TEXT OF REMARKS BY DR. JOHN GRONDELSKI PRESENTED AT THE MAY 3rd CONSTITUTION DAY CELEBRATION, SUNDAY, MAY 6, AT THE ORCHARD LAKE SCHOOLS.

 

Most Reverend Father Chancellor,

President Bankowski

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen:

 

227 years ago, on May 3, 1791, Poland adopted its “Constitution of the Third of May.”

That’s nice, maybe even interesting.  But it does not answer the question why all of you in the audience got up this morning and drove to Orchard Lake.  Why did you come here America today to hear about something that happened in Poland two and a quarter centuries ago?  It’s a story that sounds almost as if it should begin “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.”

Let me suggest that what happened a long time ago, 227 years ago, in a faraway country was not as remote as you think.  I also would suggest that the effects that the Constitution of the Third of May unleashed effects still reverberate in Poland’s life, America’s life, and the lives of you and me.

First of all, let’s consider the value of a constitution.  The modern world takes the notion of “constitution” for granted.  I live in Washington, D.C.  Among the hot spots visited by tourists is the National Archives, where they can go and look at the Constitution of the United States.  Indeed, the National Archives currently features an exhibition on “Amending America,” to show how the Constitution has been changed in the 231 years since it was written.

We take the idea of a constitution for granted.  The expectation that a country will have a constitution is assumed, a “box to be checked.”  The world has moved past the idea that a constitution is a novelty to the point that it is an expectation.  The novelty today, the exception today, is whether a country actually honors its constitution.  Does the constitution really define how a government should function and protect its citizen’s rights?  Or is it just window-dressing, an expected, pretty, but ultimately meaningless legal decoration?  Does the constitution guarantee anything, or is it just a document packed with high-sounding platitudes, “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing?”
It may be still be novel to think that a constitution actually can do something, but even the most repressive dictatorship still thinks it has to have a constitution.  Having a constitution is an ordinary expectation of the modern world.

It is worth, therefore, remembering that in 1791 that was not true.

So, as Polish Americans, the first reason the Constitution of 1791 matters is that it created a whole new expectation for the world.  We are proud to be heirs of the U.S. Constitution of 1787.  It is now the world’s oldest written constitution still in force.  It still sets forth the principles of limited government.  It still guarantees basic rights.

But we are also proud heirs of the Polish Constitution of 1791. What separates the Polish and American Constitutions is the difference between a constitution that survived and one that did not.  The Polish Constitution was an example that inspired the world even if, in Poland, it remained but a dream of “what might have been.”

When Poland became the third country in the world—after the United States and France—to adopt a written constitution, the idea was considered so revolutionary, so novel, so dangerous, that the autocratic leaders of Russia, Prussia, and Austria joined together to stamp it out.  The Constitution of the Third of May 1791 was one of the direct reasons why, less than four years later, Russia, Prussia, and Austria combined to partition Poland, wiping the country off the maps of the world for the next 123 years.  From 1795 until 1918, the name “Poland” appeared on no map.

Poland’s erasure from the maps of Europe set into motion whole chains of events that we feel even to this day.  The successful partition of Poland in 1795 brought sighs of relief from the partitioners. The democratic ideals contained in the Constitution of the Third of May—democratic government and human rights—no longer threatened the autocratic rulers of Europe.

But I invite you to engage in a thought experiment, one initially proposed by Alex Storozyński in his excellent book, The Peasant Prince: Tadeusz Kościuszko and the Age of Revolution.  What if the Constitution of the Third of May had succeeded?

What if the worst dreams of the Romanovs, the Hohenzollerns, and the Hapsburgs had come true?  What is Poland had succeeded in implementing a constitution that provided for limited government and expanded civil rights?  How might the future have been different if Poland had succeeded?

Would Russia, Prussia, and Austria have been able to remain as autocratic as they were if there had been a democratic Poland stuck in the middle among them?  Consider how isolated little West Berlin remained a beacon of hope, not just for East Germany but for the whole Soviet bloc?  Could civil and human rights have remained so limited in Russia, Prussia, and Austria if there had been allowed to blossom the promise of the Constitution of the Third of May that “all power in civil society [should be] derived from the will of the people” ?  And if Russia, Prussia, and Austria had been set on different courses, would there have been a World War I?  A Russian Revolution?  A Lenin? A Hitler?

The Constitution might have changed the lives of nations, but it didn’t.  It certainly changed the lives of Polish Americans gathered here today.

The Polish American community—American Polonia—would have certainly looked different from the way it does if the Constitution of the Third of May had survived.  Because the suppression of the Constitution of the Third of May, partitioned Poland in the 19^th century became an area of political repression and economic impoverishment.  That, in turn, led to pressure to emigrate.  And those emigration pressures laid the foundations of Polonia.  In short, many of us would not be here today but for what happened to Poland after the defeat of the Constitution of the Third of May.

Of course, individual Poles had come to the United States before there even was a United States.  There were Poles in Jamestown.  They brought with them a conviction about human equality and didn’t hesitate to launch America’s first strike, insisting that the glass they made was no less valuable because it did not come from British hands.  There were Poles in the American Revolution.  They also brought with them convictions about human freedom and equality.  Casimir Pułaski laid down his life in the name of freedom, the only senior foreign officers to die for the American Republic.  Tadeusz Kościuszko put his money where Thomas Jefferson’s mouth was, handing over the payments the U.S. Congress gave him for service in the Revolution to buy the freedom of African Americans, including—unsuccessfully—Mr. Jefferson’s.

But American Polonia was built on less prominent heroes. They were heroes more like the anonymous Poles of Jamestown than Pułaski of Savannah or Kościuszko of West Point.   Between 1880 and 1920, approximately two million people came from the lands of Poland to settle in America.  They came because of 19^th century Poland’s political impotence and economic impoverishment, impotence and impoverishment attributable to Poland’s loss of independence after the defeat of the Constitution of the Third of May.

I call them “heroes” because, like Pułaski and Kościuszko, they helped make America great.  Perhaps they didn’t built West Point like Kościuszko, but they built Detroit by making cars.  Maybe they forged no chain across the Hudson like Kościuszko, but they forged steel in Gary, South Bend, and Pittsburgh.  They might not have died like Pułaski at Savannah, but they were mowed down in places like Homestead, Pennsylvania.  They shed their blood in West Virginia and Pennsylvania mines.  They also worked the foundries of Saginaw and the auto plants of Dearborn; they sewed shirts in Jersey City and rolled cigars in Hartford; they smelted copper in Perth Amboy and shucked oysters in Baltimore; in New England, fathers and sons manned the wood and paper mills while mothers and daughters filled the textile mills.  Polish immigrants farmed land the railroads abandoned as unproductive in Wisconsin and cultivated the plains of Nebraska.

