2009 Senate Joint Resolution 67
ENROLLED JOINT RESOLUTION
Relating to: honoring the life and public service of Polish President Lech Kaczynski and others.
Whereas, Polish President Lech Kaczynski was born on June 18, 1949, in Warsaw, Poland, and died on April 10, 2010, in a plane crash near Smolensk, Russia; and
Whereas, 95 other military and civilian leaders and flight crew also died in the crash, including Polish First Lady Maria Kaczynski, the former Polish president-in-exile, deputy speaker of Poland's parliament, head of the president's chancellery, head of the National Security Bureau, deputy minister of foreign affairs, chief of the general staff of the Polish Army, president of Poland's national bank, commissioner for civil rights protection, the heads of all of Poland's armed forces, and dozens of members of the Polish parliament; and
Whereas, President Kaczynski's flight went down while attempting to land at the Smolensk-North airport during his visit to Russia to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn Massacre in which more than 20,000 of Poland's elite were killed; and
Whereas, President Kaczynski, who was elected in 2005, strengthened ties with Ukraine and Georgia and had recently helped facilitate a warming of relations between Poland and Russia; and
Whereas, Russia extended an invitation to Poland to join in commemorating the Katyn Massacre, which is indicative of the countries' growing friendship; and
Whereas, the outpouring of grief in Poland and around the world is reflective of the mourning taking place in Wisconsin's large and tightly knit Polish-American community; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the
senate, the assembly concurring, That the members of the Wisconsin legislature honor the lives of the Polish president, Lech Kaczynski, and the Polish officials and flight crew who died on April 10, 2010.
