Prezydent.pl

First on the itinerary of the President’s three-day visit to New York was a meeting with Polonia representatives. During the meeting, the President awarded distinctions to Poles living in America.

Six members of the Polish diaspora in America received state distinctions. Andre Błaszczyński, an economics and business professor at Tunxis Community College in Farmington, Connecticut, who had supported the Solidarity movement in Poland in the 1980s, received the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.

Five others received the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland. The assembled company held a minute’s silence to commemorate the miners who perished in the Wujek-Śląsk mine disaster.