And with the meager wages they earned in those places, they built Polonia, including Orchard Lake.  The Orchard Lake Schools, founded in Detroit in 1885, were situated halfway between the great urban centers of Polonia on the East Coast and in Chicago, to serve the needs of God and country.

Mention of the Orchard Lake Schools should also make us recall another fact about 19^th century Poland.  Poland’s long burial in the 19^th century taught Poles to preserve their identity, language, and culture even though they lacked a state.  Poland did not exist on the map, but it existed in the heart—in the heart of every Pole who would not be assimilated, who would not surrender who he was.

We should not forget that, Russia, Prussia, and Austria not only extinguished Poland’s independence in the 18^th century, but they actively sought to suppress its culture in the 19^th century.  All three partitioning powers adopted aggressive policies of denaturalization, their own individual Kulturkämpfe, to suppress Polish identity, language, culture, and even religion.

Here, again, immigration reinforced what Poles were learning at home.  In Poland, people learned to preserve their identity without a country.  Overseas, that sense of oneness grew even stronger: you might have been a Wielkopolanin, a Galician, or a Mazovian in Prussian, Austrian, or Russian Poland but, in America, you quickly discovered that you really spoke one language.  You were a Pole.

And that is why Poles valued Church and education so much.  The working men and women who made America great by their sweat and blood also gave their pennies, nickels, and dimes to build a magnificent parish network in America that, in its heyday, exceeded one thousand churches.  Those immigrants also invested to educate their sons (and, later, daughters) by supporting the Orchard Lake Schools, convinced that their offspring would play a role in their new country as well as one day help their old country regain freedom.

And that day came in 1918, the year of Poland’s resurrection.

Although we are here to honor the Constitution of the Third of May, let us not forget that, this year, we also mark the centennial of Poland’s recovery of independence.  100 years ago, on November 11, 1918, the Poland that was wiped off Europe’s maps because of the Constitution of the Third of May returned proudly to those maps.

If we could use a time machine to travel back one hundred years, what would we have seen?  American Polonia was still new and growing: immigrants were still coming, although the door would be slammed shut within five years.  They were poor—the ethnic enclaves of America’s industrial cities were the “ghettoes” of the day—but the churches they built in the “Polish cathedral style,” rivaled the cathedrals of Europe.  I am sure that the members of this audience would affirm that places like St. Adalbert, Sweetest Heart, Assumption, and Mount Carmel were the pride of their neighborhoods.

One hundred years ago, the Orchard Lake Schools had just moved to Orchard Lake.  Although Detroit was still very Polish, Fr. Buhaczkowski had moved the “Polish Seminary” out to the “sticks” of rural Oakland County.  Even when I first came as a college freshman to Orchard Lake in 1977, the Schools were still in the outer suburbs, although by that time Bloomfield Hills was far more affluent.

But in 1918, Polish Americans were saving their quarters not just to build churches but to buy war bonds, hoping that Poland’s rebirth might soon be at hand.  For the previous three years, young Polonian boys crossed the Detroit River and Lake St. Claire to Canada to join Haller’s Blue Army to fight for a free Poland.

And their hopes were not illusory.  Woodrow Wilson, the man who lost Polish American votes in 1912 because he did not see a need for further substandard Slavic immigrants, evolved to include, among his famous Fourteen Points proclaimed in January 1918, a call for “an independent Polish state.”  By November, World War I was over and Poland once again stood among the free nations of the world.

One hundred years is not long in the life of a nation.  Let us also not forget that, during those one hundred years, Poland again lost her freedom for 50 of them: from 1939-45, at the hands of German and Soviet occupation, and then from 1945-89 as a satellite of the Soviet Union.  We Polish Americans should not forget that, in the 227 years since the Constitution of the Third of May, Poland has really enjoyed its freedom for only 54 years, less than the life of a man.

One hundred years later, Polonia is also changing.  Many Central European ethnic communities that established themselves in the early 20^th century, like the Slovaks or Hungarians, have been largely assimilated.  Polonia gained an immense lease on life as a result of another tragedy: World War II.  The post-World War II “political emigration” (emigracja polityczna) brought to America patriotic Poles who had fought on all fronts in World War II and refused to return to live in a communist Poland.  Those immigrants revitalized the Polish American community, rebuilt its institutions and, together with the earlier immigrants and through the work of organizations like the Polish American Congress, helped achieve the dream of a free and independent Poland in annus mirabilis of 1989.

Polonia today is very different.  Assimilation takes its tool.  Immigration has slowed.  The jobs that gave Polish Americans prosperity a century ago are gone.  The vital cities of the Northeast and Midwest, to which Poles flocked a century ago, are now called the “Rust Belt.”    The crown jewels of the Polish America, its churches, have been decimated: changing demographics and residual prejudices of bishops against ethnic parishes have resulted in the consolidation or closing of  Polish parishes, a phenomenon very prominent here in the Archdiocese of Detroit.  When I was a student here at Orchard Lake in 1977, I did a survey of the Catholic parishes that were then listed as Polish.  There were about 800 of them.  Today, there are probably about 150.

But we should not despair.  The 123 years of Polish partition showed how creative Poles can be to preserve their culture, language, and identity.  American Polonia faces challenges, but it also has untapped opportunities.  Poles of the 19^th century did not have tools we do today—publishing, schools, the Internet, and—yes, money—to sustain their cultural identity.  I want to underscore the “money” part.  If our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents could build the great parishes they did—churches like St. Adalbert, Sweetest Heart, Assumption, Mount Carmel—on the meager wages of physical work, then we Polish Americans who have climbed the American socio-economic ladder, owe our community no less.

Finally, a few words about where we stand here in Orchard Lake.

