Travels with the Ambassador: Kielce

31 August 2011

Ambassador Lee Feinstein speaking at the Terror Victims Memorial (Homo Homini) in Kielce, August 31

I returned to Kielce this week for a moving display of Polish-American solidarity.

I accompanied Mayor Wojciech Lubawski and Wojewoda Bozentyna Pałka-Koruba on Wednesday morning to the stunning monument to the victims of 9-11 and other acts of terror.  The Mayor was the driving force behind the building of this monument, which is a tribute to the people of this dynamic city and their commitment to tolerance and respect for the past.

Later in the day, joined by Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, commander of the U.S. Army Europe, I was briefed by Polish and American troops training together at the Kielce Peace Operations Training Center as they prepared to deploy together to Afghanistan next month.  This was my second trip to the base, and I left impressed at the sophistication and dedication of the Poles and Americans, who train together seamlessly.

In the city center, Director Jacek Rogala took me on a hard hat tour of the Kielce Philharmonic Hall due to open in the winter.  I visited the statue of Jan Karski and memorials marking the liquidation of the Kielce ghetto and pogrom of 1946, guided by Bogdan Bialek. 

I later discussed the reconstruction and investment taking place in the city in meetings with Mayor Wojciech Lubawski and Marshall Adam Jarubas.

Kielce
August 31, 2011