On the recordApril 14, 2010
The gentleman's words are so eloquent. And I am reminded that in the resolution that was passed this afternoon here in the Congress, one of those who lost her life on that plane was Anna Walentynowicz, who's the former dock worker whose firing in 1908 sparked the solidarity strike that ultimately overthrew the Polish communist government, and of course she was killed in the crash as well. And last August, when I traveled to Poland, one of the cities we visited was Poznan, and what was--there were many, many moments that were memorable, but I can remember standing near the town square and seeing very huge, huge crosses, metal crosses that had rope bonds around them, and underneath it, the years 1956 through the late fifties, through the sixties, through the seventies, all of the strikes and protests inside of communist Poland that ultimately, in 1980 and during the decade of the 1980s, then erupted. But the courage, the progressive courage, decade after decade after decade, at, obviously, threat to loss of their own life and loss of their own life, the people of Poland trying to build a solidarity movement to change life in that part of the world was an extraordinary story. It's a story of great heroism. And I think the gentleman reminds us of the price that has been paid by the people of Poland for their liberty.
