Radoslaw Sikorski, David Harris and Adam David Rotfeld
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski delivered a powerful speech at the opening plenary session of the American Jewish Committee's Global Forum June 2 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel challenging attendees to grasp the complexities of Poland's geo-political situation. "It's said of my part of the world that it produces more history than can be consumed locally." Had his counterpart and predecessor addressed the AJC in June 1933, he would have reported that the country's "GDP had dropped by a staggering 50% that year, and unlike you, we had bad neighbors." Poland's Foreign Minister, in 1933, would have "reassured the AJC that Poland's Jewish community was part of its identity." During World War II, he explained, Polish Jews were first in line for extermination. Polish Catholics, he added, were "second in line for extermination." Three million Polish Jews were murdered by the Nazis in World War II, he said, meaning that 90% of the population was killed, while three million Polish Christians were murdered during the same period, leaving 90% of the population living. The minister went on to describe the close ties between Poland and Israel today.
"That's the best Poland speech I've ever heard," said one attendee. Another called Minister Sikorski "a rock star" amongst foreign ministers globally. David Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee and Advisory Board member of the Jan Karski Educational Foundation, introduced Minister Sikorski at a private dinner that followed the address, expressing the warm friendship between Poland and the Jewish community in recent years. "In 1989, AJC stepped in to write a new chapter in Polish- Jewish relations," he said.
"What foreign country, in recent years, has had three foreign ministers who are Jewish?" Harris asked. "Well, I guess the answer, in this context, is obvious - Poland!"
Former Polish Foreign Minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld also attended the meetings and answered questions at the informal question answer period that followed the evening meal. New York Consul General Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka also attended the dinner, along with Wanda Urbanska, president of the Jan Karski Educational Foundation. Urbanska commended the minister for requesting that the Polish Sejm establish the year of Karski in 2014. When asked by Urbanska why Jan Karski's legacy was so important to Poland and the world today, Sikorski spoke of the famous emissary's unflinching courage. When Karski met with Justice Felix Frankfurter, the great justice "did not believe him," Minister Sikorski said. It's fitting that Karski's contributions are being appropriately recognized so many years later.
On June 6, Urbanska met with Illinois senators Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk. Both senators, one a Democrat and one a Republican, declared their support for a resolution in the US Senate in April 2014 to recognize Karski's remarkable and heroic contributions. Such a resolution would be presented concurrently with a similar resolution in the Polish Senate.
The full text of Sikorski's speech is on http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=7oJILSPwFfJSG&b=8478375&ct=13163589¬oc=1&printmode=1
Photos below, left to right, top row, David Harris addresses the AJC Global Forum conference; Stanley Aronson, a Polish Jew who fought with the Polish underground and was recognized by Sikorski at the conference, with New York Consul General Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka; Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski; Consul General Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka, Elizabeth and Harvey Applebaum, and Wanda Urbanska; second row: Urbanska presenting Senator Mark Kirk with Karski's book, Story of a Secret State; Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, AJC director David Harris and former Polish Foreign Minister Adam David Rotfeld. (All photos courtesy of Wanda Urbanska)
