THE KATYN 70TH ANNIVERSARY DELEGATION THAT NEVER ARRIVED

THE KATYN 70TH ANNIVERSARY DELEGATION THAT NEVER ARRIVED.

The Polish American Congress of Florida expresses its deepest sympathies to the People of Poland, relatives and friends of the victims of the airplane crash in Smolensk.

Poland lost on the 10th of April 2010 some of its most dynamic leaders since its liberation in 1989. The irony is that it took place on a Russian airplane in Smolensk near the Katyn Forest were over 20,000 Polish officers were massacred by the Soviets.

The delegation consisted of Polish leaders who were on their way to honor the victims of Stalin on the 70th anniversary of one of the most horrible crime of genocide ever committed against the Polish nation in 1940. The destruction of the Polish officer corps made it much easier for Stalin to gain control of Poland after the war.

President Lech Kaczynski, his generals, staff, senators and civic leaders gave their lives to honor those who fell in 1940. Many of these leaders were familiar to us in Florida. Several we must mention who over the last thirty years were known to me and whom I befriended.

President in Exile Ryszard Kaczorowski. President Kaczorowski a gentlemen of the old school, who invited me to his office in London while I was conducting research on the recipients of the Polish Order of the Virtuti Militari in the early 1990s. He made the records of the Polish Government in Exile available to me so I could continue my research and complete the book which I later present to President Lech Walesa at the Belvedere Palace in June of 1992. Over the years we met many times and discussed Poland’s history and the status of Polish exiles around the world.

General Stanislaw Nalecz Komornicki, Cavalier of the Order of the Virtuti Militari. Chair of the Kapitula Orderu Virtuti Militari. General Komornicki assisted me in my research. His support, hospitality and appreciation of my work on the book on Virtuti Militari gave me strength to complete the book and enshrine our Polish heroes.

Senator Maciej Plazinski. President of Wspolnota Polska. A young Polish leader who had visions of working with Polonia around the world to bring it closer to Poland. It was just a month ago that he and I met with Lady Blanka Rosenstiel to discuss cultural and Polish American Congress activity in Florida.

They and others will remain in my memory forever. May they rest in peace.

Prof. Dr. Zdzislaw P. Wesolowski
President
Polish American Congress of Florida
10 April, 2010
www.flpac.org
professor1792@aol.com