Expressing sympathy to the people of Poland in the aftermath of the tragic plane crash that killed the country's President, First Lady, and 94 others on April 10, 2010.

I thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank my colleagues who are joining us this evening, including Congressman Joe Donnelly of Indiana, as we begin this special order commemorating the Polish Nation during its days of deepest mourning and the magnificent people of that country.

As we speak here tonight in this hour, in my home district of Toledo, Ohio, the Polish community has gathered for a memorial mass that began at St. Adalbert's Catholic Church at 6:30 p.m. They and we here tonight are united in solidarity with our Polish brothers and sisters halfway around the world.

The Americans gathered tonight here in Congress, and in my home community, and the 9 million Americans of Polish descent across our Nation, in places as far flung as Chicago, Detroit, New York, Toledo, Las Vegas, in places like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and indeed in Colorado and Texas, from coast to coast Americans are united in our mourning and in the encouragement that we wish to share with the people of Poland in these dark hours.

Today the House passed unanimously House Resolution 1246, originally introduced by Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper of Erie, Pennsylvania, another community with thousands of Polish Americans. And for that passage, the ambassador from Poland, Ambassador Robert Kupiecki, sat in the gallery as each vote ticked off. And it passed overwhelmingly, with over 400 votes. That was an exceptionally emotional moment for me, as we as a Nation mourn the death and terrible loss of life that the Nation of Poland is bearing.

The resolution expresses its deepest sympathies to the people of Poland and the families of those who perished for their profound loss. The resolution expressed strong and continued solidarity with the people of Poland and all persons of Polish descent, and expressed unwavering support for the Polish Government as it works to overcome the loss of many of its key officials. And we know that Poland will prevail.

It is important to place on the record also that the plane that crashed in the Katyn Forest, an area that embraces the collective tragedy of Poland's precious leaders. In the most morbid of ironies, the doomed plane was flying to Russia to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, when more than 22,000 Polish officers, intellectuals, leaders from all walks of life were summarily murdered at the hands of Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Army in and around Katyn Forest during World War II. Their bodies were buried and the truth hidden for seven decades. That is the truth of their slaughter. That history still must be made whole.

And I know that on May 5, in a strange twist of fate, at the Library of Congress, with the help of the Kosciuszko Foundation, there had been planned a special all-day seminar, which will continue, on the Katyn massacre. I think that it will be even more well attended than was originally anticipated. We thank the Library of Congress, its director, James Billington, and the Kosciuszko Foundation from New York for their presence and their leadership in this effort.

Before I turn to my colleagues who are on the floor tonight, let me just read a brief poem called ``Buttons'' by Zbigniew Herbert. What it talks about is the original Katyn massacre and how little is known about it in the outside world, and what a responsibility we have to document what happened there. The poem is brief, but it reads as follows:

They come from depths upon the surface

The only tribute on their graves.

They are attesting God will count

Extend his mercy upon them.

But how to raise from the dead

If they're a clammy piece of earth.

A bird flew over, a cloud is passing

A leaf is dropping, a mallow grows

Heavens above are filled with silence

The Katyn Forest smokes with fog.

Only the buttons did not yield

Powerful voice of silenced choirs,

Only the buttons did not yield

Buttons from coats and uniforms.

I would like to yield to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Donnelly) who was proudly here today to cast his vote for the resolution for such time as he may need.

I thank the gentleman for his very, very heartfelt remarks this evening and for taking time after such a busy day to pay tribute to the nation of Poland and the people of Poland and citizens from his district and for sharing their grief and for offering a word of hope and encouragement for the future. We thank you so very much for your participation.

As we think about what happened in Poland, we also experienced during this period now a peaceful transition of government. According to their constitution, as the Speaker of their Parliament, Bronislaw Komorowski assumed the office of President. And we can see through the magic of television thousands of Poles paying their respects to their lost President and First Lady in front of the Presidential Palace, and it's all peaceful in that great liberty loving land of Poland. And as the gentleman from Indiana has well stated, freedom-loving people who saw their nation wiped off the map of Europe for over a hundred years and then during World War II their nation partitioned and then the great struggle that they endured beginning with labor strikes during the 1950s in places like Poznan to begin to try to roll back that Iron Curtain, we are just so proud to be an ally of this great Nation of Poland.

I yield to the fine Member from Arizona, Congressman Trent Franks, a leader in defense issues and so many other issues, who has come to the floor tonight to pay tribute.

