Recognizing the 70th anniversary of the Soviet and Nazi invasion of Poland and the pivotal role Poland has assumed at freedom's edge since gaining independence.

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.

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

Madam Speaker, I am saddened by the need for this resolution. The death of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, and 94 other Polish officials and citizens in the plane crash in Russia on April 10 was sudden, unexpected, and truly a tragedy for the nation of Poland.

We have all seen the outpouring of grief and tributes since then by the citizens of Poland in support and in honor of their late President and all who died with him.

There is little that we can here do today to add to the honors bestowed upon the departed by their very own countrymen, but we can, however, offer our condolences to the strong and proud nation of Poland, which has been and remains a friend and an ally of the United States.

Despite the loss of their President, we can be certain that the Polish people will continue on the road toward democracy, prosperity, and security, the road that they have traveled since they broke free of the grip of Communist authoritarian rule in 1989.

How proud we were, when they regained their freedom, that America has stood by the people of Poland during those times when they suffered under a Communist dictatorship and domination by the former Soviet regime in Moscow. Similarly, the people of Poland now offer their solidarity with those who seek freedom in my native homeland of Cuba. Having suffered in the not-too-distant past under the crushing yoke of the Soviet regime, many in Poland sadly know all too well the struggles that the people of Cuba face each and every day under the stranglehold of the Cuban dictatorship.

Poland's support for human rights and democracy in Cuba illustrates it has not forgotten its past suffering nor the strength that it received from the solidarity of others. And how proud we are today that Poland has become an important member of both the North Atlantic Alliance and the European Union and that it has become a strong voice for those countries in Eastern Europe that are working to ensure that they never again fall victim to the domination by a more powerful neighboring state.

President Kaczynski was, in fact, an important leader in an effort to ensure that the hard-won liberty and democracy today enjoyed by Poland and other nations of Eastern Europe is not bartered away. He recognized the temptations faced by other European states which eagerly expand their commercial and military exports to Russia while increasing their reliance on energy supplies from Russia. He would not succumb to those Russian manipulations and coercions.

The late Polish President was a voice that may have been unwelcome among some in the councils in Brussels, but it was a voice that was heeded.

Moreover, Madam Speaker, under his leadership, Poland continued as a strong friend and a staunch ally of the United States, supporting military operations against extremists in Iraq and in Afghanistan, supporting America's efforts to create long-range missile defenses for both Europe and the United States, participating as a full partner in NATO, and supporting the expansion of democracy everywhere.

There are those in Europe who, while enjoying the security commitment provided by the United States through NATO, nevertheless feel free to criticize America's initiatives to fight extremism and address threats around the world. President Kaczynski was not one of those voices. In fact, during his trip to the United States 3 years ago, he made a special trip to visit the Reagan Library as a sign of his country's appreciation for our former President's leadership in the efforts to free his country from Communist domination. President Kaczynski valued this support and offered Poland's support in return.

Madam Speaker, we express our condolences to the people of Poland on the loss of their President, his wife, and so many of the leading officials and countrymen. At this time, and in the future, America will forever remain a friend of Poland.

With that, Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, at this time, I would like to yield such time as he may consume to our esteemed colleague, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe), a wonderful member of our Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Madam Speaker, I know that Mr. Delahunt has about 10 speakers, so I'm going to continue to reserve for a while.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that for the remainder of our time Judge Poe be allowed to manage our time.

I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank Mr. Delahunt and Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen for giving us this opportunity to come to the floor to express our sympathy to the people of Poland.

Our country is blessed with many Polish Americans. It is a blessing to our country. They are mourning this loss, and all Americans join them. And today, Congress officially joins in that mourning.

The United States and, indeed, the entire world mourn the loss of President Kaczynski and First Lady Maria Kaczynski and all who perished in last weekend's tragic crash. The United States stands with our friend and ally and the people of Poland as they grieve the loss of their President and First Lady, the Chiefs of the Army and Navy, the President of the National Bank, the Deputy Foreign Minister, and dozens of other Cabinet officials and members of Parliament.

The scope of this tragedy is indescribable, the pain of the loss is unimaginable, and our thoughts and prayers rest with the families, friends, and loved ones of the victims. Their loss strikes a blow to the hearts of Polish citizens, all Polish Americans--my nieces are Polish American--and all who believe in a future of peace and prosperity for Poland and for every nation.

I would like to talk about the President. Few leaders have proven greater champions of progress in human dignity than President Kaczynski. He was a true advocate of liberty for Poland, for Poland's families, workers, and citizens. His life was defined by a long struggle for freedom and by the ultimate victory of democracy and human rights.

As a leader in the Solidarity movement, he helped turn the tides of history against the tyranny and oppression of communist rule. As Mayor of Warsaw and as President of Poland, he worked to make the promise of a more just future a reality for the Polish nation. Together with so many who lost their lives in the tragedy, President Kaczynski sought to rebuild Poland, to make his country safer and more secure, and to write a new chapter for future generations.

Again, as I say, we have been blessed in our country with a strong Polish American community, and I know all of them join us in this resolution which remembers the lives lost in this horrible tragedy: the President; so many Polish military and political leaders, past and present; and distinguished citizens. It recalls the life of Poland's final President in exile who led the charge to close the doors of political oppression and open an age of democratic freedom.

This resolution honors the life of a former dock worker whose actions ignited the Solidarity movement that changed the course of Polish history. The resolution reminds us of a Polish American artist from Chicago who just finished a memorial to the victims of the Katyn massacre, where his own father had perished.

The United States Congress joins Poland and countries across the globe in mourning the death of such extraordinary leaders. In the words of this resolution, we express strong and continued solidarity with the people of Poland and all persons of Polish descent. And we are so blessed that the dean of our delegation in the Congress, Mr. Dingell, shares that honor and brings luster to his Polish heritage, as well as other Members of our Congress as well. And the resolution offers our unwavering support for the Polish Government as it works to overcome the loss of many key officials. Let us strive to live up to their legacy of hope for a brighter future for Poland, Europe, and all humanity.

This morning, I had the privilege of joining Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur--and Congressman Mike Quigley

was there before us--and other Members who have gone to the Polish Embassy to sign the book of condolences. We are very proud that in doing so we joined President Barack Obama, who had earlier, a few days ago, signed that book. I know it is a comfort to the people of Poland. Ambassador Kupiecki, who may be with us here or shortly will join us in the gallery, told us how the people of Poland were so pleased and comforted by the fact that President Obama would be attending the funeral in Poland on Sunday. He will bring with him all the sympathy of the American people and all of the prayers to help mourn the loss that the people have suffered.

Thank you again, Mr. Chairman and Madam Ros-Lehtinen, for giving us the opportunity to share our grief over this terrible loss.