The Missouri Division of Polish American Congress supports the New Jersey Division of Polish American Congress objections concerning the S. Res. 566, 116 th Congress, Resolution Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Katyn Massacre
STATEMENT TO THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES COMMITEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
We are grateful for the idea of a resolution commemorating the victims of the Katyn Massacre. However, we strongly object to the following historically false statement contained therein that mischaracterize of the Katyn crime:
“Whereas the Katyn Massacre fits into a larger pattern of Communist governments around the world persecuting their citizens and denying their people freedom, which has resulted in the deaths of up to 100,000,000 people since the Russian Revolution of 1917.” See: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-resolution/566/text.
(The Katyn Massacre does not fit into a larger pattern of Communist governments around the world persecuting their citizens. The Polish Katyn victims were not the citizens of the Soviet Union.)
We urge you to delete the above statement and replace it with the following:
Whereas, Katyn was aimed at eliminating the very idea of Poland, to exterminate the people and the memory of the people. Katyn presents a moral crisis to this day because the moral calculus with respect to Katyn has not been worked out. Katyn represents a marker in human history that has not yet been fully inscribed;
Please declare the Katyn atrocity as the crime of genocide by adopting the following language:
Resolved, we recognize that the systematic mass murders of the Polish people, conducted pursuant to the order of March 5, 1940 issued by the Soviet Politburo, raises to the level of the crime of genocide.
Best regards,
Marek Waniolka
President
Missouri Division of PAC