29th May – the Ceremony Honouring Jan Karski with the Medal of Freedom

KJ, 16 November 2016
Jan Karski – a courier of the Polish Underground, a Righteous Among the Nations – will be posthumously awarded the Presidential Freedom Medal, the highest American honour awarded to a civilian. US President, Barack Obama will honour Karski on 29th May in a ceremony at the White House.

President Obama announced his intention to honour Karski on 23rd April during a visit to the Holocaust Museum in Washington. He stressed that Karsky’s conduct during World War II was deserving of respect and should be remembered by future generations. Karski did not remain indifferentto the Nazis’ cruelty towards the Jews. He was not afraid to speak of it publicly. He personally sent reports from occupied Warsaw to American and British politicians.

It is as yet not known who will accept the medal on Jan Karski’s behalf. Karski died in 2000. According to unofficial reports, that person could be Lech Wałęsa. The White House has yet to make a final decision.

The Presidential Freedom Medal is awarded to people who specifically contribute to world peace, to the security of the USA or who have made some outstanding achievement. Apart from Jan Karski, on 29th May, the Freedom Medal will be awarded to another eleven people – outstanding politicians, activists and artists, among them being former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Israeli President and two-time former Prime Minister Shimon Peres and musician Bob Dylan.