Jan Karski - Honors/Legacy

Honors/Legacy

On 2 June 1982, Yad Vashem recognised Jan Karski as Righteous Among the Nations. A tree bearing a memorial plaque in his name was planted that same year at Yad Vashem's Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations in Jerusalem.

In 1991, Karski was awarded the Wallenberg Medal of the University of Michigan. Statues honoring Karski have been placed in New York City at the corner of 37th Street and Madison Avenue (renamed as Jan Karski Corner) and on the grounds of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Georgetown University, Oregon State University, Baltimore Hebrew College, Warsaw University, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, and the University of Łódź all awarded Karski honorary doctorates.

In 1994, Karski was made an honorary citizen of Israel in honor of his efforts on behalf of Polish Jews during the Holocaust (Shoah).

In April 2011, the Jan Karski U.S. Centennial Campaign was created to increase interest in the life and legacy of the late Polish diplomat, as we approach the Centennial year of his birth in 2014. The U.S. Campaign, headed by Polish-American author Wanda Urbanska, is working in partnership with the International Legacy program at the Polish History Museum in Warsaw, Poland under the direction of Ewa Wierzynska. Polish Consul General Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka hosted a gala kickoff dinner in New York City on May 30, consisting of representatives from Georgetown University, Polish Catholic and Jewish groups to organize a steering committee, which currently includes 17 prominent individuals.

One goal of the Campaign group was to obtain the Presidential Medal of Freedom for Karski in advance of his Centennial, as well as to promote educational activities, including workshops, artistic performances and the revival of his 1944 book, "Story of a Secret State." In December 2011, the support of 68 U.S. Representatives and 12 U.S. Senators was obtained and a package for the Medal was submitted to the White House. On April 23, 2012, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that Karski would receive the country's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Medal was awarded by President Obama on May 29, 2012 and presented to Adam Daniel Rotfeld, the former Foreign Minister of Poland and himself a Jewish Holocaust survivor.

Controversy occurred when a misspoken word in the President's Presidential Medal of Freedom speech came to be known as 'Gafa Obamy' or Obama's gaffe, when the President referred to 'a Polish death camp' when talking of the Nazi German transit death camp that Karski had visited. However, there were no "Polish death camps" in Nazi German-occupied Poland. The death camps in which millions of Poland’s citizens were liquidated were Nazi-conceived, Nazi-built and Nazi-operated. More than six million Poles died in WWII, about half Jewish and half Christian. Most died as a result of the brutal Nazi occupation from 1939 to 1945. In fact, no term more than "Polish death camps" mischaracterizes the role of Poles in World War II. The Polish Underground formed Zegota in 1942 to save Jews and many were saved. There are more than 6,000 Polish Righteous Among the Nations, recognized by Yad Vashem in honor of risking their lives and the lives of their families for saving Jews. Poland was the only country in occupied Europe where death sentences were handed down to anyone helping Jews, as well as their entire family. The terms "Polish death camp" or "Polish concentration camp" were reportedly promulgated by ex-Nazis working for the West German secret services. Historian Leszek Pietrzak explains the propaganda strategies from the 1950s. President Obama later characterized his term as a mis-statement and it was accepted by Polish President Bronisław Komorowski.

In February 2012, independent researcher Helen Radkey discovered that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or "Mormons") had conducted baptism for the dead ceremonies in the name of Karski, who was a devout Roman Catholic. Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, who knew and admired Karski, denounced the church's acts. "He was a hero for thousands of people, and it’s simply unfair to do that to his name and to him," Wiesel said. "He deserves better than that. He deserves to be left in peace."