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It’s been 70 years since some 22,000 Polish prisoners were gruesomely executed in the Katyn Forest Massacre in Russia. Among those killed were doctors and lawyers, journalists and generals, lawyers and businessmen – men of distinction – reservists. It was an annihilation that was arguably part of Stalin’s plan to cripple Poland and render them powerless where independence was concerned.
To say that this bloodbath strained relations between the Soviets (now Russia) and Poland would be an understatement at best, making the events of April 10, 2010, all the more incomprehensible, when a plane carrying 96 of the most powerful people in the Republic of Poland, including Polish President Lech Kaczynski, crashed six miles from the site of the 1940 massacre. History had repeated itself.
I learned of the crash shortly after awakening on that Saturday morning, and immediately thought of my good friend Harvey Kushner, a widely-known and respected authority on terrorism. We’d spoken several times on the importance of Polish-American relations and shared a couple of related stories from time to time. In fact, Harvey had announced earlier that week that two of his closest friends from Poland would be among those making the trip to Katyn, where they would attend the memorial service to commemorate those horrid events.
I couldn’t imagine the devastation he must have felt. After extending my condolences via email, we arranged a phone call for the following day.
“Everyone who went down in that place was Pro-America,” Harvey had said. “All of them supported the United States.”
And now, all of them are gone – including two in particular, who were like family to Harvey.
Janusz Kochanowski: 1940-2010
There was Janusz Kochanowski, Ombudsman and Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection of the Republic of Poland. (Think attorney general.) A powerful man indeed. But he was like a brother to Harvey. On relaying news of the Katyn memorial invitation to Harvey, the commissioner spoke of the importance of the visit.
“In Janusz’ words, the trip was a step in the direction for reconciliation,” Harvey said. “He felt strongly about that.”
Then there was the 41-year-old Wladyslaw Stasiak, Chief of the Office of the
Wladyslaw Stasiak: 1966-2010
President of the Republic of Poland.
A man who was like a son to him, there was no doubt in Harvey’s mind that this young man was well on his way to the role of Prime Minister or the mayor of Warsaw.
“Never in the history of the world has anything like this happened,” Harvey added, in reference to the fact that everyone on the plane was instrumental – that they were “the most powerful people in Poland – the best and the brightest.”
In correspondences with Commissioner Kochanowski’s son, Mateusz Jan Kochanowski, Mateusz spoke of his father’s great love of freedom, and how he “cherished the strong symbolic and historical relations between our two nations.” I’d remarked that one of his father’s quotes had caught my attention, and Mateusz was kind enough to send me another of his father’s quotes, saying “(One) I am very fond of is one from his inauguration speech in 2006 before the Polish Parliament, to which I am sure my American Brothers and Sisters would appreciate.”
“There are no rights and freedoms without efficient institutions of a strong law-governed state created by free citizens. There are no free citizens and strong state without a civil society which promotes civil virtues and a sense of responsibility for common best interest. Such a state is a precondition for development of individuals, it constitutes an indispensable component of a strong Nation and ensures competitiveness of the state on the international arena.” Dr. Janusz Kochanowski – Ombudsman and the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection of the Republic of Poland.
To me, there can be no question that the lives of Commissioner Kochanowski, Minister Stasiak, and the others on board that plane reflect true freedom-loving patriots – that their mission is not unlike that of many freedom-loving Americans, today, which is why we, as freedom-loving Americans, can not remain silent on this issue.
I realize that I’ve provided no answer as to why the plane crashed, or what the implications of this tragedy may ultimately be. I don’t have any answers. But I do have questions – questions that must be asked of our own government and media, who summarily dropped all mention of the crash within a matter of days.
Were it not for the tireless work of their friend, Harvey Kushner, perhaps the story would end there. Luckily, it does not.
On June 30, 2010, after countless hours of talks and traveling, Pete King (R-NY) was the lone congressman who stepped to the plate on behalf of Harvey, Poland and the families left behind in this tragedy.
HR 1489 calls for an independent international investigation of the plane crash, while pointing to a plethora of unanswered questions and disturbing information. Among them:
- Polish investigators’ preliminary reports have concluded the crash was the fault of air traffic controllers
- Polish security and aviation authorities were denied access to the crash site
- Only transcripts of the flight recorders have been given to Polish investigators – the black boxes have not.
Additionally, more than 50,000 Poles have signed a petition calling for an international investigation.
I urge you to contact the Committee on Foreign Affairs and demand a full investigation into this tragic event. We must ensure that these freedom-loving people of Poland did not die in vain. I fear that the future of not only Poland, but America, depend on it.