Orchard Lake has been an essential part of the Polish American community since 1885.  The dreams of Fr. Moczygemba, who founded the “Polish Seminary” and of Fr. Buhaczkowski, who moved it out here to Orchard Lake, remain: an institution to serve Church and country.  The Catholic Church in the United States owes a huge debt to the many priests trained at Ss. Cyril and Methodius Seminary and St. Mary’s College.  And while we often call Orchard Lake the “Polish Seminary,” there is reason to suggest that the majority of graduates from now defunct-St. Mary’s College were actually laymen who contributed to the Polish American community as educated professionals of our community.  It is unfortunate that St. Mary’s College, my alma mater, no longer exists as part of the Orchard Lake Schools: Polonia needed its own college, and suffered huge losses when St. Mary’s and Alliance College in Pennsylvania closed.  But Ss. Cyril and Methodius Seminary, at whose graduation I was privileged to speak yesterday, continues to serve the Church in the United States as it has for 132 years, meeting the need for Polish American priests and lay ministers.  St. Mary’s Preparatory also continues to ready young people for college to become contributing members of society.

Orchard Lake today needs us.  When Karol Wojtyła, the future St. John Paul II, visited Orchard Lake fifty years ago, he said clearly: “If the Orchard Lake Schools did not exist, it would be necessary to establish them.”  The Pope’s plea was unambiguous: “Fill Orchard Lake to capacity;  Sustain Orchard Lake;  We need Orchard Lake!”

We need Orchard Lake today as much—if not more—than when Karol Wojtyła came here a half century ago.  Wojtyła, himself a university professor at the Catholic University of Lublin—another institution established one hundred years ago this year to serve God and country—appreciated the importance of faith and reason in the Polish soul.  The challenges Orchard Lake faces from a changed Polonia, from a Church in the United States suffering from a vocations crisis, from the costs of higher education, and even from taking these Schools for granted, are huge.  Even as the Seminary brings Polish priests to the United States to serve in parishes and dioceses that do not have many, if any, Polish Americans, these Schools continue to serve God and country.  They continue to do what Poles learned to do after the defeat of the Constitution of the Third of May: to sustain Polish cultural identity amidst changing, sometimes even hostile, conditions.  Let us strive to be faithful to the call of St. John Paul II by redoubling our efforts to sustain institutions like the Orchard Lake Schools, so that the next century of American Polonia, amidst its challenges and opportunities, will also be bright.

So, yes, the Constitution of the Third of May matters to you and me.  It matters because of its example to the world; because of what might have been had it survived; because of how its defeat shaped Poland and, by extension, American Polonia; because of its relationship to this great anniversary year of 1918; and because of how the values of freedom, faith, and the dignity of the person are shared by American Polonia and the Orchard Lake Schools.   On this great anniversary, this beautiful May Sunday, let us remember and be proud of what we have accomplished not just in the past 100 but the past 227 years:  “Witaj maj, Boże daj, by zbłysnął trzeci maj!”

 

ORCHARD LAKE, MI – Michigański wydział Kongresu Polonii Amerykańskiej, Polska Misja Zakładów Naukowych w Orchard Lake oraz Stowarzyszenie Nauczycieli Języka Polskiego w Michigan zaparaszają całą Polonię na uroczyste obchody 227. rocznicy uchwalenia Konstytucji 3 Maja 1791 roku.

Uroczystości będą miały miejsce w niedzielę, 6 maja, na terenie kampusu Zakładów Naukowych w Orchard Lake (3535 Indian Trail, Orchard Lake, MI 48324).  Uroczystości rozpoczną się o godzinie 11:00 am Akademią w Głównej Bibliotece (Adam Maida Library).  Głównym mówcą podczas Akademii będzie dr John Grondelski, były prodziekan School of Theology na Seton Hall University w South Orange, w stanie New Jersey oraz absolwent St. Mary’s College, gdzie studiował teologię i filozofię.

W Akademii wezmą udział także uczniowie lokalnych szkół polskich.  Nie zabraknie polskiego harcerstwa i weteranów.  Organizatorzy przygotowują także okolicznościowe wystawy.

Po Akademii, o godzinie 1:00 po południu, w głównej kaplicy Zakładów Naukowych w Orchard Lake (oraz Sanktuarium Św. Jana Pawła II) odbędzie się Msza św. z udziałem nagradzanego chóru „Filareci”.

Po Mszy Św. będzie można zwiedzić kampus w Orchard Lake i zakupić smaczny obiad.

Konstytucja 3 maja, uchwalona 3 maja 1791 roku, była ustawą regulującą ustrój prawny Rzeczypospolitej Obojga Narodów.  Powszechnie przyjmuje się, że Konstytucja 3 maja była pierwszą w Europie i drugą na świecie (po konstytucji amerykańskiej z 1787 r.) nowoczesną, spisaną konstytucją.

 

On Saturday, April 7, 2018, at 6:00 pm, a Mass will be celebrated at St. Faustina Church in Warren (14025 E. Twelve Mile Road, Warren, MI 48088) to commemorate the eighth anniversary of the Smoleñsk Polish Aircraft victims. The Mass, organized by the Michigan Division of the Polish American Congress (PAC-MI), will also pay tribute to Katyñ Massacre victims. Fr. Bogdan Mi³osz, the pastor of St. Faustina Parish, will celebrate the Mass.
The 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash occurred on April 10, 2010, when aircraft crashed near the city of Smoleñsk, Russia, killing all 96 people onboard. These included Polish President Lech Kaczyñski, and his wife, former President in-Exile Ryszard Kaczorowski and other officials and members of Polish clergy. The flight was heading to Katyñ taking many high ranking Polish officials to ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the Katyñ Massacre.
The Katyñ Massacre was a series of mass executions of Polish nationals carried out by the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), the Soviet secret police, in April and May of 1940.
The Polish American Congress, Michigan Division, is a local division of the Polish American Congress, which is a national umbrella organization of Polish-Americans and Polish-American organizations. Its membership is composed of fraternal, educations, veteran, religious, cultural, social, business and political organizations, as well as individuals. The PAC promotes civic, educational and cultural programs designed to further not only the knowledge of Polish history, language and culture, but to stimulate Polish American involvement and accomplishments.

