Ambassador Victor Ashe

Greetings from Warsaw!

February was a very active month for us at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw. It saw the first meetings between Poland’s leaders and senior officials of the Obama administration, including Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s meeting with Vice President Joseph Biden in Munich, Germany, on February 7. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates also had their first meetings with their counterparts and other Polish officials in Washington and Kraków.

This year, as Poland celebrates the 10th Anniversary of membership in NATO, the annual informal meeting of Defense Ministers took place in Kraków on February 19-20. The NATO Ministerial Meeting was a great opportunity for Poland to host important security discussions this year. The main purpose of the conference, hosted by Poland’s Minister of Defense Bogdan Klich, was to chart the best course for NATO in 2009 and discuss the best strategy to handle Afghanistan. During the two-day meeting, Secretary Gates, who headed the U.S. delegation to Kraków, and Minister Klich signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between Polish and U.S. Special Forces. Secretary Gates also met with Prime Minister Tusk and Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski. Several senior U.S. officials and military officers including Kurt Volker, U.S. Ambassador to NATO and Dan Fried, former U.S. Ambassador to Poland and Assistant Secretary of State for Europe, also attended the conference.

Minister Sikorski’s recent visit to Washington, DC on February 25 for his first meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was another important milestone in further strengthening diplomatic ties between our countries. This was the first face-to-face meeting between Sikorski and his American counterpart since Clinton became the Obama Administration’s chief diplomat on January 21. Secretary Clinton stated: “Poland is one of our closest allies, and our relationships between our two countries, particularly the Polish American community and the many contributions that they’ve made, make this an even more special partnership.”

On February 6, the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw joined Polish citizens in celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the beginning of the legendary Round Table Talks in Poland, which led to free elections. The Round Table Talks began when the Communist government initiated discussion with the banned trade union Solidarność in response to growing social unrest. The talks took place in Warsaw from February 6 to April 4, 1989. The document signed by the participants on April 4, 1989, laid the groundwork for creating an independent democratic country with all the freedoms Poland enjoys today. The Communist government hoped to continue ruling the country without making major changes in the political power structure. In reality, Round Table Talks dramatically altered the shape of the Polish government and society when the Communists were soundly defeated in the parliamentary elections. The events in Poland initiated many changes in Central European countries that led too the democratic transformation of the entire Communist bloc.

Early in February, as part of this year's celebration of 90 years of U.S.-Polish diplomatic relations, we held an event for Polish High School students participating in the new U.S.-Poland Parliamentary Youth Exchange. The pilot program offers students and teachers from the U.S. and Poland the opportunity to gain first-hand knowledge and a deeper understanding of each country’s history and culture. The first group of 15 students from Gdańsk and Nowy Sącz arrived in the United States on February 7 to spend four weeks studying in American high schools in either Des Moines, Iowa, or Chicago, Illinois; interning for a local government leader; and visiting key institutions during a Civic Education week in Washington, DC, where they met Indiana Senator Richard Lugar. The U.S. Embassy organized a pre-departure briefing and pizza party for the outgoing students with the help of the administrators and students from the American School of Warsaw.

In mid-February, Mrs. Ashe and I toured Dell’s new 37,000 square-meter manufacturing facility in Łódź. As some of you may know, Dell – one of the largest U.S. manufacturers of computer hardware – opened its newest and most advanced manufacturing facility in the world in Łódź, Poland last year. It was our first visit to the new plant (a €200 million investment, approx. $292 million!) and I was quite impressed with the manufacturing facility, the hi-tech equipment, and with Dell’s initiative in Poland as a whole. During the tour, I had a chance to look closely at Dell’s products, hear about future production plans, talk to several employees, and even test some of the latest computers. Dell’s new plant and the company’s recent decision to migrate all production of computer systems for customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) from Limerick, Ireland, to Łódź, is a great opportunity for Poland, especially during the current economic crisis. The plant is the largest American investment in Poland and currently operates three production lines with 2,000 employees and expects to add more production lines and possibly another 500 employees when it starts producing PCs in addition to laptops. This makes Dell a leading hi-tech employer in central Europe.

