Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 98 Part 2.djvu/189

 PUBLIC LAW 98-384—AUG. 17, 1984

98 STAT. 1349

Public Law 98-384 98th Congress Joint Resolution Recognizing the anniversaries of the Warsaw uprising and the Polish resistance to invasion of Poland during World War II.

Whereas August 1, 1984, marks the fortieth anniversary of the Warsaw uprising, an event of major significance in the history of World War II; Whereas on August 1, 1944, the PoUsh Home Army under the command of General Tedeusz Bor-Komorowski rose up against the Nazis who had begun evacuating Warsaw in the face of the Soviet advance through Eastern Europe, held major portions of the city for sixty-three days against insuperable odds, and suffered extreme hardship, retribution, and personal sacrifice throughout a heroic engagement in which approximately two hundred and fifty thousand Poles were killed, wounded, or missing; Whereas September 1, 1984, marks the forty-fifth anniversary of the invasion of Poland by the Army and Air Force of the Third Reich, which was followed just sixteen days later by the Soviet invasion from the East and the subsequent occupation of a zone populated by thirteen million Poles, these events having led to the development of a strong underground movement directed by the Polish Government in exile; Whereas the three wartime leaders of the Polish Home Army, Lieutenant General Stefan Rowecki, murdered by the Gestapo in 1944, Lieutenant General Bor-Komorowski, imprisoned by the Nazis and died in London in 1966, and Major General Leopold Okulicki, imprisoned by the Soviets and perished in a Soviet jail in 1945, symbolize the supreme personal sacrifice and commitment to the cause of freedom and self-determination; Whereas the spirit of Polish resistance to foreign oppression and domination is symbolized by these historic events and remains a vital element in the Polish national character as manifested by the emergence of the Solidarity Trade Union movement in 1980; and Whereas, in prior years, the President has granted special recognition to these important days in Polish history, with particular regard to the crucial role of the Polish Home Army in the Allied war effort, and to the leaders of the Polish Home Army: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the United States joins in recognizing the anniversary of the Warsaw uprising, which stands as a poignant reminder to the world of the power of the human spirit over adversity, and the anniversary of the Polish

^ ^ g j-y 2^934 B• [S.J. Res. 272]

