Hon. Pat Quinn

The visit had several goals, such as improving trade relations between Illinois and Poland, strengthening military cooperation between the Illinois National Guard and Poland, and establishing a Sister Rivers relationship between the Illinois River and the Vistula River.  Lt. Governor Quinn also visited Dabrowa Tarnowska, the hometown of Marine Lance Cpl. Jakub Kowalik, who was killed in Iraq.

Quinn met with the Rectors of Jagiellonian University in Cracow, WSB-NLU in Nowy Sacz, Warsaw School of Economics, and Warsaw Agricultural University.

He also met with Elzbieta Jakubiak, Secretary of State, Head of the Cabinet of the President of the Republic of Poland.

 Leading the Illinois Delegation to Poland

- You recently led an Illinois delegation to Poland. What are the most memorable events that you experienced in Poland during this visit?

Pat Quinn: By design, we had a very diverse delegation that went to Poland. I think that it is important in Illinois – we learned this when we got off the plane – that so many people in Poland love the United States but in particular love Chicago and the state of Illinois because there are so many Polish Americans who live here, that we have a special bond with the people of Poland and the country of Poland.

I think that it is very important that our state, the Land of Lincoln, really builds on that foundation in every way imaginable. We had in our delegation people from the National Guard who had worked with the Polish military since 1994.  We have a very close relationship.  We visited the Ministry of Defense in Poland. We visited the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It was very emotional, very powerful. 20 Polish soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq and we visited their Memorial. It was extremely powerful to meet the Polish soldiers, who have served in Iraq and in Afghanistan. I met with them and their commanding officers. They were very direct about their sacrifice. I think Americans really appreciate the Polish people for their love of freedom and democracy. That was an important part of our trip.

It was very emotional when we went to Dabrowa Tarnowska, the hometown of Jakub Kowalik, who was a resident of our state. He received U.S. citizenship posthumously on a day that would have marked his 21st birthday. We wanted to go to his hometown with his mother Danuta, who was a part of our delegation and the town did a wonderful job. They were extremely warm. We went to City Hall, and met with the Mayor and other officials. Then we went to the school that Jakub attended. The boys and girls put on a dance performance. Polish dance is very impressive. They were all dressed in their best suits. They made food for us. It was really a great way to start the trip but it was also very emotional for the reason that Jakub Kowalik was a modern day Casimir Pulaski or Thaddeus Kosciuszko, because he came from Poland to America to help protect democracy, and that’s what Pulaski and Kosciuszko did.

I was in Cracow to visit the house where Thaddeus Kosciuszko lived in 1775, before he came to America. It was right on the Square, they have marked it off. That was outstanding. The Market Square in Cracow, for any American, is powerful to see. The gathering of people in this place is just the way to celebrate democracy, freedom and liberty.

We went to St. Mary’s Cathedral in Cracow’s Market Square on Sunday morning. The Church was packed.  It is a very impressive Cathedral.  The love of religious freedom came through loud and clear.

The first night we were over there [in Cracow] we went to the monastery [Kosciol na Skalce]. There was a concert, and suddenly everything stopped and we lit candles. Everybody had a candle to remember Pope John Paul II.  That was a powerful moment as well.

We had a variety of different faiths in our delegation.  We had two Jewish members of our delegation who survived the Holocaust, including one who was a survivor of Auschwitz.  We visited Auschwitz on the first Sunday of our trip.  

The Curator of Auschwitz conducted a tour for us. Any human being who tours Auschwitz is changed forever. I was. The persecution of the Jews was horrendous.  We learned also about how many Poles were exterminated by Nazi brutality.  They were cruel to the professors of the Jagiellonian University Poland.  We want to encourage interaction between the Holocaust Museum and the Education Center in Illinois and the people of Poland. I want to emphasize the education because the members of our delegation want to make sure that the world understands that we will never let this happen again, anywhere.  The Holocaust Museum and Education Center is built in Skokie, Illinois. to an unimaginable extent. We understand the need to continue Holocaust education both in our country and in

 I know that one of the things that we want to do is to build opportunities between the people of Jewish faith who are involved with the building of the Holocaust Museum and the Polish American Community here in America. Jan Karski is really a metaphor of how to do that. He was a teacher of mine. I had him for two of my courses at Georgetown University in Washington. I was a student at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown. He taught Modern Foreign Governments and International Relations. What a man to have as a teacher! He was a part of the Underground Polish Home Army [Armia Krajowa]. He saw the concentration camps. He was able to escape the Gestapo, went to London and told Prime Minister Churchill about the existence of the concentration camps and later on came to America to tell President Roosevelt the same thing. Karski is a real hero.