http://www.citizengo.org/pl/84089-petycja-do-sejmu-rzeczpospolitej-polskiej

Sample letter to US Congress & Senate regarding Bill# 1226 & 447

Dear Congressman….. (Dear Senator…)
I (your name) represent the interests of Americans of Polish heritage who are convinced that their ancestral country, Poland, as a key NATO ally, protects United States national security interests in Central and Eastern Europe and promotes the values of freedom and limited government in that dangerous part of the world.
Res. 447, known as the JUST ACT OF 2017, includes Poland among countries, which were Axis allies during World War II, such as Romania and Hungary. A parallel resolution H.R. 1226 is under consideration by your committee. It also appears to ignore, or evade, moral and historical principles of high importance, with the result that H.R. conflates victims with villains.
Poland’s unique circumstances, as a victim nation of German and Soviet aggression in September 1939, which started World War II by virtue of the mutually-planned and executed Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, need to be recognized by Congress in these matters. The language of HR 1226 proposes that claims (under Terezin Declaration definitions) could be made against today’s Polish State for crimes today’s Poles did not commit. Stunningly, this completely ignores that the monstrous crimes perpetrated on Polish territory by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union were followed by massive property transfers carried out directly by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
Indeed, Poland’s history from 1795 to 1918 found her wiped from the map of Europe by way of the infamous three Partitions of 1772, 1793, and 1795 that had been engineered by her contiguous imperial neighbors, Russia, Austria, and Prussia (the latter nation being an integral progenitor of Nazi Germany).
Moreover, the issue of wartime compensation to be paid to Poland as a victim (as identified by the International Military Tribunal – Nuremberg Proceedings) is entirely unresolved. These two factors make Poland’s case unique, and materially different from other East Central European countries, like Hungary and Romania, both having been loyal allies of Nazi Germany.
Today, claims for private property compensation in Poland are decided case by case.. This fact alone should give pause to anyone considering imposing on today’s Poland a one-size-fits-all general law on compensation for private property despoiled by Nazi Germany and then nationalized by the communists.
Poland already has compensated all United States citizens who owned private property in Poland before September 1, 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded our kin country. This was done in compliance with the 1960 Bilateral Treaty signed by Poland and the United States. Moreover, in Poland, all claims submitted for compensation by children and grandchildren (as real persons) of people who lost property have been adjudicated and have been paid.
Clearly, the purpose of H.R.1226 appears to be the extension of this to other entities or persons as well, an approach that suggests it being an unreasonable and arbitrary overreach by the United States Congress.
The House version of the JUST Act of 2017, H.R. 1226, unjustly conflates the role of Poland and the Poles in World War II with countries that were Axis allies. By contrast, in North Africa, and in Western Europe, and in occupied Poland, from start to finish in World War II, Polish armed forces fought Nazi Germany as a full state ally of our own United States of America.
There was no collaborationist Nazi German satellite state on Polish territory.
The claimants’ bill for their despoiled and nationalized private property on conquered Polish territory during the World War II era should be presented not to the victim nation — Poland — but to the perpetrators, Germany and the Russian Federation, the latter as successor of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Informed readers recall that the Soviet Union, as an ally of Nazi Germany, invaded Poland on September 17, 1939, two weeks following Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland. Both invasions were not accidental, but rather, mutually orchestrated aspects of the infamous Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact.
It is unjust to lay the groundwork, political or otherwise, to require today’s Polish society to pay extravagant sums to legacy organizations related to victims of loss of private property or that despoiled by Nazi Germany and then nationalized by a regime indisputably established by Soviet communists.
This amounts to a perverse collective punishment of today’s Poles for crimes of private property expropriation perpetrated by Nazi Germany and the communists on conquered Polish territory. Again, Poland has already undertaken a good faith effort, under strict rule of law, to address these matters.
Clearly, further investigation of facts, or hearings, should occur before action is taken. This is why I encourage you to ask the members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee not to apply H.R.1226 to Poland.
The ..organization name…..( or include POLISH AMERICAN CONGRESS), which represents Polish American organizations and communities, wants the House Foreign Affairs Committee thoughtfully to address our concern that our ancestral country Poland receives just and equitable treatment from the United States Government. Our sincere wish is to prevent this issue from becoming one that Polish Americans would come to feel has to be redressed at the ‘ballot box’. Those who vote for the application of the JUST ACT OF 2017 to Poland, which is most UNJUST to our ancestral country, run that risk.

Your gracious consideration, and hopefully, support, will be appreciated greatly by our nation’s Polish American Community.
Sincerely yours,

(Your name)

 

 

ENGLISH VERSION:  http://pac1944.org/polishagenda/SenateLet2Polonia.180207.EN.pdf

POLISH VERSION:  http://pac1944.org/polishagenda/SenateLet2Polonia.180207.PL.pdf

Dear Member of the House of Representatives and Dear Member of the United States Senate:
I am your constituent residing at. I would like to urge you to vote against Bill H.R.1226 and Senate Bill 447 for the proposed Bill disregards historical truths and goes against the existing laws.

1. Restitution for heirless property, a misnomer in this case, is against the Western legal tradition and against the existing law. In all Western countries, the US included, heirless property escheats to the state.
2. The Bill HR1226 and the Senate Bill 447 leaves out other ethnic, and religious groups who were killed by Germans during WWII and who left behind heirless properties.
3. Due to the fact that before WWII Poland had the largest Jewish community in Europe, a lot of properties belonging to the Jews who perished in the WWII were located in Poland. As a result, Poland is the main target of that Bill.
4. According to the 1960 Treaty between the communist government of Poland and the U.S., Poland agreed to compensate American nationals whose assets had been nationalized by the Polish communist government. The treaty included an indemnification agreement, which was intended to shield Poland from any additional claims and compensation demands. Signing into law and the actual enforcement of the reconciled Bills S447 and HR1226 would violate the terms of the 1960 Treaty between the United States and Poland.
5. Poland has resorted to various means in order to return properties to their rightful owners.
6. Thousands of people with legitimate title claims – regardless of their ethnic origin – have recovered and are still recovering their properties through the court system pursuant to the private property law.
7. Jewish religious and communal properties in Poland have been returned or compensated for by now, pursuant to the 1997 law.
8. The Bill treats Poland and her citizens as perpetrators of the Jewish Holocaust rather than another victim of WWII German atrocities. Poland suffered the most of all countries during WWII. Poland lost 3 million ethnic Poles and 3 million Polish Jews and experienced physical destruction like no other European country. Poland was betrayed in Yalta by her allies, Britain and the U.S., and placed under the Soviet devastating occupation and oppression for over forty years after the end of WWII. In this Bill one victim goes after another victim for compensation. That’s not justice.
9. Passage of the Bill could have a financially devastating effect on Poland, a strong ally of the United States in Central Europe. Severely weakened Poland would not be in the best interest of the US.

