Ted Poe: “I also rise today to join all my colleagues in mourning the death of President Lech Kaczynski and many others who died…”

“I also rise today to join all my colleagues in mourning the death of President Lech Kaczynski and many others who died in that plane crash on April 10, 2010. Poland lost some of its most famous political figures. They were heroes among the Polish people. The 95 people that died that day included the President, a very pro-U.S. and anti-Soviet individual, and his wife and numerous other political government officials. It's interesting to note why so many officials were going to Russia, why they were on that particular plane headed to a specific event. Well, that Polish delegation was traveling to Russia to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre. On September 17, 1939, the Red Army invaded the territory of Poland from the east. They captured hundreds of thousands of Poles and deported them to prisoner of war camps in the western Soviet Union. Once at the camps, the Poles were subjected to lengthy interrogations; and if the prisoners could not be induced to adopt a pro-Soviet attitude, they were declared 'hardened and uncompromising enemies of Soviet authority.' So on March 5, 1940, Joseph Stalin and three of his henchmen signed an order to execute over 20,000 prisoners, all Poles, to weaken any future Polish military.”