One of the things I did in Warsaw was to go to the new Warsaw Uprising Museum. Where I was touched by the heroism of underground resistance that recieved no help from Russian Army stationed across the River. They could have come across the River at any moment to help the Polish freedom fighters escape from Nazi oppression. It was amazing how people survived. The Uprising lasted over 60 days. It started in August of 1944. On September 11, 2001 over 3,000 people died. During the Warsaw Uprising, each day, on average, 3,000 people died for 60 days in a row. The Museum is a powerful testimony to the human desire to resist tyranny and to fight for democracy.  

  - You attended the opening of the Warsaw Uprising exhibition at the National Louis University in Chicago, in April 2007 …

P.Q.: That opened my eyes because the pictures that we saw encouraged me to visit the WarsawUprising Museum during my trip to Poland. That was something you never forget.

- It seems to me that you have planned your visit to Poland very carefully from the educational perspective as well. You had several meetings with university presidents. What were the objectives of those meetings?

P.Q.: In my opinion one of the things that we should always remember is: the jobs and economic development follow brain power. We visited a number of universities: Jagiellonian University, WSB-NLU in Nowy Sacz, Warsaw School of Economics, Warsaw Agricultural University. They are very impressive. I was astonished by the university system in Poland. It is important that we develop bonds between the US and Poland. Our universities are excellent ways to tie bonds together because students can come here and they can go to Cracow, Warsaw or Nowy Sacz. I think we have opened doors to some possibilities in that area.

I mentioned also to some government officials that it may be a good idea that we try to have an exchange program and have an Illinois governmental official going over there and working in Poland and they would have somebody coming from Poland and work in our office. I am particularly interested in things involving the environment and sustainability, which is a challenge to all of us on planet Earth.

We were able to meet with the Environment Ministry in Poland. We signed a Sister River Agreement. There are a lot of opportunities for us to exchange information and programs. We would like to get such an exchange program going for governmental officials.

One of the good things with the Rivers – the Vistula River and the Illinois River in our state is tourism. People would like to see storks in Poland. We have eagles flying over the Illinois River. People may want to see eagles. We would like to encourage this kind nature-based tourism and historic based tourism.

In addition we visited the Wawel, the Kings Castle in Cracow. It was built long before our country was started, even long before Jamestown was established in 1607. The Wawel Castle shows the Polish culture, their love of democracy, literacy and art. It was quite impressive to everybody who was in our delegation.   

But I was particularly impressed by the meeting with Elzbieta Jakubiak, Chief of Staff of the President of Poland. She gave us a book about Belweder. 

 - One of the key elements of your visit to Poland was the idea of strengthening the economic cooperation between the state of Illinois and Poland. What were you able to accomplish during this trip in this area? 

P.Q.: Economic exchange was a key element of our trip to Poland.  We are happy that Poland is now a member of the European Union but we do not want Poles to forget about the USA and about the economic opportunities that Poland has over here.  We in our country have to invest in Poland. I attended a number of economic gatherings trying to encourage economic investments in Poland. I attended the Congress [Kongres Gospodarczy Polonii Swiata] and talked about some of the opportunities that I saw in the areas of biotechnology and in environmental practices. All of us on planet Earth have to be better stewards of the Earth. We had in our delegation people from the Agricultural Community in Illinois, soybean producers, corn growers and such.  We had some frank exchanges about agriculture and bioproducts, especially products that replace petroleum.  I think that it is in the interest of Poland and the United States to work together on these environmental technologies.

To give you an example, there is a product in our state that is a coating made from soybeans.  You can put that coating on the roof of a building, making it a soybean roof. The white coating is put over the asphalt of a building and it makes the building a lot cooler during the summer and warmer during the winter.  It helps reduce the need for electricity and air conditioning.   These are some of the products that we would like to explore together.

Many products that are made in Poland have a market over here in the United States. We want to open the door for that kind of economic exchange.

We had a wonderful meeting with Motorola. When they started in Cracow they had about 50 employees. They have about 800 employees now. The brainpower is something that impressed me most.  Many people get university degrees. They have the talent for a 21st Century economy.  The American companies realized that there is a gold mine in Poland.

