Jacek Michalowski, Wanda Urbanska and Thomas Grasza
The World Knew: Jan Karski's Mission for Humanity -- 22 panels about the role of the legendary emissary from the Polish Underground during World War II in English and French -- opened Nov. 14, 2013 at the Canadian War Museum to a group of 200.
Canadian War Museum director General James Whitham and Ambassador Marcin Bosacki of the Republic of Poland in Canada celebrated the opening by leading a panel discussion of distinguished guests including Jacek Michalowski, chief of staff of Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, who just a week ago opened the same exhibit in Tel Aviv. Karski was a "humble man," Michalowski said, a man who witnessed the impact of two tyrants, and who produced "one of the most important memoirs of World War II." Karski confidante Kaya Mirecka-Ploss and Mina Cohn from the Jewish Federation of Ottawa also spoke.
A four-day series of events around the exhibition open included a press conference, meetings with docents organized by the Jewish Federation of Ottawa; other partners included the US Embassy, the Israeli Embassy and the Polish Embassy. Jan Karski Educational Foundation President Wanda Urbanska participated in several sessions, including presenting the exhibition to the tour guides, as well as giving a special, impromptu tour to the Honorable Jason Kenney, Canada's Minister of Multiculturalism.
The program concluded with an open-to-the-public panel discussion at the Museum featuring Holocaust survivor Pinchas Gutter, whose family had lived in Poland 400 years and who described himself proudly as a Polish Jew, told of his experience in the Warsaw ghetto and German Nazi death camps. Karski biographer Andrzej Zbikowski, Professor Gideon Greif, and Dr. Jan Grabowski of the University of Ottawa offered scholarly perspectives about the great Pole.
Minister Kenney closed the session that was chaired by the Honorable Irwin Cotler, a Member of Parliament, noting that Canada was home to the "third largest number of Holocaust survivors in the world" after Israel and the US. "Figures like Jan Karski point toward the reconciliation of the Polish and Jewish communities here and worldwide."
Thomas Grasza with British North American Philatelic Corp. unveiled a special issue of a stamp unveiled in Karski's honor issued by the senate of Canada on Nov. 14. He vowed to go to work on getting a special Karski stamp in Canada in 2014.
Below is an interesting Ottawa Citizen article/file about Karski's mission and a photo of Pinchas Gutter, a most remarkable and inspiring Polish Jewish Holocaust survivor from Lodz, published on Oct. 15, 2013. Also attached is a letter from the Polish Ambassador to Canada about the exhibit.
