Polish American
Strategic Initiative
Building a Better America Through Inclusion and Honesty
We need your support.
PASI works on your behalf to:
Promote the common good and welfare of Polish Americans
Lobby politicians
and candidates for office
Serve as an educational resource on the present status and history of Polish Americans
MILLION PEOPLE
ORGANIZATIONS
Active Polish American clubs, associations in the United States
PROJECTED
PASI Members in the first year
Vision
Mission
Edward W. Jeśman
President’s Message
We are here to promote and advance the political and economic interests of Polish Americans.
We pay close attention to the bills, resolutions, and policies originating on Capitol Hill and strive to be a valued and assertive voice in Washington, D.C.
We provide needed guidance and unifying leadership while advancing ideas of peace and prosperity. We hope to inspire a new generation of Polish American leaders.
Join us! Together we can improve the political and economic standing of all Polish Americans and build a better America and a better Poland. The future is in our hands!
Edward W Jeśman, President PASI
Polish American Strategic Initiative, Inc.
844-650-PASI (Toll-free)
310-291-2681 (Cell)
[email protected]
Current Concerns
offensive Act based on a double standard.
ACT S.447 (JUST ACT OF 2017),
“Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today (JUST) Act of 2017”
Introduced by Sen. Tammy Baldwin of WI on February 27, 2017
Signed into law by President Donald Trump on May 9, 2018)
The law requires the US Department of State to assess the national laws and policies of countries participating in the 2009 Terezin Holocaust Era Assets Conference, concerning the identification and return of, or restitution of assets allegedly wrongfully seized from Jews during World War II, including the so-called “HEIRLESS PROPERTY”. PASI considers Act S.447 to be legally flawed, discriminatory, unjust, and its language deceiving.
There is no such thing as “heirless property.” In all countries, the United States included, heirless properties escheat to the state. The private Jewish American organizations make legally unfounded demands for billions of dollars without any evidence of title. The so-called “heirless properties” are legal property of the Polish state, the only legal successor of all Polish citizens regardless of their ethnic or religious background. The transfer of such property would only amount to a massive property giveaway.
Law 115-171 is morally offensive because it is based on an apparent double standard, which advocates an extralegal solution, which would not be acceptable in the United States. Furthermore, there are no uncompensated Jewish Holocaust survivors. Jewish organizations, state of Israel and individual Jews received untold billions of dollars from Germany for all human and property losses suffered by European Jews during World War II. The “JUST” law distorts the history of World War II and eliminates Millions of ethnic Polish victims from the definition of Genocide.
Poland must not be held responsible for the Genocide and property expropriations conducted by her German and Soviet occupiers, and for the political, social, and economic ramifications of the Yalta Agreement imposed on Poland by the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union in 1944.
the WW2 exclusively to the
extermination of Jews
Act H.R.943
(Never Again Education Act)
Introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney of NY. on January 31, 2019
Signed into law by President Donald Trump on May 29, 2020
The Never Again Education Act introduced in the US Senate as S.2085 by Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and in the House of Representatives as HR 943 by Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Elise Stefanik (R-NY) is designed to increase the allegedly diminishing awareness of the Holocaust in the United States. The Never Again Education Act calls to establish a public-private funding mechanism at the US Department of Education to allow the introduction of various new Holocaust education programs, which would target teachers in all 50 states. The law expands US Holocaust Memorial Museum education programming and tasks it with developing and disseminating fitting resources.
PASI continues to oppose the Never Again Education Act, because it fails to acknowledge and include in the envisioned new programs the Genocide committed by Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia against millions of Poles. This Act is now a law, yet it unacceptably restricts the meaning and teaching of the WW2 Genocide exclusively to the extermination of Jews.
and politically careless
Resolution with legal consequences.
and legal consequences
Senate Resolution 566
(Introduced by Sen. Menendez of NJ. on May 7, 2020) While PASI supports the idea of the resolution commemorating 22,000 victims of the Katyń Genocide, PASI strongly opposes specific fragments of the proposed resolution. As is, Senate Resolution 566 strips Polish citizens – most of them Prisoners-of-War murdered by Soviet Russia in 1940 – of their citizenship and falsely merges them with a vaguely defined mass of political crimes committed by the Communists worldwide. The present version of the resolution resembles an attempt at Genocide Denial rather than an accurate characterization of the nature of the horrific mass murders confirmed by the 952 Report of the US Rep. Ray J. Madden Commission. The proposed text of the resolution is not only historically erroneous, but it also creates specific political and legal consequences, which prejudice and disaffirm the rights of thousands of Polish families to the legal inquests and proper compensation. Despite the 80 years which have passed, the world is still waiting for the official Genocide recognition by the US government of the brutal mass murders and deportations of millions of Polish citizens. The United States Congress owes the world a clear and straightforward declaration. The US government’s suppression of the Katyń Genocide needs to end today![PDF: PASI letter to Senators Menendez Durbin and Risch]
Act S.447, Public Law 115-171
Legally flawed and morally offensive Act based on a double standard.