I strongly urge you to vote against this grossly flawed Bill.

Sincerely,

————————————————————————-

 

 

Please ask your Division’s members, and ask your members to encourage their friends, to make a maximal effort now by telephoning either the Washington Office, or the District Office, of their Member of the House of Representatives (sometimes called Congressman). Staffers log the number of telephone calls in support of, and in opposition to, legislation under consideration by the House of Representatives.

 

Suggested Script:

Callers should include the following information in their telephone message:

 

My name is________, from (city).  I am a constituent of Congressman/Congresswoman (name),

 

I am calling as a member (sympathizer) of the Polish American Congress to ask Congressman/ Congresswoman (name) NOT to apply to Poland House Resolution 1226, which is now under consideration by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Poland and the Poles were victims of Nazi Germany, and NOT villains who perpetrated the mass murder of European Jewry on Nazi German occupied conquered Polish territory. This is why H. R. 1226 should NOT be applied to Poland.

 

Thank you.

 

House of Representatives

Open http://www.house.gov/representatives/find
One tab lists representatives alphabetically by name, another by state and district.

If you know neither the name nor the district, enter your ZIP code under “Find your Representative” in the upper right corner of the page. Note: If your ZIP code spans more than one congressional district, you will be asked for your ZIP+4. If you don’t know it, you can find out by entering your address in this US Postal Service page: www.usps.com/zip4/

Once you find the link to your representative, it will lead you directly to his/her website – there is no standardized address information as for senators. Since each representative’s site is individually designed, you must look around to find contact information.

Electronic messages are submitted through a web form, accessible from the representative’s site.

 

 

Below are links, information, and suggested responses to H.R. #1226 (JUST ACT), currently before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee. Please become informed and be ready to take action. Our representatives in Washington need to be made aware of the issues involved with this bill. If passed, as it was in the Senate in December 2017 with no discussion, this legally flawed bill could be potentially destructive to Poland’s economy.

Feel free to share and copy information provided.

 

1.  THE POLISH AMERICAN CONGRESS DOES NOT WANT THE JUST ACT OF 2017 APPLIED TO POLAND

A dangerous United States Congressional Resolution for Poland soon may be enacted. The full title of this resolution is: “Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today (JUST) Act of 2017”. This

resolution, the JUST ACT OF 2017 has two components: Senate Resolution 447 (S. 447), and House of Representatives Resolution 1226 (H.R. 1226).

The United States Senate voted-up without opposition, on 12 December 2017, S. 447. Now the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives is considering H.R. 1226.

In a general way, the JUST ACT OF 2017 requires the United States Government to observe how 46 countries are fulfilling their obligations to implement numerous agreements on compensation

and/or restitution of both private and communal moveable and immovable property, and other commitments, like the maintenance of historic sites and monuments.

The specific purpose of the JUST ACT OF 2017 is: “To require reporting on acts of certain foreign countries on Holocaust era assets and related issues, and for other purposes.” This would require

the United States Government to observe and monitor, pressure is a more honest description, compliance by Poland and other countries that participated in the Prague Holocaust Era

Conference’s Terezin Declaration (2009).  Poland is the principal target of the JUST ACT OF 2017, because the largest portion of private property formerly owned by Jews (which amounts to 20% of the total of despoiled and nationalized private property), and now claimed by Jewish individuals and organizations, is located in today’s Poland. This private property on conquered Polish territory, called World War II era private property, was first despoiled by Nazi Germany and then nationalized by the communists.

Compensation payments to redress these crimes against private property should be sent to Berlin and Moscow, not Warsaw.

Moreover, Poland already satisfied, by acceding to a 1960 bilateral treaty, all claims for private property in Poland owned by United States citizens before September 1, 1939. Today, the United

States Congress and the Office of Holocaust Issues in the Department of State is pressuring Poland to pay lump-sum compensation on behalf of transnational Jewish organizations like the

World Jewish Congress, and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. The World Jewish Congress recently opened an office in Warsaw. This pressure on Poland is

unwarranted. The exceptional role of Poland and the Poles in World War II and her armed resistance to the imposition of communist dictatorship by the Soviet Army makes a moral and

historical case for NOT applying H.R. 1226 to Poland.

Two members of the House of Representatives introduced H.R. 1226: Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-NY14), and Congressman Christopher Smith (R-NJ4). In 2008 Congressman Crowley

introduced a House of Representatives Resolution calling on Poland to pay lump-sum compensation for World War II era Jewish private property. In 1991, Congressman Smith

organized the Congressional Caucus on Poland to pressure Poland into paying lump-sum compensation. Moreover, in 2005, Congressman Smith introduced a House of Representatives

Resolution calling on Poland to pay lump-sum compensation.

This is why the President of the Polish American Congress (PAC), Mr. Frank J. Spula, wrote a forceful letter, addressed to Chairman Ed Royce, and by extension his 46 colleagues serving on

the House Foreign Affairs Committee. This letter strongly encourages these 47 members of the House of Representatives NOT TO APPLY H.R. 1226 to Poland. If they ignore this sound advice

from the PAC, then Polish Americans will not vote to re-elect these members of the House of Representatives on 6 November 2018 in Congressional Elections.

John Czop

Director of Policy Planning (PAC)

 

2.  PAC Action Alert for House Foreign Affairs Committee Members (including full list of U.S. Senators and Congressmen): (There are no Michigan congressmen on the Foreign Affairs Committee currently; should the bill go to a vote before the whole House, then every congressman would need to be contacted and informed)

 

http://www.pac1944.org/ameragenda/ActionAlert.1801.htm

 

3. “Coalition of Polish Americans” letter to Committee Chairman Royce

 

 

 

4. Have your name, or that of your organization, added to a letter to House Foreign Affairs Committee, contact Edward Jesman, president@pacsocal.org, 310-291-2681 or edward@jesman.com.

Please read below:

On January 8, 2018 24 leaders of the Polish community in the USA, among others from organizations like the Polish American Congress sent a letter to the Members of Congress urging the congressmen and congresswomen to reject the Act H.R. 1226:

http://stopacthr1226.org/

Dear Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee,

On December 12, 2017 the U.S. Senate approved Bill S.447, known as “the Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today (JUST) Act of 2017”. The House Bill H.R.1226, which mirrors the U.S. Senate bill S.447, is presently awaiting evaluation of the House Foreign Affairs Committee

Attached is a legal evaluation (see link above), of the proposed House Bill H.R.1226 that we are respectfully submitting for your review. It is our position that H.R.1226 is logically and legally flawed, as per the attached legal analysis. Moral, historical and political dimensions must be carefully considered as well.

