III 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 135 

Remembering the 1-year anniversary of the April 10, 2010, plane crash 

that claimed the lives of the President of Poland Lech Kaczynski, his 

wife, and 94 others, while they were en route to memorialize those 

Polish officers, officials, and civilians who were massacred by the Soviet 

Union in 1940. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 7 (legislative day, APRIL 5), 2011 

Mr. LUGAR (for himself, Mr. KERRY, Mr. DURBIN, and Mr. CASEY) submitted 

the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 

Relations 

APRIL 13, 2011 

Committee discharged; considered and agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

Remembering the 1-year anniversary of the April 10, 2010, 

plane crash that claimed the lives of the President of 

Poland Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and 94 others, while 

they were en route to memorialize those Polish officers, 

officials, and civilians who were massacred by the Soviet 

Union in 1940. 

Whereas, on April 10, 2010, the President of the Republic of 

Poland Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, and a cadre of 

current and former Polish statesmen, military officers, 

family members, and others departed Warsaw by plane to 

travel to the Russian region of Smolensk; 


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SRES 135 ATS 

Whereas the purpose of the delegation’s visit was to hold a 

ceremony in solemn remembrance of the more than 

22,000 Polish military officers, police officers, judges, 

other government officials, and civilians who were executed by the Soviet secret police, the ‘‘NKVD’’, between 

April 3 and the end of May 1940; 

Whereas more than 14,500 Polish victims of such executions 

have been documented at 3 sites in Katyn (in present day 

Belarus), in Miednoye (in present day Russia), and in 

Kharkiv (in present day Ukraine), while the remains of 

an estimated 7,000 such Polish victims have yet to be 

precisely located; 

Whereas the plane carrying the Polish delegation on April 10, 

2010, crashed in Smolensk, tragically killing all 96 persons on board; 

Whereas Poland has been a leading member of the transatlantic community and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), an Alliance vital to the interests of the 

United States, and Poland’s membership in the Alliance 

has strengthened NATO; 

Whereas the Polish armed forces have stood shoulder-toshoulder and sacrificed with airmen, marines, sailors, and 

soldiers of the United States in Iraq, Afghanistan, the 

Balkans, and around the world; 

Whereas Poland has been a leader in the promotion of human 

rights, not just in Central Europe, but elsewhere around 

the world; and 

Whereas the deep friendship between the governments and 

people of Poland and the United States is grounded in 

our mutual respect, shared values, and common priorities 

on nuclear nonproliferation, counterterrorism, human 


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SRES 135 ATS 

rights, regional cooperation in Eastern Europe, democratization, and international development: Now, therefore, 

be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) remembers the terrible tragedy that took 

3 place on April 10, 2010, when an aircraft carrying 

4 a delegation of current and former Polish officials, 

5 family members, and others crashed en route from 

6 Warsaw to Smolensk to memorialize the 1940 Katyn 

7 massacres, killing all 96 passengers; 

8 (2) honors the memories of all Poles executed 

9 by the NKVD at Katyn, Miednoye, Khakriv, and 

10 elsewhere and those who perished in the April 10, 

11 2010, plane crash; 

12 (3) expresses continuing sympathy for the sur13 viving family members of those who perished in the 

14 tragic plane crash of April 10, 2010; 

15 (4) recognizes and respects the resilience of Po16 land’s constitution, as demonstrated by the smooth 

17 and stable transfer of constitutional authority that 

18 occurred in the immediate aftermath of the April 10, 

19 2010, tragedy; and 

20 (5) requests that the Secretary of the Senate 

21 transmit an enrolled copy of this resolution to the 

22 Ambassador of Poland to the United States. 

Æ 


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