Congressman Franks, I want to thank you so very much. I know what a long day you have had. You began on C-SPAN this morning, I believe, and you have worked way over

time today. And to join us here this evening and to pay tribute particularly with your responsibilities in the area of defense, I know that the people of Poland are listening and Polish Americans across this country and they are helped at this very, very weighty moment to be healed by your words, by the words of Congressman Donnelly.

Today, we were all a part of that very, very important moment when the congressman from Chicago, Congressman Dan Lipinski, who co-chairs the Polish Caucus in the Congress, asked for a moment of silence, and Speaker Pelosi was at the rostrum, and the entire Chamber rose above partisanship. It was just the expression of the American people, as the Ambassador from Poland, Robert Kupiecki, was in the gallery, and we remembered those who'd lost their lives. And we prayed for the strength of Poland today, for the courage of her people to endure.

As we were expressing that respect, I kept thinking to my last trip to Poland, which was last August, and I have traveled there for many, many decades when it was under Communist control, and I remember how the people--how their faces, their eyes, their expressions were. And then in 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down, traveling to Poland and seeing this moment of possibility and the anxiousness at that particular period, and then to travel there last August and to see a new generation of Poland. I get pretty emotional thinking about it.

And to see their eyes, the eyes of the young people who are going to be the leaders of the 21st century and they have been raised in a free country for the first time in over a century. And they have the same possibility as the Poles who right after World War I attempted to build a free country, and then it was taken away from them by Nazi and Soviet aggression. So this is really the first generation.

And to see in 20 years the look of hope in those young people's eyes, I shall never forget it. And it told me that the world had progressed and that Poland had progressed and her deepest-held dreams lived in these young people.

So I wanted to put that on the record tonight and also to mention that many, many Members, certainly the Speaker, the Vice President, Secretary of State, Members of our House, like Congressman Quigley, have worked their way to the Polish Embassy to sign the book of mourning that is at the Embassy for interested members and citizens.

The Polish Embassy is overwhelmed with the outpouring of support and friendship of the American people. The street, 16th Street, just north of Dupont Circle, where the Embassy is located, the whole entire front is full of flowers and candles. Americans were walking by. They were attempting to gain entry to the Embassy to express their sorrow. It was quite a powerful sight to behold.

And I know that there are memorials being held around the globe as well. President Obama has announced he will be leading America's delegation to Poland this weekend for the President's funeral. So the outpouring of love from the American people to the Polish people is a bond that will only be strengthened by this great tragedy.

I wanted to also place on the Record, if I could, this evening a poem by Andrzej Wajda, who is a Polish filmmaker, about Katyn where the past generation and this generation of Poles has now paid the greatest price:

``There are no Great Walls there at Katyn,

No towers leaning or not leaning,

Declaring some king's success

Or mocking another's failure,

No gleaming cathedral where

You can pray for forgiveness

Or watch the cycle of shadows play

Through the coolness of the day,

And soon not even the names

Of those who died will be remembered,

Names like Skrzypinski, Chmura,

Or Anthony Milczarek.

Their harsh voices and tearing courage

Are already lost in the wind,

But their true monuments

Will always be there, in the dust

And the gray ashes and the mounds

Settling over the bodies over which

No prayers were ever whispered,

No tears shed by a grieving mother

Or a trembling sister.''

This team of Polish leaders journeyed to Katyn, Russia, in order to begin to unravel this story of where history lived that for seven decades, three-quarters of a century, was denied. And I have to say that the Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin, is to be commended royally for his attention to what happened and, in addition to that, for having the courage to look history in the eye and not be afraid of it and to know that we are living in a new millennium and to allow the film Katyn by Andrzej Wajda to be shown on television in Russia before the crash and then after.

And so to make history right, and the President of Russia, Mr. Medvedev, to be able to move on and to work together with the deep heritage that our peoples all have together and to use our power to make the world a better place, what a moment for all of us to be living, and an opportunity, a set of opportunities that should not be lost.

And I would like to yield back to my friend from Indiana (Mr. Donnelly).

The gentleman's words are so eloquent. And I am reminded that in the resolution that was passed this afternoon here in the Congress, one of those who lost her life on that plane was Anna Walentynowicz, who's the former dock worker whose firing in 1908 sparked the solidarity strike that ultimately overthrew the Polish communist government, and of course she was killed in the crash as well.

And last August, when I traveled to Poland, one of the cities we visited was Poznan, and what was--there were many, many moments that were memorable, but I can remember standing near the town square and seeing very huge, huge crosses, metal crosses that had rope bonds around them, and underneath it, the years 1956 through the late fifties, through the sixties, through the seventies, all of the strikes and protests inside of communist Poland that ultimately, in 1980 and during the decade of the 1980s, then erupted.

