;
       Whereas Jan Karski managed to escape the Soviet massacre in 
     the Katyn Forest in 1940, in which almost 22,000 Polish 
     citizens lost their lives;
       Whereas Jan Karski became a key emissary in the Polish 
     underground resistance, the Home Army, against Nazi 
     occupation;
       Whereas Jan Karski risked his own life after escaping a 
     prisoner-of-war camp, having endured Gestapo torture, to 
     continue to act as an emissary for the Polish Underground, in 
     order to provide critical intelligence to the Allied war 
     effort and alert Allied governments about the Holocaust and 
     the dire situation on the ground in German-occupied Poland;
       Whereas Jan Karski traveled to Allied capitals and provided 
     critical eyewitness testimony about the horrors of Hitler's 
     ``Final Solution'' and the extermination of Jews and others 
     in Nazi-occupied Poland to British Foreign Minister Anthony 
     Eden and United States President Franklin Roosevelt;
       Whereas Jan Karski, after living through the atrocities of 
     World War II, went on to earn a Ph.D. from Georgetown 
     University in 1952;
       Whereas Jan Karski became a United States citizen and 
     taught generations of students of foreign policy at 
     Georgetown University for 40 years, dedicating the rest of 
     his life to strengthening the idea of tolerance and respect 
     for different religions and cultures and ensuring that the 
     full extent of the Nazi atrocities are never forgotten; and
       Whereas Jan Karski was awarded the Presidential Medal of 
     Freedom posthumously on May 29, 2012, one of the highest 
     civilian honors in the United States: Now, therefore, be it
         Resolved, That the Senate--
         (1) recognizes the life and legacy of Dr. Jan Karski on 
     the centennial of his birth, and expresses its gratitude for 
     his efforts alerting the free world about the atrocities 
     committed by Nazi and totalitarian forces in occupied Poland 
     during World War II; and
         (2) applauds the awarding of the Presidential Medal of 
     Freedom to Jan Karski for his efforts during World War II and 
     reaffirms the importance of the United States-Poland 
     bilateral relationship.

  The amendment (No. 2957) was agreed to, as follows:

       Amend the title so as to read: ``Honoring the legacy and 
     accomplishments of Jan Karski on the centennial of his 
     birth.''.

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