Consulate General RP in NY, the Anti-Defamation League and Georgetown University Press paid tribute to Jan Karski

Consul General of the Republic of Poland in New York Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka opened the evening, welcoming more than 200 guests who gathered to pay tribute to Jan Karski, in particular: Abraham Foxman, president of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL); Father Leo O\'Donovan, former president of Georgetown University; Zygmunt Rolat, a Holocaust survivor from Częstochowa, and interfaith bridge builder; Andrzej Rojek, charimen of the Board of the Jan Karski Educational Foundation (JKEF); Bob Billingsley, also from the JKEF, a student of Jan Karski at Georgetown; and last but not least John Warren, director of marketing with Georgetown University Press, which brough back into print after 70 years Jan Karski\'s classic "Story of a Secret State".   

Consul General Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka stressed the fact that the year 2014 had been declared by the Polish Parliament to be the year of Jan Karski. She also reminded the guests that in 23 days from this day Jan Karski would have celebrated his 100th birthday. Consul General emphasized that people could always count on Jan Karski: "He always united people of different faiths, of different nationalities, of differing politics. Each time we meet to honor his achievements, people have an uncanny feeling of dropping the differences and drawing closer to each other". 

Wanda Urbanska, touching upon the Jan Karski Educational Foundation’s history, reminded that thanks to the cooperation between the Foundation and the Consulate General in New York, in 2012 Jan Karski was posthumously decorated with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by the President of the United States Barack Obama. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is America’s highest civilian honor. Another successful enterprise has been Georgetown University Press’ initiative to bring back to print Karski’s ‘Story of a Secret State’ after almost 70 years. 

Father Leo O’Donovan, who was the 1989-2001 president of the Georgetown University and knew Karski very well, recalled their conversations from the past. Despite of the fact that Karski was very “European”, in his unusual for the US dressing code and manners, he was a person with a great sense of humor.  Father O’Donovan said that every time when the clock showed it was 5 o’clock, Karski would say ‘Gentlemen, this is the time for a martini.’ According to O’Donovan Karski had been carrying the burden of his uncompleted mission from 1942. As much as he tried he was not able to convince president Roosevelt that Jews in Europe had been massively murdered by the Nazi Germans. Father O’Donovan stressed that only after Karski’s book was published, people realized that the problem was real. However, it was already too late. 

Abraham Foxman, ADL’s director, also offered some remarks on Jan Karski, whom he knew personally. He stressed that Jan Karski’s life had a deep meaning on the philosophical, institutional, and personal levels. Karski’s life-lasting mission was a proof that the life of one individual may influence, and even change, lives of the others. Foxman emphasized the fact that this personal dimension of Karski’s accomplishments is directly connected with his own memories of the Holocaust - as an infant he was rescued by his nanny Bronislawa Kurpi. “Bronisława and Jan are my two heroes and role models,” said Abraham Foxman. Furthermore, Jan Karski had an enormous influence on the institution which he has been managing for the last 27 years: „Jan Karski’s heritage not only shows the Holocaust and struggle for justice and freedom. This is also a battle to stop cruelty and to prevent genocide from ever happening again.”