But the courage, the progressive courage, decade after decade after decade, at, obviously, threat to loss of their own life and loss of their own life, the people of Poland trying to build a

solidarity movement to change life in that part of the world was an extraordinary story. It's a story of great heroism. And I think the gentleman reminds us of the price that has been paid by the people of Poland for their liberty.

You know, Congressman Donnelly, when we think back to Poland's history during World War II, no nation lost a higher percentage of its people. Twenty percent of the population of Poland was eliminated. And the strength that it took to survive that and to endure, history should well note the dismembering of their nation and their ability to prevail and ultimately then, in the fifties and sixties and seventies and eighties, they come from a heritage of great suffering and great triumph.

I thank you for your words and compassion; and, in a similar vein, wish to place in the Record two letters that have been issued relating to this tragedy. One is from Stefan Wisniowski, who is the President of the Kresy-Siberia Foundation. This particular foundation is trying to virtually tell the history of the millions of Poles who were relocated during World War II from the eastern half of Poland and sent to concentration camps and labor camps in Siberia and points east as the Red Army assumed control of the eastern half of Poland. There were lives, hundreds of thousands upon thousands of lives lost.

And he writes the following: What has happened is a black day for Poland and for her children around the world, including all of us at the Kresy-Siberia Foundation who are working for the remembrance and recognition of our collective history.

Those who perished were all leaders in the nation's quest for remembrance and identity. Many were close friends of the Kresy-Siberia Foundation, and among those we have lost are two of the honorary patrons of the Kresy-Siberia Virtual Museum: Ryszard Kaczorowski, the last Polish President-in-Exile, and Janusz Krupski, Ministry for Veterans and Repressed Peoples.

Our first important backer, Mr. Maciejski, who's President of the Inota Polska, which is the Polish Union Association, who had the courage and vision to be the first major sponsor of our virtual museum and whose organization now hosts our office in Warsaw.

He also says, Janusz Kurtyka, president of the Institute for National Remembrance, who headed one of our foundation's most important partners, Andrzej Przewoznik, who's Secretary overseeing the Council for the Protection of Memory of Struggle and Martyrdom, an important friend and collaborator of the Kresy-Siberia Foundation, and of course he references President Kaczynski and his wife, Maria, who were both aware and very supportive of the foundation's efforts.

And then he recognized the scores of leaders of the Siberian Association, the Katyn Families Association, the Golgotha of the East Foundation, and all our friends and colleagues drawn to the common flame of Katyn and all lost in the flames of the presidential jet crash.

The tragic irony of this circumstance is not lost on us. Like the cream of the Polish nation murdered 70 years ago and who the presidential party was en route to commemorate at Katyn, an entire leadership group of our nation has been lost to us. Literally, the entire chiefs of staff of the Army, Air Force, Navy have all perished, along with scores of parliamentarians, government officials, religious leaders, and historical activists like us.

We Poles will recover, for as a nation we always have, but we have lost a strong core of our most passionate and historically aware patriots. We are in shock and mourning. Our thoughts and prayers are with the nation and with the families of those who lost their loved ones. May Poland and all her children around the world rally in unity at this tragic blow.

And I would hope that the United States of America would take up the gauntlet and help Poland continue the effort to remember, to restore her archival collections, to try to make and honor those who lost their lives under such horrendous circumstances over 70 years ago, and that the ground that now is sacred because of additional lives lost as well as those in the past has special meaning in the world today, and that we need to remember and we need to account for every lost life. America can help in this cause.

And another letter that was sent from Alex Storozynski, who's president and executive director of the Kosciuszko Foundation based in New York writes:

``Dear friends,

``As we mourn the loss of President Lech and Maria Kaczynski and their talented delegation of leaders, we must make sure that these deaths were not in vain.

``After a coverup, the Katyn Massacre which lasted for decades, today the truth about Katyn was on television and page 1 news around the world.

``As the anthem says, `Poland has not perished while we are alive.'

``President Kaczynski and his Cabinet presided over a period of prosperity, and today Poland has the 18th largest economy in the world, a free press where people can speak their minds, and a stable democratic system where voters elect their leaders.

``These are great strides made by our fatherland over the past 20 years and we should all be proud. So wherever you are, go visit a Polish Consulate, a Polish church, a Polish club, or a Polish cultural center and share your condolences. But remember to count your blessings as well.''

I thought that was a beautiful call to action here in the United States and abroad.

Congressman Donnelly, please.