A follow up letter, and a full list of the Polish American signatory organizations monitoring this bill, shall follow within the next several days.

We urge you to reject H.R.1226.

Sincerely, Edward Wojciech Jeśman, President

Polish American Congress of Southern California Los Angeles, California

 

Andrzej Prokopczuk, President
Polish American Congress of Northern California San Francisco, California

Jerzy Bogdziewicz, President
Polish American Congress of Florida Pompano Beach, Florida

Michael Nidzinski, President
Polish American Congress of Illinois Chicago, Illinois

Ann Bankowski, President
Polish American Congress Michigan Division Hamtramck, Michigan

Wieslaw Wierzbowski, President
Polish American Congress of Eastern Massachusetts Quincy, Massachusetts

Walter Wiesław Gołebiewski
Polish American Congress Florida Western Division Corp. New Port Richey, Florida

James L. Ławicki II, President
Polish American Congress Western New York Division Inc. New York

John (Jan) M. Malek, Founder & President
Polish American Foundation for Economic Research and Education (PAFERE) Torrance, California

Stanislaw Matejczuk, Head Coordinator Polonia Semper Fidelis
New Mexico

Waldemar Biniecki, CEO
Pax Polonica Foundation Manhattan, Kansas

Peter Pachacz, President
Pulaski Association Business and Professional Men, Inc. Brooklyn, New York

Richard Mleczko, President
East Bay Polish American Association Martinez, California

Adam Gromek, President
Polonian Cultural and Pastoral Center Sacramento, California

Leszek Pawlik, CEO
Polonia Institute Torrance, California

Witold Rosowski,
Polish Heritage Council of North America New York, New York

Zygmunt Staszewski, Co-Chair
Polish-Jewish Dialogue Committee New York, New York

Walter Wiesław Gołebiewski
World Research Council on Poles Abroad Florida

Jerzy W. Rozalski
Polish Varieties Radio WNZK Detroit, Michigan

Natalia Kaminski Polish Radio Hour
Los Angeles, California

Mary Lou T. Wyrobek, President
Polish Singers Alliance of America

Ania Karwan, National Director
Polish American Congress of Southern California Los Angeles, California

Edmund Lewandowski, National Director
Polish American Congress of Northern California San Francisco, California

Halina Koralewski
Achilles Poland International Ambassador New York, New York

Zbigniew Koralewski, National Director
Polish Singers Alliance of America Long Island, New York

Cc:

President of the United States, Donald Trump

Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence

Secretary of State of the United States, Rex Tillerson

President of Poland, Andrzej Sebastian Duda

Prime Minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Jacek Czaputowicz

Marszalek Sejmu, Marek Kuchciński

Marszalek Senatu, Stanisław Karczewski

 

5.  Summary of Legal Objections to the Bill:

 

Legal Objections to Bills S.447 and H.R.1226 January 4, 2018

1. BILLS 447 AND H.R.1226 VIOLATE INTERNATIONAL TREATY AND LAW

The Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today Act of 2017, S. 447, passed the Senate on December 12, 2017. A related House Bill H.R.1226 was introduced in the US House of Representatives on February 27, 2017. Both S. 447 and H.R. 1226 (the “Bills”) are now before the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives. The texts of the two Bills are similar and in parts identical. The Bills call on “countries of particular concern” relative to the Holocaust Era assets and related issues to: 1) return to the rightful owner any property, including religious or communal property, that was wrongfully seized or transferred; 2) provide property or compensation for heirless property in order to assist needy Holocaust survivors, to support Holocaust education, and for other purposes.

1. Compensation for private property in Poland already paid to rightful owners

In calling for the return to the rightful owner of a property that was “wrongfully seized or transferred,” the Bills violate the Agreement between the Government of the United State of America and the Government of the Polish People’s Republic regarding claims of nationals of the United States signed at Washington on July 16, 1960, and registered with the United Nations by the United States of America on January 6, 1961 (“1960 Treaty”).

Under the 1960 Treaty, Poland paid the United States $40 million in full settlement of claims of nationals of the United States for nationalization or other taking of property, appropriation or loss of use of their property and debt owed by enterprises taken over by the State.1 The $40 million paid pursuant to the 1960 Treaty represents over a billion dollars in 2017. Hence, this substantial compensation was intended to settle property claims against Poland by US nationals. In accordance with Article IV of the 1960 Treaty, the United States agreed to fully indemnify Poland for any property claims of US nationals, which occurred on or before the entry into force of the 1960 Treaty.2

 

 

1 Art. II of the 1960 Treaty provides compensation for the following: (a) the nationalization or other taking by Poland of property and of rights and interests in and with respect to property; (b) the appropriation or the loss of use or enjoyment of property under Polish laws, decrees or other measures limiting or restricting rights and interests in and with respect to property, and (c) debts owed by enterprises which have been nationalized or taken by Poland and debts which were a charge upon property which has been nationalized, appropriated or otherwise taken by Poland.

2 Article IV of the 1960 Treaty provides: After the entry into force of this Agreement the Government of the United States will neither present to the Government of Poland nor espouse claims of nationals of the United States against the Government of Poland to which reference is made in Article I of this Agreement. In the event that such claims are presented directly by nationals of the United States to the Government of Poland, the Government of Poland will refer them to the Government of the United States.

 

On March 31, 1966, the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the US completed its administration of the Polish Claims Program pursuant to the 1960 Treaty and submitted a final report to various committees of Congress. Awards granted under the Polish Claims Program totaled $100,737,681.63 in the principal amount plus interest in the amount of $51,051,825.01.

Accordingly, in light of the contractual obligation of the United States to provide indemnity to Poland for private property claims, the enactment of the Bills that direct the US Secretary of State to pressure Poland to pay further private property claims violates the contractual obligation of the United States.

Also, it shall be noted that between 1948 and 1971 Poland concluded property restitution and compensation treaties not only with the United States but also with Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Greece, Holland, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. All claims for property located in Poland by the citizens of these countries have been since settled in full and discharged.

