POLISH AMERICAN CONGRESS' PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
 
             Some questions have different answers.  "How long did World War II last?" is one of them. 
 
             For most Europeans the answer would be six years, counting from September 1, 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland to the time of the German surrender in May, 1945.  In America, most of us would likely say “nearly four.  We would count from the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 to the time of the Japanese surrender in August, 1945.
 
             In Poland, however, many will tell you fifty years. Those who lived through that period  of history saw German and Soviet troops invade Poland together in 1939 and their country   would not see freedom and independence again until June, 1989. 
 
             That's why the Polish American Congress is holding its a "Salute to Solidarity" today.   We  pay tribute to Lech Walesa and the shipyard workers and the ten million Polish citizens who joined their movement and finally brought this fifty-year war to an end.  For the  Allies and Western Europe, VE-Day took place in May, 1945.  Poland's VE-Day was  celebrated in June, 1989 with the birth of the Third Republic of Poland. 
 
But before this victory was ever achieved, Solidarity waged a monumental battle in defense of human rights and human dignity and against the tyranny of Communist repression.   Strikes,protests, beatings, jailings, sometimes even shootings, were the order of the day.   Directly or indirectly, Pope John Paul II, Father Jerzy Popieluszko, President Ronald Reagan and thePolish American Congress were some of the others who also became involved in the struggle. 
 
When the Polish American Congress was founded in 1944, our purpose was to act as the voice of the Polish community in the United States and to speak out on behalf of the interests of Poland.   We could not prevent the betrayal of Poland at Yalta despite our determined efforts    to see a free and independent Poland emerge after the end of World War II.  The
Soviet Army remained on Polish soil after hostilities ended and anti-Polish Communist politicians took over the halls of government in Warsaw. Throughout all the post-war  years, the Polish American Congress never faltered in  representing the interests of the  Polish people and fighting for the cause of a free and independent Poland.
 
           When the workers of the Gdansk and Szczecin shipyards rose up in 1980  to challenge  the entire Communist system, we knew they needed and wanted the moral support of  everyone else, everywhere else, who cherished freedom and liberty.  And they especially   needed and wanted the moral support of all Polonia --- all their brothers and sisters living  abroad.
 
          So we in the Downstate New York Division of the Polish American Congress joined in to  give them that moral support.  We organized and conducted demonstration after demonstration  in New York City to remind every American that the fight for reedom was in full force in  Poland. 
 
We demonstrated in front of the United Nations Building, the Polish Consulate, the Soviet and Polish Missions to the U.N.  We marched through the streets of the city.   The big news    of that time was that the fight for freedom was underway in Poland and we wanted the  American public to be aware of it.  The story of that struggle had to be kept in the forefront,  we were convinced.  We could not allow it to be overlooked or forgotten.   We did not allow  it to be overlooked or forgotten because the Polish Americans of New York came out when    we asked them to join us.  Together with them, our voices were heard over here and also in Poland over the airwaves of Radio Free Europe and Voice of America. 
 
          But the Polish American Congress gave more than its moral support.  Polish Americans gave us their generous monetary donations so we could send Poland medical supplies and equipment. They even donated clothing, even shoes.  We did this together for eight long years, from 1980 to 1988.  Polonia was with Solidarity. 
 
          There were days of hope, and high expectations.   But there were also days of worry and   discouragement.  To dispel the darkness of some of those days when we might have been inclined to cloud our vision about the success of everything that was going on in Poland, we heard a comforting voice.  It was the voice of Lech Walesa who never
wavered in the fight for freedom.  His message to the Poles in Poland and to the Poles everywhere else was loud and
clear: "My Zwyciezymy"  --- "We will win."
 
          And so we did.  And so we are here today to remember.  And to hold our "Salute to Solidarity."