I thank Congressman Donnelly for joining us this evening, and Congressman Franks from Arizona, Congressman Donnelly from Indiana, Congresswoman Kaptur from Ohio. To all of our colleagues from across this country, and certainly from the Polish American Caucus here in the Congress--Congressman Lipinski, Congressman Dingell, Congressman Chris Murphy, Congressman Mike Quigley of Chicago, Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Cleveland, Ohio, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge of the same region--all of us are united in our common grief as well as common hope that the future of Poland in this millennium will be very bright, and America stands with you at this very historic moment.

This is a black day for Poland and for her children around

the world, including all of us at Kresy-Siberia who are

working for the remembrance and recognition of our collective

history.

Those who perished today were all leaders in the Nation's

quest for remembrance and identity.

Many were close friends of the Kresy-Siberia Foundation,

and among those we have lost are:

Two of the Honorary Patrons of the Kresy-Siberia Virtual

Museum; Ryszard Kaczorowski, the last Polish President-in-

Exile, and Janusz Krupski, Ministry for Veterans and

Repressed Persons.

Our first important backer, Maciejski, President of the

``lnota Polska'' (Polish Union) Association, who had the

courage and vision to be the first major sponsor of our

virtual museum and whose organization now hosts our office in

Warsaw.

Janusz Kurtyka, President of the Institute for National

Remembrance, who headed one of our Foundation's most

important Partners.

Andrzej Przewonik, Secretary overseeing the Council for the

Protection of Memory of Struggle and Marytdom, an important

friend and collaborator of the Kresy-Siberia Foundation.

President Kaczyski and especially Mrs. Kaczyska, who we met

in Warsaw last September, who were both aware of and very

supportive of Kresy-Siberia.

Scores of leaders of the Siberian Association, the Katyn

Families Association, the Golgotha of the East Foundation,

and all our friends and colleagues drawn to the common flame

of Katyn and all lost in the flames of the presidential jet

crash.

The tragic irony of this circumstance is not lost on us.

Like the cream of the Polish nation murdered 70 years ago,

and who the Presidential party was en route to commemorate at

Katyn, an entire leadership group of our nation has been lost

to us. Literally, the entire chiefs of staff of the Army, Air

Force, and Navy have all perished. Along with scores of

parliamentarians, government officials, religious leaders,

and historical activists like us.

We Poles will recover, for as a Nation we always have. But

we have lost a strong core of our most passionate and

historically aware patriots.

We are in shock and mourning.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Nation and with the

families of those who lost their loved ones.

May Poland and all her children around the world rally in

unity at this tragic blow.

Stefan Wisniowski,

Foundation President, Kresy-Siberia Foundation.

I want to thank my good friend from Ohio.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in remembrance of the 96 people who died so tragically in the plane crash near Smolensk, Russia, on Saturday, to stand here in solidarity with the Polish people during their time of immense loss. This is a time of sorrow for both our nations. And I extend my deepest sympathy to the Polish people.

The plane crash near Smolensk took the lives of many of Poland's leaders traveling to memorialize the 70th anniversary of the Katyn Forest massacre, as my good friend from Ohio had mentioned, where during World War II the Soviets executed approximately 22,000 Polish servicemembers, public servants, and citizens. Sadly, that site now claims the blood of more great Poles.

Killed on Saturday were President Lech Kaczynski, the First Lady, the governor of Poland's central bank, 12 members of parliament, four generals, many other key leaders, and great Polish citizens such as Anna Walentynowicz, the labor activist whose firing at the Gdansk shipyard helped spark the Solidarity strike.

President Kaczynski was a great leader of Poland and a close, important friend of the United States. The son of Polish freedom fighters, Lech Kaczynski was an active leader within the Solidarity movement for democratic reforms in Poland, which eventually led to free elections on June 4, 1989.

Elected President in 2005, President Kaczynski was a tireless advocate for stronger ties with the west and expanding NATO membership in Eastern Europe. He strengthened the cooperation between Poland and the United States, and his loss will be felt both in Poland and here in America.

Mr. Speaker, during the time of loss for the Polish people, I believe it is especially important that the United States work closely with the people of Poland on issues of mutual importance

and that we assist their government in any way possible.

I am honored to have joined the House of Representatives today in passing House Resolution 1246, which expressed this Chamber's sympathy to the people of Poland for their loss, and pledging continued solidarity with the people of Poland and persons of Polish descent.

Let us use this tragedy as an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the friendship between our two nations. As we know, Poland and the United States have had a long and important friendship based on solidarity together. In fact, at our Nation's very birth, Kazimier Pulaski, the great Polish cavalry officer, helped lead Americans in victories over the British and saved the life of George Washington. Polish Americans have contributed to the rich fabric of our Nation both throughout our history and today as vibrant and accomplished Americans, proud of their heritage and proud of their culture.

