WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission) will speak Wednesday at 10 a.m. at a conference at the Library of Congress marking the 70th anniversary of the Soviet murder of over 20,000 Polish soldiers and intellectual elites in the Katyn forest.

“The 70th Anniversary Observance of The Katyn Massacre”

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. 

10:00 a.m. – Senator Cardin to speak

Library of Congress Coolidge Auditorium, Thomas Jefferson Building

This commemoration comes three weeks after the tragic loss of Polish President Lech Kaczynski and dozens of top Polish officials en route to a memorial at the site of the massacre. The massacre carried out by Stalin’s secret police has long been a source of tension between Poland and Russia as the event was originally covered up by Soviet officials. In a sign of the improved Polish-Russian relationship, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk held the first joint memorial at Katyn April 7. A major theme of this conference will be the prospect for a lasting reconciliation between Poland and Russia. Speakers will explore these topics while honoring the memory of those who lost their lives in the tragic crash of April 10.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD); Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD); Ambassador Robert Kupiecki of Poland; Allen Paul, bestselling author of Katyn: Stalin’s Massacre and the Triumph of Truth; and others are scheduled to participate.

The conference put on by The Kosciuszko Foundation is free and open to the public. The full schedule is as follows:


Opening of Conference

8:30 a.m. Registration

9.00 a.m. Introduction of guests by Alex Storozynski, President & Executive Director,
The Kosciuszko Foundation, host and conference moderator
Welcome by Dr. James Billington, Librarian of Congress
Senator Barbara Mikulski
Remarks by Ambassador Robert Kupiecki, Republic of Poland

10:00 a.m. Address by Sen. Ben Cardin, Chairman, U.S. Helsinki Commission

10:15 a.m. Panel Presentation and Discussion
The Katy? Forest Massacre: Its Importance and Consequences
Moderator: Ambassador Thomas Simons, the Davis Center, Harvard University
-Prof. Natalia Lebedeva, Co-Author, Katyn: A Crime Without Punishment
-Alexander Guryanov, Memorial human rights organization, Moscow
-Dr. Mark Kramer, Cold War Studies Program, Harvard University
-Dr. Michael Szporer, University of Maryland/UC, and Victims of Communism
Memorial Foundation

11: 30 a.m. Remarks and Introduction House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer
11: 45 a.m. Address by Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, Center for Strategic and International
Studies and former National Security Advisor

12:30 p.m. Break for Lunch
Rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building, an opening of the exhibit by The
Council to Protect the Memory of Combat and Martyrdom, “Katyn Forest, Massacre. Politics. Morality.”

2:30 p.m. Welcome to Afternoon Session, Alex Storozynski introduces
Sen. Zbigniew Romaszewski, Deputy Speaker of the Senate of Poland
Ambassador Daniel Fried, Special Envoy for Closure of the Guantanamo
Detention Facility and former Ambassador to Poland
*(Awaiting confirmation) Remarks by Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak
* Sen. Richard Lugar, Ranking Minority Member, Foreign Relations Committee

3:30 p.m. Panel Presentation Katyn: The Potential Benefits of Reconciliation
Moderator: Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Member of the House Appropriations Committee
-Victor Ashe, U.S. Ambassador to Poland, 2004-2009
-Prof. Anna Cienciala, co-author Katyn: A Crime Without Punishment
-Allen Paul, author Katyn: Stalin’s Massacre and the Triumph of Truth
-Dr. Ruth Wedgwood, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
-Thomas Patrick Melady, U.S. Ambassadors to Holy See 1989-1993

5:00 p.m. Conference concludes

5:30 p.m. Congressional Reception: Library of Congress, Montpelier Room

For more information: http://thekf.org/