Furthermore, since 1989, all legitimate property claims of private individuals can be freely pursued before the Polish courts in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Code. Every person regardless of their nationality or ethnic origin may enforce their property and inheritance rights before the Polish courts in accordance with the procedures of the Code of Civil Procedure. Hence, every individual with a right title can file a request for declaration of the acquisition of the inheritance. Thousands of people with legitimate title claims – regardless of their ethnic origin – have recovered their properties in Poland pursuant to the private property law.

1. Religious and communal property returned or compensated for in Poland

The return of Jewish religious and communal properties has been implemented in Poland pursuant to the 1997 law on the relationship between the Polish State and Jewish religious organizations.3 On the basis of this unprecedented legislation, Poland granted the Jewish minority broad decision- making powers in the implementation of this legislation. The Commission for the Jewish Communities Affairs carried out the restitution of Jewish religious and communal properties program in close cooperation with the Union of Jewish Communities.4 Over 2,500 communal properties, including synagogues, cemeteries and cultural centers, have been either returned or compensated for based on the Polish 1997 law.

Accordingly, practically all religious and communal properties with adequately documented ownership have been either returned or compensated for by now. Therefore, claims for this type of property restitution have been settled in Poland.

1. Restitution of heirless property is against the law

If there are no heirs, the property is not “wrongfully seized or transferred.” It escheats to the state. That’s the law in every country. The Bills introduce a precarious precedence of “heirless property” compensation that is contrary to the Western legal tradition and principles of jurisprudence. In S.

3 Law dated February 20, 1997, DZ. U. 1997 No. 41 Item 251.

4 Art. 32.1 of the 1997 Law .

 

447, the goal and objective relative to heirless property is “the provision of property or compensation to assist needy Holocaust survivors, to support Holocaust education, and for other purposes. . .” H.R. 1226 states the goal and objective as “the restitution of heirless property to assist needy Holocaust survivors, and for other purposes . . .”

“Restitution of heirless property” is an aberration by definition. “Restitution” means the restoration of something to its rightful owner. If the property is “heirless” then, by definition, restitution of the property to the rightful owner is impossible. The property might have been “wrongfully seized or transferred” originally, but if the property is now heirless, it escheats to the state. That’s the law everywhere, including the United States.

The Bills call on the Secretary of State to present reports that are to address “wrongfully seized or transferred Holocaust era assets.” Hence, such reports should not include “heirless property” which always and everywhere escheat to the state; such escheat being lawful and legal, regardless of whether the property was earlier wrongfully seized or transferred.

This issue is of crucial importance to Poland since most of the heirless property claims are against Poland. Creating ex post facto a legal precedent of property restitution to “non-heirs” for “other purposes” amounts to extortion of funds from “other” uncompensated victims of the German WWII genocide. Such scheme treats the Polish taxpayers, who themselves are victims of the German genocide and wrongful seizure of property, as those guilty of the Jewish Holocaust, hence it is unconscionable.

1. Multiple payments for the same claims are wrong in law and equity

Poland has implemented numerous laws and procedures under which WWII property claims have been effectively pursued. Since 1951 Germany has paid the equivalent of over 100 billion dollars to Jewish individuals, Jewish organizations and the State of Israel. The German payments covered all of the Jewish property seized and expropriated by Germany during WW2, including the immovable property located on the Polish territory conquered and occupied by the Third Reich.

 

2. THE BILLS ARE UNCONSTITUTIONAL

The US Congress does not have the constitutional power to enact either of the two Bills.

Rule XII Clause 7(c) of the House of Representatives requires that all bills (H.R.) and joint resolutions (H.J.Res.) must provide a document stating “as specifically as practicable the power or powers granted to Congress in the Constitution to enact the bill or joint resolution” to be accepted for introduction by the House Clerk.

According to the Constitutional Authority Statement, Congress has the power to enact the Bills pursuant to Article I Section 8 Clause 3 of the Constitution of the United States.5 The cited clause

5 See: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1226 From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office. By Mr. CROWLEY: H.R. 1226 – the following: Article I Section 8 Clause 3 [Page H1355].

 

of “Article I Section 8 Clause 3” is commonly known as the Commerce Clause,6 which gives Congress the power “to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes.”

Clearly, neither S 447 nor HR 1226 are related to the regulation of commerce. Unless, perhaps, it is intended to gather information, under Congress’ investigatory power, to be used in future legislation that would impose sanctions on countries that are deemed not to have made sufficient progress towards the Holocaust (Shoah) Era restitution claims. If so, this purpose should be stated explicitly in HR 1226.

 

3. THE BILLS ARE DISCRIMINATORY IN NATURE

The Bills make reference to the Terezin Declaration adopted at the 2009 Holocaust Era Assets Conference held in Terezin, Czech Republic. The Terezin Declaration adopted the phrase, “Holocaust (Shoah) survivors and other victims of Nazi persecution” throughout, except under the section entitled “Immovable (Real) Property,” in which a more narrow definition of victims i.e. “Holocaust (Shoah) victims” is used. The use of “Shoah” is intended to restrict “Holocaust” to Jews only and not include other victims.

The United States shall not discriminate against racial, ethnic or religious groups whose members may be in the exact same situation as Jews. Approximately 5 million non-Jews (mostly Christians) were killed by the Germans. In particular, close to 3 million Poles were killed in WWII by Hitler’s Germany and the Soviet Union, and it is estimated that about 80% of the potential property claims would be by ethnic Poles while about 20% by ethnic Jewish. The “other victims” in particular the Polish victims of German extermination, must be explicitly included in the restitution claims to avoid misunderstandings and complaints of favoritism, undue influence and outright discrimination.

Both Bills would require the US Secretary of State to submit a report “that assesses and describes the nature and extent of national laws and enforceable policies” of “covered countries” regarding the “identification and the return of or restitution for wrongfully seized or transferred Holocaust era assets.” The report would also assess and describe the covered countries’ progress towards meeting the goals and objectives of the 2009 Holocaust Era Assets Conference (S. 447), or the 2009 Terezin Declaration on Holocaust Era Assets and Related Issues (H.R. 1226).

The Bills give the Secretary of State in cooperation with the Holocaust Envoy the power to determine, “in consultation with expert nongovernmental organizations” whether the proposed law applies to a particular country. The term “expert nongovernmental organizations” is one of several unacceptable ambiguities in these Bills. Requiring the Secretary of State or Holocaust Envoy to consult with undefined NGOs before choosing “covered countries” gives the Secretary or Envoy too much discretion and invites claims of discrimination of ethnic Poles and the Polish American community.

