United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC honors Wladyslaw Bartoszewski

01 maja, 2013

On April 28, 2013, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC presented its highest honor - the Elie Wiesel Award – to Władyslaw Bartoszewski, an active member of the Polish Underground Home Army (Armia Krajowa) as well as a member of its affiliate \"Żegota\" - the only organization in war-torn Europe whose sole aim was to provide systematic and organized assistance to Jews in occupied Poland.

Mr. Bartoszewski received the award on behalf of all of those who rescued Jews during the Holocaust as well as for his leadership in strengthening Polish-Jewish relations.

Susan Eisenhower, the granddaughter of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, received the second Elie Wiesel Award on behalf of World War II veterans.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is the largest such institution in the U.S. For 20 years, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has inspired millions by teaching the lessons of the Holocaust. The Museum also cooperates closely with many institutions in Poland - including the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum which served as the former German Nazi concentration camp. Dr. Piotr Cywiński, the Director of Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum was also in attendance.

The Museum’s 20th Anniversary international program also featured a discussion on Monday, April 29, during which Minister Zdrojewski joined other high-level officials from France and Germany in a conversation with USHMM Director Sara J. Bloomfield. The discussion focused on their respective national memories of Holocaust and the best ways of educating future generations so that such a crime never happens again. As Minister Zdrojewski said: Europe will not have a future if it loses or becomes selective about its memory.

At the end of his visit to Washington, Minister Zdrojewski laid flowers at the tomb of Jan Karski, the heroic emissary of Poland’s Underground State during World War II who was the first individual to inform the West about the crimes being committed by German Nazis on the Jewish community in occupied Poland.

The Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington D.C. congratulates the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on its 20th Anniversary. For many years the Museum has been an important partner in joint projects, educating the general public about the tragedies of World War II, during which 6 million Polish citizens, half of them were Polish Jews, were killed.