ACT S.447 (JUST ACT OF 2017),
“Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today (JUST) Act of 2017”
Introduced by Sen. Tammy Baldwin of WI on February 27, 2017
Signed into law by President Donald Trump on May 9, 2018
The law requires the US Department of State to assess the national laws and policies of countries participating in the 2009 Terezin Holocaust Era Assets Conference, concerning the identification and return of, or restitution of assets allegedly wrongfully seized from Jews during World War II, including the so-called “HEIRLESS PROPERTY”. PASI considers Act S.447 to be legally flawed, discriminatory, unjust, and its language deceiving.
There is no such thing as “heirless property.” In all countries, the United States included, heirless properties escheat to the state. The private Jewish American organizations make legally unfounded demands for billions of dollars without any evidence of title. The so-called “heirless properties” are legal property of the Polish state, the only legal successor of all Polish citizens regardless of their ethnic or religious background. The transfer of such property would only amount to a massive property giveaway.
Law 115-171 is morally offensive because it is based on an apparent double standard, which advocates an extralegal solution, which would not be acceptable in the United States. Furthermore, there are no uncompensated Jewish Holocaust survivors. Jewish organizations, state of Israel and individual Jews received untold billions of dollars from Germany for all human and property losses suffered by European Jews during World War II. The “JUST” law distorts the history of World War II and eliminates Millions of ethnic Polish victims from the definition of Genocide.
Poland must not be held responsible for the Genocide and property expropriations conducted by her German and Soviet occupiers, and for the political, social, and economic ramifications of the Yalta Agreement imposed on Poland by the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union in 1944.
Act H.R.943, Never Again Education Act
Act restricts the teaching of the WW2 exclusively to the extermination of Jews
Act H.R.943
(Never Again Education Act)
Introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney of NY. on January 31, 2019
Signed into law by President Donald Trump on May 29, 2020
The Never Again Education Act introduced in the US Senate as S.2085 by Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and in the House of Representatives as HR 943 by Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Elise Stefanik (R-NY) is designed to increase the allegedly diminishing awareness of the Holocaust in the United States. The Never Again Education Act calls to establish a public-private funding mechanism at the US Department of Education to allow the introduction of various new Holocaust education programs, which would target teachers in all 50 states. The law expands US Holocaust Memorial Museum education programming and tasks it with developing and disseminating fitting resources.
PASI continues to oppose the Never Again Education Act, because it fails to acknowledge and include in the envisioned new programs the Genocide committed by Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia against millions of Poles. This Act is now a law, yet it unacceptably restricts the meaning and teaching of the WW2 Genocide exclusively to the extermination of Jews.
RES.566, Senate Resolution 566
Historically erroneous and politically careless Resolution with legal consequences.
Senate Resolution 566
(Introduced by Sen. Menendez of NJ. on May 7, 2020)
While PASI supports the idea of the resolution commemorating 22,000 victims of the Katyń Genocide, PASI strongly opposes specific fragments of the proposed resolution. As is, Senate Resolution 566 strips Polish citizens – most of them Prisoners-of-War murdered by Soviet Russia in 1940 – of their citizenship and falsely merges them with a vaguely defined mass of political crimes committed by the Communists worldwide.
The present version of the resolution resembles an attempt at Genocide Denial rather than an accurate characterization of the nature of the horrific mass murders confirmed by the 952 Report of the US Rep. Ray J. Madden Commission. The proposed text of the resolution is not only historically erroneous, but it also creates specific political and legal consequences, which prejudice and disaffirm the rights of thousands of Polish families to the legal inquests and proper compensation.
Despite the 80 years which have passed, the world is still waiting for the official Genocide recognition by the US government of the brutal mass murders and deportations of millions of Polish citizens. The United States Congress owes the world a clear and straightforward declaration. The US government’s suppression of the Katyń Genocide needs to end today!