To my good friend from Ohio, as you have so many wonderful Polish- American communities in your district, in my district, South Bend, Mishawaka, Michigan City, La Porte, all of those wonderful cities in Indiana are home to over 10,000 Polish Americans, and many more Hoosiers can trace their roots to Poland and many more Hoosiers throughout my district can trace their roots to Poland.

Poland is a crucial American ally. The role of Solidarity, led by Lech Walesa, and the support of Pope John Paul II were instrumental in bringing about a peaceful end to the Cold War and an end to communism in Europe. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, Poland has worked closely with the United States, joining NATO in 1999, contributing troops to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and agreeing to cooperate with us on missile defense. Poland has instituted modern democratic and capitalist reforms, opening their country, economy, and their hearts to the world.

Mr. Speaker, let us remember those who perished in this past weekend's tragic disaster, and let us honor their lives and their contributions by continuing America's strong and unbreakable friendship with Poland for all the years to come.

It is a bond of friendship that has been strengthened year after year, born in Poland's struggles and America's struggles, a bond of solidarity that can never be broken. And we are both so proud to represent districts where we have so many Polish- American citizens who are so proud of their ancestry and who take such great pride in the roots that they have.

In listening to your comments, what continues as a theme throughout all of this is the unbreakable spirit of freedom of the Polish nation; that, despite some of the most harsh treatment from other countries, some of the most difficult challenges ever faced, their strength, their courage, their determination changed the face of the world.

I'm sure my good friend from Ohio remembers that day when a new Pope was chosen many years ago, and out on to the balcony came Pope John Paul II. And I remember the announcer saying, This Pope is from Poland. And when that happened, the whole world changed.

And it wasn't too long after that that a strike at a shipyard in Gdansk again changed the face of the world, and that the courage of those workers and the strength of their belief in freedom and the Pope's keeping an eye on them, so to speak, helped change the entire world again; where you heard so many times that the Iron Curtain could never be broken, that the Soviet Union would never change, that Poland was a smaller nation than the Soviet Union and would never have a chance to see their spirit of democracy bloom and flower.

But the determination of the people of that country could not be denied, and their example led to the Berlin Wall coming down, led to country after country getting their own freedom and their own democracy. And it was all started in a shipyard in Gdansk by the Polish nation who believed in a cause that was right, in a cause that was just, and believed that we are all creatures of God, and God has given us that opportunity to have freedom. And because of that, the whole world changed because of the strength of the people of Poland.

And so tonight, as we stand here in our own beloved Capitol of this Nation we love so much, we want all of our friends of Polish heritage to know and all of our friends who are in Poland to know that we stand together with them, that we are as one, and that they can always count on our being there whenever needed.

And I think back of all the incredible accomplishments that have occurred because of that desire for freedom, that recognition that each human being is special and that God has given us those rights. And that's why Lech Walesa stood up and said, Enough.

In my own district, on the West side of South Bend, also Saint Adalberts, which is the central--one of the central points of the Polish communities in South Bend, and in Michigan City, Saint Stanislas Kostka, which is another central point where the community today is as strong and as vibrant as ever and has a very heavy heart this week after what has happened, after seeing folks they care so much about be in such a terrible, terrible accident, a terrible loss. And their tremendous pride in their American heritage and their Polish heritage has led those communities to be such bright lights in my State and, I know, in Ohio as well.

And to a community where Easter is such a special event and to have this happen so shortly after Easter, in Rolling Prairie, a little town just outside of South Bend where there is also another Saint Stanislas Kostka, where Easter is celebrated as something not only very important spiritually, but also to the Polish community as well, to have this happen so shortly after that may have made the pain even more difficult.

But what the people of Poland know is that they have suffered and struggled before, and from each time they deal with struggling and suffering, they come out stronger and they come out as a nation more united every time. And so from this pain, from this sorrow will come comfort and the understanding and knowledge of all the friends that the nation of Poland has throughout the world. And that, we hope, can be of some comfort.

I just want to thank my good friend from Ohio for letting me be part of this. And to the nation of Poland, our hearts and our sympathy are with you at this very, very difficult time.

Thank you very much, Mr. Delahunt.

On Saturday, I received a call from the leader of Cleveland's Polish community, John Borkowski, who informed me of the tragedy that befell the nation of Poland.

Cleveland has a very large Polish American community, which is very proud of its heritage and very involved in promoting the social and cultural aspects of the Polish ethnic heritage. The loss of the humblest citizen on that plane was a great tragedy for Poland. The total loss is a tragedy of monumental proportions.

