“Jan Karski was a man imbued with what Thomas Mann called the ‘spirit of nobility’”, said Laurence Weinbaum of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) in his opening address at the first ever conference devoted the life and legacy of the famous Polish emissary who brought news of the destruction of Polish Jewry to the highest levels in London and Washington during World War II.
The three-day gathering in Zamosc, entitled ‘Jan Karski: Witnesss – Emissary - Man’ was organized and sponsored by the Foundation for the Protection of Jewish Heritage (FODZ) , of which the WJC is a partner, the Catholic University of Lublin, the Union of Jewish Congregations in Poland and the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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In the 1980s, Weinbaum was a student of Karski's at Georgetown University and later his assistant in the Department of Government there. The conference was held in the eastern city's renaissance synagogue which was built at the beginning of the 17th century and renovated by FODZ, and is regarded as one of the most outstanding examples of Jewish sacral architecture in Central Europe. Before the war, Zamosc was home to 12,000 Jews, half of the city's total population.
Karski, who died in 2000, is best known for his eyewitness reports to the Western world on the terrible suffering and death of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto and elsewhere in Poland. Weinbaum declared: “Karski is a symbol that continues to inspire us. He told Roosevelt and other important officials what was happening to the Jews of Europe, but sadly they did not take effective action to rescue them. This is something that Jews can never forget."
Describing Karski, Weinbaum, who co-edited a book on the Polish hero published in Israel, said “he was a man of extraordinary courage, morality, modesty and warmth who was uncomfortable playing the role of hero. He was a patriot, but one whose was never oblivious to the stains on his nations escutcheon. He would have been proud of the younger generation of Polish scholars who have not recoiled from exposing the most painful episodes in Poland's wartime history. Professor Karski would have regarded them as many of us do: as the most noble and courageous sons and daughters of the Polish nation."