Also, I visited nearly 90-year-old Dr. Marek Edelman, one of the recipients of this year’s Jan Karski Freedom Award, on February 13 at his home in Warsaw to present the award to him in person. The award, part of the American Ambassadorial Awards Program, recognizes Poles who have worked for the promotion of democracy and human rights. Winners receive a statuette, created by the Jabłoński Art Glass Factory in Warsaw, which I personally present to them, and their names are added to a plaque in the Embassy’s main lobby. Dr. Edelman was among the founders of the underground Jewish Fighting Organization and succeeded Mordechai Anielewicz as one of the three sub-commanders in the Ghetto Uprising of 1943. Aided by the People’s Army, he escaped the liquidation of the ghetto, joined the Home Army and fought in the Warsaw Uprising. After the War, he studied medicine in Łódź and became a cardiologist. Numerous family and friends gathered at Dr. Edelman’s apartment to attend the award ceremony, including several Polish politicians and intellectuals: former Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki; author and journalist Adam Michnik; Jacek Fedorowicz; Seweryn Blumsztajn and Eugeniusz Smolar.

On Tuesday, February 17, we held a separate award ceremony to honor both Jan Karski Award recipients and present the statuette to another distinguished Polish citizen, Prof. Barbara Skarga, co-winner of this year’s award. Prof. Skarga, who will celebrate her 90th birthday in October this year, worked as a courier for the Home Army. She was arrested in 1944, spent a year in jail in Wilno (VIL-no, now Vilnius), and was then sent to labor camps in the former Soviet Union for almost ten years. After surviving these experiences, she dedicated herself to philosophy and enhancing Polish political consciousness. Professor Skarga was unable to receive the award in person due to a recent injury but a colleague accepted the award on her behalf. Several distinguished guests were in attendance, including Adam Michnik, Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka from the Presidential Chancellery, former Polish Ambassador to Iraq Edward Pietrzyk, and the Ambassadors to Poland from France, Israel, Latvia, and Ukraine.

After the January 28 C-130 delivery of gifts for Polish Children from the Orphanage in Słupsk and military-to-military aircraft demonstrations in Powidz, we had several important military visits from the United States in February. As part of the Polish F-16 Block 52+ “Peace Sky” program, Raytheon Missile Systems provided Maintenance training to Polish Air Force personnel from January 26 to February 6 at the Łask Air Base. U.S. Naval Personnel conducted a three-day familiarization event with the Polish Navy on February 9-12 to brief them on the structure of the supply system, naval logistics, U.S. Navy ship life cycle maintenance, and provisions. Colonel Cory Reid, Commander of the 182nd Mission Support Group, Illinois Air National Guard, visited Poland February 9-14 to meet with representatives of the Polish Air Force to discuss future State Partnership Program Events between the Illinois Air National Guard and the Polish Air Force. During the last three weeks of February, the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw and the Joint Special Operations University coordinated and provided Advanced NATO Planning Education for the Polish Special Operations Command Staff and Polish 1st Special Forces Regiment in Kraków.

We celebrated African American History Month throughout February. Activities included Embassy Speakers visiting students in several cities around Poland. The highlight was the Black History Month Documentary Film Festival, held at the Center for Contemporary Art in Ujazdowski Castle’s Kino Lab, which included a very special show of documentaries devoted to equal rights icons Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King and celebrities like Muhammad Ali. The grand finale of the series featured President Obama’s biography. My Deputy, Pam Quanrud, opened the event on February 21. The month’s celebration concluded with the launch of the Melvin Taylor band’s Chicago Blues Night Tour of Poland, which will conclude in mid-March with a private concert at Warsaw’s Intercontinental Hotel (a cosponsor of the tour) and workshops for music students at Warsaw’s Bednarska High School.

In March, we will be holding a forum entitled “New Media New Democracy,” focusing on the role of media in democracy and the democratization process and featuring Obama for America New Media Director Joe Rospars and new media expert and activist Professor David Silver. At this March 19-20 conference we will announce the three finalists selected from among the 26 young Poles who submitted their videos for the State Department’s global Democracy Video Challenge Contest. The finalists will have a chance to visit the United States and compete for a grand prize with young filmmakers from around the world. We are also about to launch a website devoted exclusively to the 90th Anniversary of U.S.-Polish relations, a project developed in close cooperation between the U.S. Embassy and the Institute of Foreign Affairs Foundation in Warsaw.

I welcome your comments and suggestions about the newsletter and hope to continue to receive your thoughts. Please don’t forget to check our homepage for latest news, events, and updates. I am committed to responding to all emails personally if you send me a message at: AsheVH@state.gov

Sincerely yours,

Victor Ashe

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