Warsaw, Poland
September 9, 2004

New York — Republican Convention

The United States Conference of Mayors joined the National League of Cities and the National Association of Counties to honor city and county elected officials attending the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York August 30. Conference President Akron Mayor Donald L. Plusquellic continued to promote our '04 Metro Agenda and gather support from all to advocate a discussion of our metro issues in the political arena as we head toward the national election November 2.

City and county officials are encouraged and grateful to Congressman Mike Turner of Ohio, the former mayor of Dayton, who, along with House Speaker Dennis Hastert, have adopted and are calling on the Republican Party to support their proposed urban and suburban initiatives to keep our metro economies strong.

Speaker Hastert cites The United States Conference of Mayors in the preamble to his proposals and he calls for a number of initiatives, identical to those adopted by the Conference of Mayors. Turner continues to be a spokesperson for providing city and county officials federal/city partnerships through tax incentives and more flexible funding that allows economic activity to increase more jobs to offset the loss of jobs in cities and counties in states like Ohio. Ohio now ranks 50th among states for job growth over the last four years.

In addition to our joint event with NLC and NACo, we were honored to be invited and included in the opening luncheon hosted by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at Gracie Mansion. Assembled were members of the New York Host Committee including our friend, Jonathan Tisch, Chairman of the Travel Business Roundtable and CEO of Loews Hotels. Bloomberg and the New York Host Committee did a great job along with the New York City police department, "New York's finest," to assure that delegates to the Convention were safe to openly participate in their convention and to enjoy one of the greatest cities on earth, New York.

A number of Republican mayors addressed the Convention and participated in a number of forums in addition to their normal duties as delegates. Supporting Conference President Akron Mayor Donald L. Plusquellic at our event were immediate past President Hempstead (NY) Mayor James A. Garner as well as the Conference of Mayors Advisory Board Chair Dearborn Mayor Michael Guido. Other Conference leaders with us were Charlotte Mayor Patrick McCrory and Augusta Mayor Bob Young. All of these mayors joined with us earlier this year in Chicago on August 11 where we, in a bipartisan united front, adopted unanimously The U.S. Conference of Mayors 4-point plan, our '04 Metro Agenda.

President Bush in his acceptance speech touched on a number of points included in our mayoral agenda. As the campaign goes forward, he will no doubt unveil more specifically his vision to keep our metro economies strong and thus keep our national economy strong. Joining us to assist the President in following through to help develop and announce city and county initiatives was Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman, former mayor of St. Paul, as well as Turner, already mentioned above.

Presidential Debates

As U.S.Mayor goes to press, negotiations continue as to how many and the topic of the Presidential debates between President Bush and Senator Kerry. Currently, we are focusing on the proposed date of September 30 for the first debate at the University of Miami in Miami. Currently, that date is holding and it was announced that the topic of the first debate will be the domestic policy of our nation.

Poland/Ambassador Ashe/Warsaw Uprising

Following the Republican Convention, I came to Warsaw, Poland to join Conference President Akron Mayor Donald L. Plusquellic and Advisory Board Chair Michael Guido of Dearborn.

We are here this week to be with our new Ambassador and former Past President of the Conference of Mayors, Victor Ashe. Slated are meetings with the American Chamber of Commerce of Warsaw and the mayor of Warsaw where trade and business opportunities will be discussed.

We are also here to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising. It was during those days many years ago when faced with a tragic choice of accepting Soviet aggression and an installation of a Soviet government, brave Warsaw citizens fought the Nazis to seize the city from the Germans and assert their authority for their government in exile. The Poles liberated many districts of their city from the Nazis, but the Red Army failed to mount a cross'river assault to help them. Stalin refused to let British and American planes land in Soviet controlled airfields. After two months of gallant fighting, Polish forces capitulated. During this heroic fight, 250,000 civilians were killed. When it was over, only 20,000 survived, many committed suicide rather than being taken as prisoners to be tortured or gassed by the Nazis. Warsaw was evacuated and Nazi demolition teams dynamited what was left of the city.

History shows us that President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill at Yalta in 1945 had already conceded to Stalin that a new Polish government would be formed guaranteeing Russia a piece of Poland. It was indeed felt by Poles that all their fighting had been in vain. They fought one totalitarian power, the Nazis, and were abandoned by their Western allies to the mercies of another, the Soviet Union. It is also sad to note that Polish military units were not invited to the WWII victory parade held in London in June of 1946.

Of course, the heroic effort of the Poles during the Warsaw Uprising will never be forgotten. The USA mayors come to Warsaw to commemorate their heroic efforts. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley came earlier. This week, Plusquellic, Guido, along with Ashe and I will place a wreath on behalf of USA mayors on the site of the Warsaw Uprising of 60 years ago.

The Warsaw Uprising is just one part of the atrocities of the Nazis. Yesterday, the Conference of Mayors delegation traveled by train to Krakow and then on to Auschwitz and to Birkenau. These two places show that a gruesome death factory, unprecedented, was established. At Auschwitz, one could live approximately three months. It was a work camp but soon became too small for what the Nazis planned to do — the extermination of Jews. When you visit the death camp and witness the human hair used for fabrics, baby shoes, baby clothing and the human crematoria, it is still difficult to comprehend as you walk the acres of Birkenau, the largest death camp of all. Many Americans saw the Academy Award winning movie, Schindler's List, but you have to come here to grasp the fact that special railways were built for the human extermination that took place. The gas chambers consumed their first victims in May of 1942. Then the mass extermination began and at its peak the Nazi war machine was able to slaughter 60,000 per night. Trains arrived every hour on a special railway with tracks extending in close proximity to the crematoria. The "selection procedure" took place by the Nazis as innocent persons left the train. Those fit to work went to a special barrack. The old, the children and mothers were stripped and led directly to the gas chambers, their corpses then burnt in open pits or incinerated in the crematoria.

The ashes and bones of innocent people are still there. At dusk, as darkness fell in Birkenau we stood there. You can still see the bones in the earth. People come from all over to leave flowers or place stones on the ground and think about how so much human life was lost. It is hard to comprehend, but it happened and must never ever be forgotten. Almost the entire Jewish population of Poland — over 3 million — were lost. Six million Poles lost their lives in World War II — half of them Jews. Only about 10 percent died from military operations — the rest perished in concentration and extermination camps or were killed in mass executions.

Today, Poland lives as it always will. I was privileged to witness the first municipal elections here in the early 1990s. I am privileged and proud to be back to witness our friend and Past President Victor Ashe as your Ambassador. He makes us all proud and believe me, Poland will know they have a person with enthusiasm, energy and political understanding of what Poland has given to us and what we have given to Poland.

The future of this nation is brighter than ever. Here was written the first constitution of Europe in 1791. Here was where, though partitioned and destroyed throughout its history, Poland and democracy lived. No matter what happened, there was always a democratic Poland in the hearts and souls of the exiles in far away places. Today, the Poland of their ancestors dreams, struggles, blood and tears are manifested in a new and democratic Poland. And we are so fortunate to have Mayor Victor Ashe as our Ambassador here to let the Polish people know that America is with them and they are with us as we together go forward to face the economic and security challenges we face in the new century that has just begun.