embassy events 2009

U.S. Special Envoy Christian Kennedy to Visit Poland

25 August 2009

German and Jewish police guard an entrance to the Ghetto Litzmannstadt

As part of a week-long visit to Poland beginning on August 26, Ambassador J. Christian Kennedy, the U.S. Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues, will travel to Łódź, Poznań, Lublin, Belzec, and Warsaw, announced Craig Conway,  Deputy Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw. In Łódź, Ambassador Kennedy, along with Embassy Warsaw Political Counselor Dan Sainz and Public Affairs Counselor Lisa Helling, will participate in the August 27 ceremonies marking the 65th anniversary of the liquidation of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto. That day, Kennedy will attend Holy Mass at  the Church of the Assumption of St. Mary, a ceremony at the Memorial at Radegast Bahnhof, and the unveiling of a monument honoring Poles who saved Jews during World War II at the Survivors’ Park.  He will also attend a performance of Andrzej Krauze’s "Righteous of This World." 

From there, he will travel to Poznań and Lublin, where he will meet with local government officials and community leaders.  He will also visit the monument and museum at the former Nazi death camp at Belzec.  In Warsaw, Ambassador Kennedy will meet with Polish government officials and religious leaders, and participate in a reception honoring Warsaw’s Museum of the History of Polish Jews, which is set to open in 2012.