I think that it is very important to build a relationship between Polish Universities and IllinoisUniversities such as DePaul, Northwestern, University of Chicago, Loyola, University of IllinoisUrbana Champaign and University of Illinois at Chicago. We need to make sure we build on that foundation.  I think that the more students who go back and forth, the closer our ties will be. at

I think that the religious ties are extremely important too. Polish people believe in the freedom of worship. This is a fundamental value. It is especially personified by Pope John Paul II, who was a world hero, not just for our time but for all time. I was at the Vatican last year. I was struck by the fact that there was a long line to St. Peter’s Basilica, but there was even a longer line to walk by the tomb of John Paul II. I think that we need to always remember here in Illinois that we were graced with his visit to Chicago in 1979. All Americans revered his leadership, his heroism, commitment and convictions. We should use his tremendous example.

- You met also Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz in Cracow, a long time assistant to John Paul II…

P.Q.: It was so impressive. He gave me a rosary that I gave to my parents. He is a down to earth person. I saw a movie about the Life of John Paul II at the Copernicus Center last fall. It was very well done. Cardinal Dziwisz was in that movie. Meeting him was quite an honor. He was very gracious. He has a wonderful sense of humor. We sat at the table and he told me that for 20 years Cardinal Karol Wojtyla worked at that table. Then he asked me about the health of Cardinal Francis George. He said that George is a “good man, good man.”

Political Plans

- Your trip to Poland and other trips show that you are becoming more involved with international issues. Sen. Barack Obama is running for US Presidency so there may be a vacancy in the Senatorial seat from Illinois… What are your future political plans? Do you have any plans to run for higher political office?

P.Q.: I’m a big supporter of Senator Barack Obama. Senator Obama is a good friend of Poland. Before I move on to the political issue I want to say that we have to understand the sacrifice of Poland toward freedom in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

When I was at the Polish Ministry of Defense and touching the 20 names of the Polish soldiers who have died in Iraq, I was moved. Polish people are always there to support the fight for freedom.

The Constitution of the United States written in 1787 was the first. What was the second country to have a written a Constitution on the planet Earth?  Poland.  We want to have the biggest Polish Constitution Day celebration yet in the United States of America next year.

We live in the global world. It is important that Illinois, which is larger than many countries in the world, and is the 5th largest state in America, where we have so many immigrants, particularly from Poland, that we connect to the world, that we build this highway of friendship between our state, Land of Lincoln and the people of Poland, whose love of freedom is renowned around the world. In particular, Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday will be in 2009 and I’m on the Bicentennial Committee. We are planning the celebration of democracy in 2009. We plan to invite the world to Illinois.

America should never take liberty or democracy for granted. We are fortunate; I think that it is a gift from God to have a democracy. The Polish people I think are a tremendous example of how hard you have to fight to get your freedom and to protect your freedom. This came clear to me during my trip to Poland.  Wherever we went in Poland, people understand the value and meaning of liberty.

In regards to my future political plans, right now I would like to be… the Lieutenant Governor.

I think that it is very important that we have ties with countries around the world from which people have come to our state of Illinois. They say that Illinois is the best reflection of the population in America. We need to learn how to relate to this world that we learn in. I am not a big supporter of President Bush’s foreign policy. I think he has harmed our image around the world. As we approach the Presidential elections of 2008 we want to have an American President who will carry the mandate of freedom and democracy around the world  so everyone will revere the United States.

Olympics in Chicago

- What do you think about the chances of Chicago to host the Summer Olympics in 2016?

P.Q.: Summer Olympics 2016 is a great thing for Chicago and for Illinois. We want to have the Olympics in 2016. The vote will be in fall of 2009. I think it is important as we travel around the globe – and your magazine [PLUS Journal] is a part of it – as we reach out to the world. I saw PLUS Journal in many places, many establishments in Poland. That is the way to tell the world about America, about Chicago, about Illinois in particular. We need to do that to get out to the world. The fact is that the world is global; we can not have American companies that do not know how to export our good products to the world. We want to be a market that is welcoming for Polish businesses to come here. Trade always brings people together. I believe that. We need to do it right away. The Olympics is part of that movement of introducing Chicago to the world.  

While on the topic of Olympics, we had a reception at the Ambassador’s Residence in Warsaw, in Poland.  It was packed. There was a tremendous turnout.  One of the people who was not able to come was Irena Szewinska, a great Olympic hero in Poland. I was really hoping to meet her, because I was a runner in track. She was a great runner.  I hope to see her next time.

- Thank you for your time, for your visit to Poland and willingness to understand and to better serve the Polish American Community in Illinois.