Coalition of Polish Americans position on hearing in the House Foreign Subcommittee on “Europe, Energy, the Environment and Cyber”

Nov 27, 2021

House Foreign Affairs Committee

EUROPE, ENERGY, THE ENVIRONMENT AND CYBER Subcommittee

Hon. William Keating, Chair, Hon. Brian Fitzpatrick, Ranking Member, Hon. Susan Wild, Hon. Abigail Spanberger, Hon. Albio Sires, Hon. Theodore Deutch, Hon. David Cicilline, Hon. Dina Titus, Hon. Dean Phillips, Hon. Jim Costa, Hon. Vicente Gonzalez, Hon. Brad Schneider, Hon. Ann Wagner, Hon. Adam Kinzinger, Hon. Brian Mast, Hon. Dan Meuser, Hon. Claudia Tenney, Hon. August Pfluger, Hon. Nicole Malliotakis, Hon. Peter Meijer

Your Subcommittee scheduled a virtual hearing on December 2nd with Mr. Rafal Trzaskowski, Mayor of Warsaw, Mr. Gergely Karácsony, Mayor of Budapest, Mr. Zdenek Hrib, Mayor of Prague and Mr. Matúš Vallo, Mayor of Bratislava, titled: “Innovative Municipal Leadership in Central Europe: Founding Members of the Pact of Free Cities.”

To people even remotely connected to Central Europe the very name of the „Pact of Free Cites” inevitably brings back memories of the Free City of Danzing, and the role it played in starting WWII. The history was on display when the four mayors met in Berlin to seek financing. The Pact of Free Cities aims to bypass state governments and seek direct funding from European Union, founded in main part by Germany. The Pact describes itself as a group of cites that are “tolerant, open and environmentally aware”. We, Polish Americans feel entitled to outline Warsaw’s adherence to these three attributes under Mr. Trzaskowski’s administration.

But to talk about the city of Warsaw we must first remind its tragic 20th century history starting in 1939, the outbreak of WWII. At the very beginning of this six year war, the city was bombed by German planes and artillery which destroyed 25% of its infrastructure including famous landmarks like the Royal Castle that played no military role. Another 25% of Warsaw buildings were destroyed during the Warsaw uprising, during which time desperate Poles took to arms to liberate their city in 1944 when Germany’s fall was imminent. After defeating the Uprising the city was entirely depopulated by the German army and another 30% of its buildings burned and blown up, including additional historical landmarks like the Saxon palace. This was only possible due to the Soviets stopping their offensive. The war between Soviet Russia and Germany was fierce and brutal, but nevertheless the two sides managed to cooperate twice, once in 1939 when the Soviets invaded Poland while Warsaw was still fighting, and again in 1944, when Soviets stopped their offensive to allow Germany to defeat the Uprising and destroy the rest of the city. To this day Germany paid no reparations to Poland for the destruction of Warsaw and its inhabitants.

The tragic history of Warsaw is important because it shows the role that the Polish capital occupies for both Russia and Germany. After taking over in 1945 the Communists implemented a strict policy allowing only their most dedicated supporters to settle in Warsaw. Today, the offspring of these hard-line communists still populate Warsaw, and Mr. Trzaskowski’s rule in Warsaw is due to their support.

So what are Mr. Trzaskowski’s achievements under the „Frees Cities” alliance and vision?

First, as it relates to „tolerance and openness” the city tirelessly fights the massive annual march in celebration of regaining Polish Independence on November 11. The march was marred with provocations and incidents like German Antifa terrorists beating members of the Polish historic reconstruction group, destroying a TV car and burning the Russian embassy security post, and even secret police attacking peaceful marchers. However, starting in 2015 when the Law and Justice party took power, the march has been peaceful and attracts all kinds of participants, young and old, including veterans, workers, students and families with little children, proudly showing their love and dedication to Poland. The city under Mr. Trzaskowski persistently denies permits for these popular Independence Day marches in violation of universal right to assembly and free speech. By using the city government to stage an ideological war against people wanting to peacefully and happily celebrate Polish Independence Day, Mr Trzaskowski desecrates the memory of Polish patriots who sacrificed their lives for independent Poland.

Mr. Trzaskowski record on environment is equally bad. Under his watch there have been two major and numerous minor break-downs of Warsaw infrastructure, including the infamous „Czajka” sewage system failure that sent thousands of tons of untreated city waste down the Vistula river and required the city to ask for help from the Polish military.

Another of the priorities of the „Pact of Free Cities” is to implement so called Smart City technologies. Unfortunately, under Mr. Trzaskowski, Warsaw is yet to put street signs over intersections in Warsaw, or paint the city streets with fluorescent driving lines, so they are visible at night. These improvements may not be the cutting edge technology, nor very „innovative” as the title of the subcommittee conference states, but they would go long way towards helping Warsaw drivers, and making the city streets safer.

With these examples, it is obvious that Warsaw’s local government headed by Mr. Trzaskowski is neither tolerant, open nor environmentally friendly and we hope he will be challenged to answer for his failures during this conference.

We would like to point out to you that the interference in Poland’s democratic process is un-American and un-Democratic. The idea of turning metropolitan areas into ‘free zones” has no precedent in the history of western world, except for the tragic Free City of Danzing mentioned above. Why is this an issue for the American Congress? Aren’t we inviting Berlin or New York attempting the same – because they disagree with national elections!?

Sincerely,

Leszek Pawlik

President

Coalition of Polish Americans