I am glad to see the United States Congress recognizing the tragedy that has befallen the Polish people and also joining in in mourning the loss of President Kaczynski, the First Lady, and 94 others.

I would like to insert in the Record a column by Roger Cohen that I think puts an appropriate frame on this important discussion today in which we recognize the grief of the Polish people and show solidarity with them.

Finally, I would just like to say, niech zyje Polska--long live Poland.

Madam Speaker, I rise to express my strong support of and condolences for the people of Poland as they mourn the loss of their President, Lech Kaczynski, the First Lady, and 94 others after a tragic plane crash this past Saturday.

In addition to President Kaczynski, his wife, and key public officials, prominent figures in Polish history perished in the plane crash as well--former labor leaders, intellectuals, and historians-- figures that shaped Polish history, revolutionized Polish political discourse, and preserved Polish heritage.

In cruel irony, they were traveling to Russia to commemorate the 1940 Katyn massacre when 20,000 Polish prisoners--including Army officers and the leading Polish intellectuals of the time--were brutally murdered by Soviet Forces. Russian President Vladimir Putin was to join the Polish delegation in their commemoration of the massacre, the first time a high-ranking Russian official has done so since the massacre occurred 70 years ago.

Roger Cohen, writing yesterday in the New York Times, remarked, ``Poland should shame every nation that believes peace and reconciliation are impossible, every state that believes that sacrifice of new generations is needed to avenge the grievances of history . . . It is Poland that is now at peace with its neighbors and stable. It is Poland that has joined Germany in the European Union. So do not tell me that cruel history cannot be overcome.''

Let us use this unimaginable tragedy to follow Poland's example to promote peace, reconciliation, and diplomacy in the world.

[From the New York Times, Apr. 13, 2010]

The Glory of Poland

(By Roger Cohen)

New York.--My first thought, hearing of the Polish tragedy,

was that history's gyre can be of an unbearable cruelty,

decapitating Poland's elite twice in the same cursed place,

Katyn.

My second was to call my old friend Adam Michnik in Warsaw.

Michnik, an intellectual imprisoned six times by the former

puppet-Soviet Communist rulers, once told me:

``Anyone who has suffered that humiliation, at some level,

wants revenge. I know all the lies. I saw people being

killed. But I also know that revanchism is never ending. And

my obsession has been that we should have a revolution that

does not resemble the French or Russian, but rather the

American, in the sense that it be for something, not against

something. A revolution for a constitution, not a paradise.

An anti-utopian revolution. Because utopias lead to the

guillotine and the gulag.''

Michnik's obsession has yielded fruit. President Lech

Kaczynski is dead. Slawomir Skrzypek, the president of the

National Bank, is dead. An explosion in the fog of the forest

took them and 94 others on the way to Katyn. But Poland's

democracy has scarcely skipped a beat. The leader of the

lower house of Parliament has become acting president pending

an election. The first deputy president of the National Bank

has assumed the duties of the late president. Poland, oft

dismembered, even wiped from the map, is calm and at peace.

``Katyn is the place of death of the Polish

intelligentsia,'' Michnik, now the soul of Poland's

successful Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper, said when I reached him

by phone. ``This is a terrible national tragedy. But in my

sadness I am optimistic because Putin's strong and wise

declaration has opened a new phase in Polish-Russian

relations, and because we Poles are showing we can be

responsible and stable.''

Michnik was referring to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's

words after he decided last week to join, for the first time,

Polish officials commemorating the anniversary of the murder

at Katyn of thousands of Polish officers by the Soviet Union

at the start of World War II. Putin, while defending the

Russian people, denounced the ``cynical lies'' that had

hidden the truth of Katyn, said ``there is no justification

for these crimes'' of a ``totalitarian regime'' and declared,

``We should meet each other halfway, realizing that it is

impossible to live only in the past.''

The declaration, dismissed by the paleolithic Russian

Communist Party, mattered

less than Putin's presence, head bowed in that forest of

shame. Watching him beside Poland's prime minister, Donald

Tusk, I thought of Francois Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl hand-

in-hand at Verdun in 1984: of such solemn moments of

reconciliation has the miracle of a Europe whole and free

been built. Now that Europe extends eastward toward the

Urals.

I thought even of Willy Brandt on his knees in the Warsaw

Ghetto in 1970, a turning point on the road to a German-

Polish reconciliation more miraculous in its way even than

the dawning of the post-war German-French alliance. And

now perhaps comes the most wondrous rapprochement, the

Polish-Russian.

