IV 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 18 

Honoring the memory of Poland’s President, national leaders, and cultural 

leaders who were killed in the tragic plane crash at Smolensk, Russia 

on April 10, 2010. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 4, 2013 

Ms. KAPTUR submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Honoring the memory of Poland’s President, national leaders, and cultural leaders who were killed in the tragic 

plane crash at Smolensk, Russia on April 10, 2010. 

Whereas Poland’s President Lech Kaczyn ́ski and 95 other 

people, including Poland’s First Lady, deputy foreign 

minister, deputy defense minister, dozens of members of 

Parliament, the chiefs of the army and navy, other chiefs 

of the Polish armed forces, and the president of the national bank, were killed when the President’s airliner, a 

Tupelov TU–154M, crashed near Smolensk, Russia on 

April 10, 2010; 

Whereas Anna Walentynowicz, the former dock worker whose 

firing in 1980 sparked the Solidarity strike that ultiVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:01 Jan 05, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR18.IH HR18

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•HRES 18 IH 

mately overthrew the communist government of Poland, 

was also killed in the crash; 

Whereas Ryszard Kaczorowski, who served as Poland’s final 

president in exile before the country’s return to democracy, also perished in the crash; 

Whereas Chicago suffered the loss of a respected artist when 

Wojciech Seweryn, whose father was killed in Katyn, died 

in the crash; 

Whereas this tragedy occurred as the Polish delegation was 

on its final approach to land in order to attend an historic ceremony to publically commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn Massacre of 1940; 

Whereas, in 1940, the Soviet secret police, the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), was directed by 

Joseph Stalin to systematically murder approximately 

22,000 Polish military officers, prisoners, and intellectuals; 

Whereas, on September 18, 1951, the House of Representatives established the Select Committee to Conduct an Investigation and Study of the Facts, Evidence, and Circumstances of the Katyn Forest Massacre; 

Whereas, on December 22, 1952, the Select Committee 

unanimously concluded in its final report that the Soviet 

NKVD committed the mass murders of the Polish officers and intellectual leaders in the Katyn Forest, stating, 

‘‘there has not been a scintilla of proof or even any remote circumstantial evidence presented that could indict 

any other nation in this international crime’’; 

Whereas the Soviet Union did not admit responsibility for 

this atrocity until President Mikhail Gorbachev’s statement on April 13, 1990; 


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Whereas the attendance of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin 

was to be the first time ever that a Russian leader attended the Katyn commemoration; 

Whereas more than 9,000,000 Americans of Polish descent 

now reside in the United States and Polish-Americans 

have been leaders in all walks of American life; 

Whereas the American people stood in support of the Solidarity movement as it fought against the oppression of 

the communist government of Poland through peaceful 

means, eventually leading to Solidarity members being 

elected to office in open democratic elections held on 

June 4, 1989, events that helped spark the movement to 

democracy throughout eastern Europe; 

Whereas Poland joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1999, joined the European Union in 

2004, and has contributed to United States and NATO 

operations in Iraq and Afghanistan; 

Whereas Poland has enjoyed a thriving and prosperous free 

market democracy since the end of the Cold War; and 

Whereas the United States and Poland are close allies, with 

a shared bond of history, friendship, and international cooperation: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) honors the memory of Poland’s President, 

3 national leaders, and cultural leaders who were killed 

4 in the tragic plane crash at Smolensk, Russia on 

5 April 10, 2010; 


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•HRES 18 IH 

1 (2) expresses its deepest sympathies to the peo2 ple of Poland and the families of those who perished 

3 in the April 10, 2010, plane crash; 

4 (3) expresses strong and continued solidarity 

5 with the people of Poland and all persons of Polish 

6 descent; and 

7 (4) expresses unwavering support for the Gov8 ernment of Poland as it works to overcome the loss 

9 of many key public officials and as it continues to 

10 seek information regarding the plane crash on April 

11 10, 2010. 

Æ 


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