OFFICERS
Edward Wojciech Jeśman
(California)
Dr. Bogdan Kotnis
(New York)
Wojciech Mazur
(Connecticut)
Jacek B. Marczyński
(Virginia)
Mariusz Bielski
(Connecticut)
Irena Guillon
(California)
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Dr. Malgorzata Stys
Artur J. Lesyk
Mark Belcarz
Jerzy Fiedziukiewicz
Videos
Why PASI?
President Welcome
Edward W. Jeśman
PASI President
Edward Reid, Stop Act S. 447
Hollywood’s War with Poland, 1939-1945 (Speech / The International Historical Conference “Poland First to Fight,” )
MIECZYSLAW B. BISKUPSKI (USA) - Keynote speaker. A Professor of History
Stanislaus A. Blejwas Endowed Chair in Polish and Polish American Studies,
Coordinator of Polish Studies Program at the Central Connecticut State University
(CCSU), United States
Events
June 17, 2020
A letter of protest sent to Senators Menendez, Risch, and Durbin, opposing a misleading language of the proposed Senate Resolution 566. The letter recommends the elimination of the erroneous statements, which distort historical events as documented by the 1952 Rep. Ray J. Madden Report prepared for the U.S. Congress. The United States government owes the world a clear and unequivocal declaration that the mass murder of 22,000 Polish POWs committed by the Soviet NKVD in April and May 1940 was an act of Genocide. The letter was signed by Edward W. Jeśman (PASI), Janusz Sporek (Committee for the Conservation of the Katyń Monument & Historical Objects), Richard Boggiano, Councilman (City of Jersey City), and Rev. Nathaniel Legay (Jersey City Branch of the National Association of the Colored People).
[PDF: PASI letter to Senators Menendez Durbin and Risch]
June 14, 2020
Representatives of PASI joined a celebration around the Katyń Genocide Monument at Sacred Heart Cemetery in New Britain, CT, to commemorate the Anniversary of the First Transport to Auschwitz.
June 14, 2020
PASI lays a wreath at the Wall of Executions in a German Concentration Camp in Auschwitz to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the first transport of prisoners to Auschwitz. All 728 prisoners sent to the camp on that day were Polish. Auschwitz Concentration Camp functioned from 1940 to 1942 as a concentration camp mainly for Poles. Mass extermination of Jews at the camp happened from 1942 to 1944. The first transport of Jews arrived at the camp in March 1942.
April 29, 2020
PASI adopts Bylaws and installs the Board of Directors. Edward W. Jeśman is elected to serve as PASI President for a five-year term.
April 2020
PASI cancels its 2020 Congressional Outreach due to COVID19 restrictions. As soon as it is possible, PASI is planning to visit Capitol Hill and renew its lobbying activities in the U.S. Congress.
November 2019
The International Historical Conference “Poland First to Fight,” a 3-day event takes place at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. PASI under the leadership of Edward W. Jeśman is one of the organizers.
September 2019
PASI Congressional Capitol Hill Outreach – Participants visit over 400 congressional offices, including 100 offices of the U.S. Senate, to discuss ramifications of the Act S. 447 “JUST Act” as well as the H.R. 943 “Never Again Education Act.” PASI opposes the H.R. 943 (S.2085) because it restricts the meaning of the World War II-era Genocide only to the extermination of Jews. The Act fails to acknowledge the Genocide committed against millions of Poles. H.R. 943 encroaches onto the rights of the states by authorizing the creation of one-sided and partial curricular materials to be used in all 50 states. Federal intervention into curricular matters is against the Constitution.
August 21, 2019
The response of Polish American organizations to the letter of 88 U.S. Senators.
May 11, 2019
PASI organized a protest against Act S.447 in front of the White House
April 2019
Jacek Marczyński of Virginia is elected as interim President of PASI.
April 10, 2019
Polish American Strategic Initiative, Inc. (PASI) is registered in the State of Delaware as 501(c)4 not for profit political lobbying organization.
March 31, 2019
Protests were held in New York, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, New Britain, Denver, and San Diego against the Act S.447 (Public Law 115-171).
May 09, 2018
The U.S. President Donald Trump signs Act S.447 into law (Public Law 115-171).
April 24, 2018
Speaker of the House, Rep. Paul Ryan, sends the Act S.447, without prior approval of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, to the House for a vote. Act S.447 passes the House “Under Suspension of Rules,” without a roll call, based on the voice vote. The number and names of the congressmen participating in the passing of the Act have not been disclosed.
March 2018
Edward W. Jeśman organizes Polish American Outreach on Capitol Hill. Polish Americans from several states visit over 300 congressional offices voicing opposition to the Act S.447 (H.R.1226).