It is too early to say where Warsaw-Moscow relations are

headed but not too early to say that 96 lost souls would be

dishonored if Polish and Russian leaders do not make of this

tragedy a solemn bond. As Tusk told Putin, ``A word of truth

can mobilize two peoples looking for the road to

reconciliation. Are we capable of transforming a lie into

reconciliation? We must believe we can.''

Poland should shame every nation that believes peace and

reconciliation are impossible, every state that believes the

sacrifice of new generations is needed to avenge the

grievances of history. The thing about competitive

victimhood, a favorite Middle Eastern pastime, is that it

condemns the children of today to join the long list of the

dead.

For scarcely any nation has suffered since 1939 as Poland,

carved up by the Hitler-Stalin nonaggression pact,

transformed by the Nazis into the epicenter of their program

to annihilate European Jewry, land of Auschwitz and Majdanek,

killing field for millions of Christian Poles and millions of

Polish Jews, brave home to the Warsaw Uprising, Soviet pawn,

lonely Solidarity-led leader of post-Yalta Europe's fight for

freedom, a place where, as one of its great poets, Wislawa

Szymborska, wrote, ``History counts its skeletons in round

numbers''--20,000 of them at Katyn.

It is this Poland that is now at peace with its neighbors

and stable. It is this Poland that has joined Germany in the

European Union. It is this Poland that has just seen the very

symbols of its tumultuous history (including the Gdansk dock

worker Anna Walentynowicz and former president-in-exile

Ryszard Kaczorowski) go down in a Soviet-made jet and

responded with dignity, according to the rule of law.

So do not tell me that cruel history cannot be overcome. Do

not tell me that Israelis and Palestinians can never make

peace. Do not tell me that the people in the streets of

Bangkok and Bishkek and Tehran dream in vain of freedom and

democracy. Do not tell me that lies can stand forever.

Ask the Poles. They know.

I thank the ranking member for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I also rise today to join all my colleagues in mourning the death of President Lech Kaczynski and many others who died in that plane crash on April 10, 2010. Poland lost some of its most famous political figures. They were heroes among the Polish people. The 95 people that died that day included the President, a very pro-U.S. and anti-Soviet individual, and his wife and numerous other political government officials.

It's interesting to note why so many officials were going to Russia, why they were on that particular plane headed to a specific event. Well, that Polish delegation was traveling to Russia to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre.

On September 17, 1939, the Red Army invaded the territory of Poland from the east. They captured hundreds of thousands of Poles and deported them to prisoner of war camps in the western Soviet Union.

Once at the camps, the Poles were subjected to lengthy interrogations; and if the prisoners could not be induced to adopt a pro-Soviet attitude, they were declared ``hardened and uncompromising enemies of Soviet authority.''

So on March 5, 1940, Joseph Stalin and three of his henchmen signed an order to execute over 20,000 prisoners, all Poles, to weaken any future Polish military. In the Katyn forest, Soviet secret police executed more than 20,000 Polish nationals who were mainly officers in the Polish military.

And beginning on April 3, the killings were methodical. After a condemned person's information was checked, that individual was handcuffed and led to a secret cell that was insulated with felt to make sure that no noise could come from that cell. The sounds were also masked by the operation of loud machines that were working in the factories. And after being taken to the cell, the victim was immediately shot in the back of the head. His body was taken out through the opposite door in the cell and laid in one of the five or six waiting trucks, whereupon the next condemned Pole was taken inside and the same procedure was methodically followed again.

This occurred over 20,000 times; and the procedure went on every day, every night, except, ironically, for the May Day celebration. In the end, those 20,000 POWs and prisoners were executed without a trial, just a summary judgment.

Those who died at the Katyn include an admiral, two generals, 24 colonels, 79 lieutenant colonels, 258 Polish majors, 654 captains, 17 naval captains, over 3,000 noncommissioned officers. It included even seven chaplains, three landowners, a prince, 43 public officials, 85 privates, and 131 other refugees.

Also among the dead were 20 university professors, 300 doctors, several hundred lawyers, engineers, teachers, and more than 100 writers and journalists, as well as about 200 pilots, all

leaders in the Polish community. The effort of the Soviet Union was to destroy those leaders and destroy Poland as well. These were all Poles, all victims of the terror of communism.

For over half a century, Moscow even denied this ever occurred. The Soviet government had suppressed all the information about the shootings and blamed it on the Nazis. In 1992, Russia finally released the documents showing that the entire Politburo, including Joseph Stalin, signed an order dated March, 1940, to kill these Polish officers.

