Manhattan monument honoring Holocaust eyewitness is unveiled

NEW YORK - A monument honoring the Polish underground officer who is credited with giving the first eyewitness accounts of the Warsaw Ghetto and a Nazi concentration camp to U.S. and British officials was unveiled Sunday outside the Polish Consulate.

The Manhattan monument features a statue of the officer, Jan Karski, sitting erect on a bench, with his legs crossed and a cane in his hand. A chess board _ a game he enjoyed playing _ is nearby.

Karski, a Roman Catholic, infiltrated the ghetto and concentration camp and in 1942 and 1943 told President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, among others, what he saw. But few believed him, and little immediate action was taken, said people who attended the dedication ceremony.

Krzysztof Kasprzyk, the consul general of the Republic of Poland in New York, described Karski, who died in Washington in 2000 at age 86, as an "iconic man" and a "true hero of the 20th century."

Maciej Kozlowski, Poland's former ambassador to Israel, said Karski "was a man of remarkable courage, insight and integrity." Kozlowski, currently director of Poland's foreign affairs ministry, said Karski told him that he never forgot what he had witnessed and that it still "stood in front of his eyes."

Others called Karski a "legendary hero" and said his actions symbolized "the highest level of humanity."

"Jan Karski was a Polish hero and an unusual one because he was a hero for" Jews in Poland, former Mayor Ed Koch said.

After the war, Karski studied at Georgetown University, where he later taught international affairs, government and other subjects for decades.

Kasprzyk read a letter from Bill Clinton, who was a student of Karski's, in which the former president called Karski a "remarkable individual" who "risked his life" and showed "moral courage." The recognition, Clinton said, was "richly deserved."

The monument ceremony was held on Polish Independence Day, which coincided this year with Veterans Day. There's also a proposal pending City Council approval to name the monument's location, East 37th Street and Madison Avenue, Jan Karski Corner.

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