6 https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/commerce_clause.

 

The NGOs that are to be consulted in designating “covered countries” should be explicitly named. As most of the potential claims will involve Polish properties, Polish-American NGOs shall be clearly identified for consultation, and Poland should be given full opportunity to be heard. Poland and the Polish Americans should give input and present their position regarding the issues involved before any decision to apply the Bills to Poland is made.

 

4. THE BILLS ARE DUPLICATIVE OF ESLI STUDY

The US Secretary of State report required by the Bills would be duplicative of a comprehensive study published after the Bills were introduced. In accordance with the Terezin Declaration, in 2010 the Czech government established the European Shoah Legacy Institute (ESLI) in Terezin to monitor the progress and advocate for the principles of the Terezin Declaration.7 In fulfillment of its mission, ESLI commissioned in 2014 the Holocaust (Shoah) Immovable Property Restitution Study (the “Study”). Published on April 24, 2017,8 the Study is the comprehensive compilation of all significant legislation passed by the 47 states since 1945, dealing with the return or compensation of land and businesses confiscated or otherwise misappropriated during the Holocaust era. 9

According to the Executive Summary of the Study, Jewish and non-Jewish claimants, heirs, governments, NGOs, and other stakeholders will now have a one-stop resource where all significant Holocaust restitution legislation and case law dealing with immovable property over the last 70 years has been compiled and analyzed.

Therefore, any report pursuant to HR 1226 would substantially duplicate the ESLI’s Study Report. The cost of a US Secretary of State report is estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to be less than $500,000. That money would be wasted because most of the work has already been done. Therefore, the Bills’ duplicative objectives represent waste of government money.

 

 

 

 

7 See the ESLI website: http://shoahlegacy.org

8 According to the World Jewish Restitution Organization website, the Holocaust (Shoah) Immovable Property Restitution Study was published on April 24, 2017.

9 http://shoahlegacy.org/property-issues/immovable-property/immovable-property-study-2014-2017. Prof.

Michael J. Bazyler and Lee Crawford-Boyd led the project, which brought together the research efforts of over 40 pro bono attorneys from major global law firms, including White & Case, O’Melveny & Myers, Morgan Lewis, Fried Frank, and Brownstein Hyatt Farber & Schreck. These pro bono attorneys, under the guidance of Firm directors and associates, completed research reports addressing the status of restitution legislation in an assigned Terezin Declaration country. In addition, the reports provide a preliminary analysis of the country’s compliance with its Terezin Declaration commitments. The Study is available in three versions: The first one is a 1200 page interactive PDF document that can be downloaded in full from this website; the second is an interactive map organized from which individual country reports can be downloaded; and the third is a hard-copy publication of the study through Oxford University Press, which we consider an enormous achievement confirming the high quality and standard of the study.

 

5. GENOCIDE DENIAL UNDERLINES THE PREMISE OF THE BILLS

It shall be noted that the Executive Summary of the Study states” “In the aftermath of the Holocaust, returning victims – not only surviving European Jews but also Roma, political dissidents, homosexuals, persons with disabilities, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others – had to navigate a frequently unclear path to recover their property from governments and neighbors who had failed to protect them, and often, who had been complicit in their persecution.”10

The above statement is of great significance and real concern to the Polish Americans because it excludes from the definition of victims the second-largest group of WWII German genocide, i.e. ethnic Poles. These victims are either omitted all together or covered under “others.” Such omission of this important ethnic group is not coincidental considering that almost half of all Holocaust (Shoah) restitution claims under the Terezin Declaration are against Poland.

It shall be noted that Poland was the greatest victim of WWII in terms of the loss of human life and treasure. In 1939 Hitler declared: “The destruction of Poland shall be the primary objective. The aim is elimination of living forces, not the arrival at a certain line.” About 3 million of ethnic Poles and 3 million of ethnic Jews perished in WWII. About 40% of Poland’s national assets were destroyed. Most of the Polish industry and infrastructure had been lost. Warsaw and many other cities were leveled to the ground through wanton destruction and devastation.

The marginalization of the Polish victims, diminishing of their suffering, and suppression of their voice by proponents of the Holocaust (Shoah) restitution claims is directed against the second most persecuted ethnic group by Nazi Germany. Such treatment of the Polish victims of German WWII genocide borders on genocide denial and is not only illegal but also morally repugnant, grossly unjust, and hence contradictory to the stated objectives of the Bills.

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

RECOMMENDATION

Considering all the above, I urge you, Sir, to vote against H.R. 1226.

Furthermore, I strongly suggest that an Envoy for WWII Genocide on Ethnic Poles be established at the same administrative level as the Holocaust Envoy. Such Envoy on Polish Holocaust shall be consulted on any WWII restitution issues, whether against Poland or on behalf of Poland.

 

Respectfully yours,

 

6.  List of Congressmen on House Foreign Affairs Committee

 

7.  Suggested script when writing to Congressman with legal objections:

 

(Your name and address):

……………………………………………………….

……………………………………………………….

 

 

 

To The Honorable, ………………………………………………., House of Representatives, Foreign Affairs Committee,

 

Dear Sir (Madame),
On December 12, 2017, the U.S. Senate approved Bill S.447, known as “the Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today (JUST) Act of 2017”.

 

Now, House Bill H.R.1226, which mirrors U.S. Senate Bill S.447, is awaiting evaluation by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Attached is an independent legal evaluation of the proposed House Bill H.R.1226 that I am respectfully submitting for your review. It is my firm position that H.R.1226 is logically and legally flawed, per the attached legal analysis.

I urge you to reject H.R.1226.

Very truly yours,

 

 

 

Another suggested script when calling or e-mailing your congressman:

 

My name is _________.

Mr(s). ________ is my congressman.

(My family and I participated in helping _______ to be elected

and we made donations during his(her) campaign).

As a Polish American, I am concerned about the proposed bill H.R. 1226.

It is of great importance to me that the JUST ACT will not be applied to Poland.

Poland cannot be treated as villain in the matter of restitution

of or compensation for property confiscated by forcibly-imposed

external regimes during the period from 1939 to 1989.

(I would like to know when I, as a Polish American, could meet

with you and present my arguments.)

My email address _______ and tel. No ________.

Thank you for your attention.