Warsaw: unveiling of the plaque commemorating Jan Karski

Maria Zawadzka, 16 November 2016
On Thursday, July 13th, 2010 took place the unveiling of the plaque commemorating Jan Karski at 1 Krakowskie Przedmieście Street in Warsaw. The ceremony was part of the celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the death of the legendary courier. In the ceremony took part, among others, the Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, Jacek Najder, the Ambassador of Israel to Poland Zvi Rav-Ner, and the former Ambassador of Poland to Israel, Maciej Kozłowski.

Before the Second World War, in the building at 1 Krakowskie Przedmieście Street was located the Police Headquaters of the City of Warsaw. Its chief was Marian Kozielewski, the brother of Jan Karski. It is there that the Righteous Among the Nations and legendary courier started his underground activity. The commemorative plaque reads the following words: "In this house, in November 1939, Jan Karski started his underground service. Polish diplomat, officer, emissary of the Polish Underground State and the Polish Government-in-Exile, who alerted the world about the crime of the Holocaust".

Jan Karski (born Kozielewski) went in secret twice to the Warsaw Ghetto, to document the dramatic situation of the Jews. To gather evidence proving the Nazi crimes, he entered a camp, which he then identified as the Bełżec death camp – later it turned out it was the transit camp in Izbica Lubelska. Disguised as a Ukrainian guard, he entered it exactly when Jews were placed in the train cars. His report about the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto arrived to London in November 1942. During the whole Second World War Karski continued his mission of informing the world about the structures of the Polish Underground State, the situation in Poland and the dramatic fate of the Jews. He met many Jewish, Polish and British politicians, journalists, writers and influential representatives of the public opinion. After the war Karski decided to stay in America. For 40 years he was lecturer at the Faculty of Foreign Service at the Georgetown University in Washington. In 1982 Jan Karski was awarded with the title of the Righteous Among the Nations, and in 1995 he was honored with the Order of the White Eagle. He was nominated to the Nobel Peace Prize. He died on July 13th, 2000 in Washington.