Medal of Freedom for Jan Karski

New York, N.Y. .. The Polish American Congress had good reason to congratulate Poland’s Consul General in New York, Eva Junczyk-Ziomecka (center left) and Wanda Urbanska (center right), Director of the Jan Karski U.S. Centennial Campaign.
 
Chet Szarejko (left), vice president of the Downstate N.Y. Division of the Congress and Frank Milewski, its president, extended these congratulations at a special reception hosted by the Consul General at Poland’s diplomatic offices in New York City.
 
Good news for a celebration came just a day earlier when President Obama announced he will posthumously bestow the Presidential Medal of Freedom --- America’s highest civilian honor --- on Jan Karski, a Polish Catholic.
 
Popularly acknowledged as “the man who tried to stop the Holocaust,” Jan Karski died in 2000. He eventually became an American citizen and served as a distinguished professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University for forty years.
 
Memorializing the courage and remarkable accomplishments of Prof. Karski with the Presidential Medal was one of the primary objectives of Ms. Urbanska’s Centennial Campaign. “This honor will represent the climax of this campaign but by no means its completion,” she said.
 
The campaign plans to continue and preserve Karski’s legacy with international educational activities, public events and artistic performances leading up to the centennial year of his birth in 2014.
 
After World War II began in 1939, Karski joined the Polish Underground, the first and most significant resistance movement in occupied Europe. Chosen by the Underground to witness German Nazi war crimes first-hand, Karski was twice smuggled into the Warsaw Ghetto and later entered the Nazi Izbica transit camp disguised as a guard.
 
Sent as a courier by the Underground, Karski was dispatched to inform Western Allies about what he had seen --- the horrific situation in Poland and the systematic slaughter of its Jewish citizens by the Germans.
 
In addition to providing detailed written reports, Karski delivered his eyewitness account to British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden in London. He later briefed President Franklin Roosevelt in the White House. Karski pleaded with both leaders to stop the Holocaust and the bloodbath in his land. Tragically, Allied intervention was not forthcoming.
 
In 2009, the Downstate N.Y. Division of the Polish American Congress helped the Polish Consulate persuade the City of New York to designate the corner where the Consulate is located (Madison Avenue at E. 37th St.) as “Jan Karski Corner.” Visitors to the City will find the Karski sign posted on the southeast corner of that intersection.
 
The U.S. Centennial Campaign was launched a year ago at the initiative of the Polish History Museum in Warsaw. Consul General Junczyk-Ziomecka continues to play a prominent role in New York.
 
“The message and the power of Karski’s legacy should be listened to in a world filled with conflict. Karski’s wartime courage is a permanent legacy for humanity,” she said.
 
Contact: Frank Milewski
             (516) 352-7125
             pacdny@verizon.net