embassy events 2009

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur Visits Warsaw

21 August 2009

Congresswoman Kaptur during the lively breakfast meeting at the Bristol Hotel in Warsaw.

Polish-American Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, who represents Northern Ohio's Ninth Congressional District, is visiting Poland this month. On August 21, Lisa Helling, newly arrived Public Affairs Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, hosted a breakfast at the Bristol Hotel to introduce Congresswoman Kaptur to several Polish Women Leaders in the fields of government, academia, and journalism. Kaptur also gave an interview to a prominent, independent women’s weekly magazine Wysokie Obcasy. Congresswoman Kaptur, who has been a steadfast ambassador of Central Europe in the U.S. House of Representatives and supported Polish causes throughout her life, recently introduced a resolution recognizing the 70th anniversary of the Soviet and Nazi invasion of Poland. On this trip, she’s accompanying Marian Wojciechowski, the 95-year-old World War II Veteran, who decided to visit the land of his birth and participate in the commemoration ceremonies on September 1. “I am honored to have been asked to accompany this son of Poland and of Toledo, a living example of an indomitable spirit who continues to inspire people,” said Kaptur. “Truly, he is an extraordinary man.”

Congresswoman Kaptur is currently serving her fourteenth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. She is the senior-most woman in the 111th Congress. Kaptur first travelled to Soviet-dominated Poland, Ukraine, then Czechoslovakia and Hungary as a private citizen with her mother Anastasia Rogowska Kaptur in 1973 and 1975.   They travelled by private car (being stopped by Soviet border guards) in search of a family history that had been lost since the early 20th century.  That journey helped shape her life as the mother-daughter team found family members and discovered what had happened to their ancestral villages during the tumultuous 20th century.

Upon Poland regaining independence in 1989, Kaptur passed legislation to establish credit unions in Poland. For that effort, she received the highest international award of the World Council of Credit Unions. In addition, Kaptur has been a supporter of development assistance for Poland, the visa waiver, and Poland's admission to NATO.  Additionally, Kaptur and her brother Stephen established two small private charities, in honor of their parents  – the Kaptur Community Fund and the Anastasia Fund – that contribute to humanitarian causes in the United States and throughout the globe.