Poland had a rough history in the last century. They were invaded by the Nazis, and many of the Poles were taken to Germany and died in concentration camps. And then the Soviets invaded the same country trying to drive out the Nazis; and they, too, took many Poles and put them in concentration camps, where many of them died.

In the United States, we celebrate the end of World War II in 1945, but the Poles, they don't celebrate the end of World War II in 1945. They celebrate it in 1989, when the wall finally fell and the Soviets left town. It was a long war for our friends in Poland.

So now, Madam Speaker, we know the rest of the story and why President Kaczynski and so many Poles were on that plane that crashed in Russia. Now they, too, ironically, have died on the same land where thousands of other Poles died over 70 years ago.

It is appropriate today that we pay homage to all of those Poles who have lived and died in a quest for Polish liberty, those Poles who have always been an ally of the United States, and we grieve while they grieve in Poland.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve.

I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, we sometimes forget how great an ally Poland is to the United States. They have not only had a quest for freedom for their own people, but they have been an ally to this Nation. As the United States and other NATO countries are engaged in the battle against terrorism in Afghanistan, there are over 2,000 members of the Polish military who are there as well, side by side with the United States and with other NATO forces, the freedom fighters that they are, helping to seek freedom and liberty in Afghanistan and against those international terrorists who do us all harm.

I think Mr. Pascrell, the gentleman from New Jersey, said it well today. ``We are all Poles,'' and we honor them, and we suffer their loss and their grief at this time because of the tragedy that occurred not only on Saturday but at the massacre that occurred in that forest in the Soviet Union many, many years ago.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1246) expressing sympathy to the people of Poland in the aftermath of the tragic plane crash that killed the country's President, First Lady, and 94 others on April 10, 2010.

I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

I rise in strong support of this resolution, which expresses sympathy for the people of Poland following the tragic plane crash last weekend that killed their President and so many others.

I wish to thank my colleagues and friends, Representatives Dahlkemper, Kanjorski, and Lipinski for quickly preparing a text that enables this House to add its voice to the condolences being expressed around the world on this sad occasion.

Last Saturday we woke to the terrible news of a plane crash in western Russia. This accident took the lives of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife, the deputy foreign minister, the deputy defense minister, the chiefs of the army and navy, the president of the national bank, dozens of members of parliament, as well as civilian and military staff.

Today, the House mourns the death of President Kaczynski and his colleagues. We express our deepest sympathies to the people of Poland as well to the families who have suffered such a grievous loss. We think, too, of the millions of Americans who claim Polish ancestry, as we know their hearts are also heavy.

We pledge to stand by the Polish Government as it seeks to reconstitute itself and reaffirm our enduring friendship for Poland.

Madam Speaker, what makes this accident even more tragic is that it occurred as President Kaczynski's delegation was traveling to commemorate one of the most brutal events of World War II--the execution of more than 20,000 Polish officers, prisoners, and intellectuals in Katyn Forest by the Soviet Secret Police in 1939.

Earlier in the week, there were encouraging signs that Poland and Russia were beginning to heal the deep wounds caused by these horrific wartime events. Russian Prime Minister Putin joined Poland Prime Minister Donald Tusk at a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of this massacre--the first time a Russian leader has ever participated in this memorial.

The Russian people have been very supportive and responsive in the wake of the disaster, with Prime Minister Putin personally heading the inquiry into the crash.

Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the International Relations Committee of the Russian State Duma--described the death of the Polish President as a great tragedy for both the Polish and the Russian peoples. Observing that both countries were mourning together, he solemnly noted, and these are his words: ``Katyn took some more victims.''

If anything positive is to come from these tragic deaths, it may be the development of closer ties between these two nations and their citizens.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to one of the original sponsors of this resolution, the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Mrs. Dahlkemper).

Madam Speaker, I now yield 1 minute to another original sponsor of this resolution, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski).

Madam Speaker, I now yield 1 minute to the dean of the House, Chairman John Dingell.

(Mr. DINGELL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

I thank the gentleman.

I now yield to the Speaker of the House, the gentlelady from California (Ms. Pelosi).

Madam Speaker, I now yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Quigley).

Madam Speaker, I now yield 1 minute to the gentlelady from New York (Ms. Velazquez).

(Ms. VELAZQUEZ asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Madam Speaker, I now yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Ohio, Representative Kucinich.

Madam Speaker, I now yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell).

(Mr. PASCRELL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Madam Speaker, I now yield 1 minute to a distinguished member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Berkley).

Madam Speaker, I now yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur).

I would just echo the eloquent sentiments expressed by my friend from Texas.

I have no further requests for time.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.