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Dr. Jan Karski Receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom

May 29, 2012

Washington, DC - President Barack Obama awarded today the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Dr. Jan Karski. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is America's highest civilian honor.

Since Dr. Karski passed away in 2000, Poland's former Minister of Foreign Affairs Adam Daniel Rotfeld accepted the award on behalf of Karski. The ceremony - held in the East Room of the White House - was attended by Poland's Ambassador to the United States Robert Kupiecki, Jan Karski US Centennial Campaign Director Wanda Urbanska, and Campaign Steering Committee members Robert Billingsley, Andrzej Rojek and Sigmund Rolat.

In the midst of the Second World War, Jan Karski was sent by Poland's Resistance Movement, the largest underground organization in Nazi-occupied Europe, to inform the West about the atrocities being committed by the Nazis in occupied Poland, including the slaughter of the Jewish population, as well as millions of others. Karski talked with British and U.S. officials, including President Roosevelt, giving his eyewitness reports. He later became a professor at Georgetown University, educating generations of students about the dangers of not speaking up in the face of cruelty, oppression and genocide.

Jan Karski was born in Lodz, Poland, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1954. He was the recipient of the Order of the White Eagle, the Republic of Poland's highest civilian honor, along with its highest military decoration, Virtuti Militari. In 1994, he was made an honorary citizen of Israel, recognized as "Righteous Among the Nations" by Yad Vashem and named as a "Savior" by the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation. Dr. Karski earned a Ph.D. from Georgetown University, and was the recipient of six honorary degrees from around the world.

While the ceremony was taking place in the White House, Polish Consul General Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka of New York lay a wreath at Jan Karski's gravesite - as well as the gravesite of his brother, Polish freedom fighter Marian Kozielewski - in DC's Mount Olivet Cemetery.

After the White House ceremony, a reception at the Poland's Ambassador's Residence for invited guests was held as part of the celebration. Hundreds of guests joined Ambassador Kupiecki in a toast to the achievements of Poles past and present, as well as those of all ethnicities who value freedom, courage and tolerance.

With this honor, Dr. Karski joins the distinguished company of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Aung San Suu Kyi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Elie Wiesel, Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II and Lech Wałęsa, who have also been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their contributions.

The Jan Karski US Centennial Campaign was established in 2011 as part of a worldwide effort initiated by the Polish History Museum in Warsaw. Ewa Wierzynska, senior advisor for international cooperation at the Museum, has worked with groups in several countries to educate them about Karski's legacy.

Polish Consul General Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka of New York has been an instrumental partner in the Jan Karski US Centennial Campaign initiative, having hosted the inaugural dinner on May 31, 2011 at the Polish Consulate in New York City, as well as the first annual Jan Karski Day celebration there on April 24, 2012, Karski's birthday. The Karski Day celebration was held the day after President Obama announced that he would award Karski the Presidential Medal of Freedom this year.

For more information about Dr. Karski or about the Campaign, consult the Jan Karski Centennial Campaign website:
jankarski.net

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