Forsaken Syria

IN this year of ubiquitous commemorations, the centennial of Jan Karski’s birth has been largely overlooked. And yet Karski’s legacy is more important than ever — nowhere more so than in Syria.

As the Geneva II peace process slogs along — leaving cadavers and atrocities to pile up — Karski’s dedication to bringing the plight of Poland’s Jews to the world’s attention during the Second World War, despite the inertia of governments and publics, embodies exactly what Syria desperately needs.

In 1942, Karski, a Polish-born diplomat, travelled to the UK to report on what came to be called the Holocaust. The next year, he embarked on a mission to the US to brief the president, Franklin D Roosevelt, and other dignitaries on the horrors that he had witnessed. In both cases, he was met with scepticism and apathy. Indeed, it was only towards the end of the war that action was taken to stop the slaughter.