Kosciuszko-Symbol of Freedom
BULLITT, WILLIAM C.
Kosciuszko—Symbol of Freedom By William C. Bullitt CEBRUARY TWELFTH wss the birthday of two fcrest leaders of mankind's struggle for libertyLincoln and Kosciustko. They were unlike in...
...He became the leader of the Polish people as Washington had become the leader of the American people...
...More than sixty yesrs before Lincoln signed the Emsncipation Proclsmstion, Kosciuszko signed his will leaving all his property in America—which included five hundred acres at the site of the City of Columbus, Ohio— to Thomas Jefferson, to be used to purchase liberty for Negroes who were in slavery...
...And no nation can have forgotten that the Poles made their decision to fight Hitler, rather than "appease" him, with full knowledge that France and Great Britain were iilipre- ' pared to attack Germany and that Poland would have to fight virtually alone...
...There will be no peace in the world if that hope is disappointed...
...But the year 1939 is so recent thst no nation can have forgotten that Poland then/ first, before all other nations, dared to fight against the forces of Hitler...
...Why did the Poles fight Hitler, knowing that they wculd have to fight virtually alone...
...Poland -arose free and independent—though devastated by battle and desperately poor...
...And the Germans snd the Russians again announced to the world that Poland had reaaed to exist But, ss in the days of Kosciuszko, Poland has no...
...Because the spirit which burned in Kosciuszko still burns in the hearts of the Poles: Because they learned through terrible yeais of dismemberment and oppression that wounds tc the body of a nation are less terrible than wounds to a nation's scul: Because they know that a nation lives when it sons choose death rather than slavery...
...The Polish government in London, headed by a peasant leader and composed in large measure of leader* of the peasants and th* city workers, is in the cloteit touch with the underground in Poland and represents truly the Polish people...
...The policies of nations are influenced rarely by gratitude...
...ceased to exist...
...Again, ss in the dsyt ol Kosciuszko, the Polish armies were defested by over whelming forces—Poland wss agsin psrtitioned—totsllj partitioned...
...but they were one in their devotion to freedom for all men...
...But all the governments of the western world can at least recall the gratitude they felt in 1939 to the Poles for daring to fight instead of "appeasing" Hitler: Gratitude, because, if the Poles had not fought, sll Central, Eastern and Southwestern Europe would have fallen into Hitler's hands without a fight...
...The agi-eements signed at Moscow and Teheran aroused the hope that,- in the interest of lasting peart st the end of the pre«ent war, all major problem* which might affect the peace of the world would be taken up by the United Nations acting together and not decided by any one of the United Nations acting alone and by force...
...We know also that—ss in the yesr 1939—the esse of Polsnd is the test esse which will determine the fste of the smaller nations of Esstern, Southeastern and Central Europe...
...LIE was in a cell in a Russian prison when Russia, Prussia and Austria in 1796 partitioned all Poland between them and announced to the world that Poland had ceased to exifft...
...We hope that our present reoperation with all the United Nations will continue throughout this war and after the war...
...There i* in Poland thi largest and strongest underground movement of resistance thst exist* in sny country in Europe...
...Seven years of uninterrupted service Kosciuszko gave" to the American Army, then returned to his native land to win at lasting a fame as is granted to any manby leading the Poles in their fight for freedom and ¦¦dependence against the attacks of Russia...
...Bornln Eastern Poland, and" trained as a military -~ engineer in France, Kocsiuazko came to America at the age of thirty, just after our Declaration of Independence, to offer his services to the cause of liberty...
...Kosciuszko not only believed that all men should be tree but acted on this belief...
...In September 1939 while the Poles were fighting desperately against the Germans, they were attacked in the rear by the Russisns...
...The Poles die but Poland lives...
...Poland had, indeed, ceased to exist as an independent state but Poland had not ceased to exist either in the hearts of the Poles or in the minds of decent men throughout the world...
...In 1918, the defeat of Russia, then of Austria, then of Germany, gave to Poland the freedom for which Kosciuszko had fought...
...The Polish aviators in Greet Britain, who rendered tuch tupert service in the defense of England against Goring'i bombers, and the Polish Army, both in Great Britain and the Mediterranean area, are ready to fight theii way back to their native land...
...To the freedom of America and the freedom of Poland, he gave his<dife...
...Prussia and Austria...
...They were unlike in origin snd personality...
...All Americans are determined that it shall not be disappointed...
...He was not only the commander of the Polish Army but also the living embodiment of the patriotism which bad distinguished Poles of all generations...
...We know that friendship is not s one-wsy street snd thst cooperation means mutual consultation, and give and take...
...For all the world he became such a symbol of man's struggle for freedom that, when his army was crushed by the overwhelming forces of Russia, Prussia and Austria, and he fell, covered with wounds, and was captured by the Russians, the feelings of the world were expressed by an English poet in the lines: "Hope, for a season, bade the world farewell, And Freedom ahriek'd ss Kosciuszko fell...
...We know, therefore, that if there is to be peace after this war, the case of Poland mnat be decided not on the basis of force but on the basis of justice and fair play—the principles of the Atlantic Charter...
...Hs is the purest son of liberty among you all that I have.ever known, the kind of liberty which extends to all, not only to the rich...
...Thomas Jefferson, who was Kosciuszko's close friend, once) wrote to General Gates: "I see Kosciustko often...
...In Spite of the murders snd deportations of millions of Poles, there is on the soil of Poland today the Polish people struggling in every possible way against the German...
...TMATIONS have short memories...
Vol. 27 • February 1944 • No. 8
