New York City - Under bright sunny skies, some 500 invited guests from around the world gathered to witness the simple unveiling of a street sign in New York's tony Murray Hill enclave. Henceforth, the corner of Madison Avenue and 37th Street directly across from the historic De Lamar Beaux Art mansion home to the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland will be known forever as Jan Karski Corner or as one observer dubbed it the "Street Corner of Courage."

New street sign at the corner of 37th Street and Madison Avenue, now known as Jan Karski corner.

Unanimously approved by New York's City Council and happily assented to by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the renaming honors for all time Jan Karski the Polish diplomat who infiltrated a Nazi concentration camp and was the first to bring to the West word of the Holocaust's horrors. His pleadings to the British and Americans went unheeded. For his bravery and selflessness, Karski is listed in the temple in Jerusalem as one of the "Righteous Among the Nations" which honors the humanitarian efforts of Polish men and women who have been recognized by Yad Vashem for saving Jews from certain death during the Holocaust.

Quite a number of Polish, Jewish and American dignitaries were on hand including The Honorable Ewa Junczy–Ziomecka, Secretary of State at the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland; The Honorable Edward Koch, former New York City Mayor; His Excellency Maciej Kozlowski of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw; former Ambassador of Poland to Israel; John De Gioia, the President of Georgetown University; Robert Gallucci, the Dean of Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown; and Robert Billingsley, the chair of John Carroll Weekend.

Consul General of The Republic of Poland Krzysztof W. Kasprzyk addresses the assembled crowd prior to the dedication.

They were welcomed by Poland's Consul General Krzysztof Kasprzyk, a driving force behind the Karski recognition, who stated "Jan Karski was a legendary Polish underground courier in World War II, the first person to tell the Allies about the Holocaust when there might have been time to stop it. He is a real hero of the Polish and Jewish people."

Born Jan Kozielewski, Karski was a courier for the Polish underground army when he made two visits into the Warsaw Ghetto (guided on one visit by Irena Sendler), and dressed as an Estonian guard he spent time at the "transit camp" in Izbica Lubelska, through which Jews were transported to the Belzec death camp. He witnessed first hand the atrocities of the Nazis. He then slipped between lines and traveled to London where he pleaded with the British to bomb the death camps. He was met with disbelief and not giving up went to Washington to warn President Franklin Roosevelt that the Nazi's were exterminating the Jews of Poland. Again his pleas fell on deaf ears.

At the end of the war, Karski came to Washington and began what became a four decades long professorship of political science at Georgetown University where his students, many of whom were in attendance, included former President Bill Clinton.

R is for Righteous Among Nations and S is for Survivors of the Holocaust (from left) Ireneusz Rajchowski (Righteous R), Krystyna Budnicka (Survivor S), Barbara Gora (S), Tadeusz Stankiewicz (R, behind her), Jozef Walaszczyk (R), Alicja Schnepf (R), and Anna Bando (R).

Ed Koch, a close friend and chess playing partner of Karski's, was like many of the guests tremendously moved by the respect and honor to a man of extreme courage. Minutes before the new street sign was unveiled, in the shadow of the Polish Consulate, the former Mayor extolled Karski for his bravery and compassion. "We are here to honor a hero, a saint," Koch said. Koch also referenced the number of Righteous Among the Nations, some 20,000 of them Poles. "When you think how tiny country it is, that's extraordinary. When you realize that only in Poland did these brave souls face certain death if found out it is amazing."

Masha Leon, a Holocaust survivor who was saved by an unknown Polish woman, spoke to the gathering.

As minister Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka said, "Remembering the Righteous Among the Nations is not only important because of the thousands of people who were saved but also because they saved us all from utter disgrace."

As the event was scheduled to coincide with the annual John Carroll Weekend for Georgetown alumni, there were scores of former Georgetown students and faculty on hand to pay tribute to an extraordinary mentor and an esteemed and much loved colleague.

Following the ceremony, there was a panel discussion moderated by Robert Gallucci, Dean of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

The panel featured Krzysztof W. Kasprzyk, Maciej Kozlowski, former Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to Israel, Karl Cerny, Georgetown professor emeritus of government, Pat Quinn, Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, Carol Harrison, Fine Art Photographer with a group of elderly heroes- Righteous Among the Nations - who flew in from Poland for this special occasion - Anna Bando, Alicia Schnepf, Jozef Walaszczyk, Tadeusz Stankiewicz and Ireneusz Rajchowski. Also included in the panel were Children of the Holocaust Krystyna Budnicka and Barbara Gora.

A number of heart wrenching testimonials were given by both panelists and the assembled crowd. Barbara Gora, a 77-year-old Pole whose father and other family members survived the Holocaust, credited Karski with saving the lives of her relatives. "If it weren't for people like Karski then my father and my family would not have been saved," Gora said.

The panel discussion was moderated by Robert Gallucci.

Masha Leon, Cultural Editor of The Forward, New York's first Jewish newspaper, knew Karski as a young girl and was also grateful to to those who hid her and her mother and saved her from certain death in the camps. She wonders to this day who it was. Sitting in the audience renowned filmmaker Albert Maysles of Shelter Island and Juliette Feffer of Southampton nodded sadly.

Numerous East Enders were on hand thanks to outreach by Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman of the Jewish Center of the Hamptons and congregant Judith Banki of Amagansett who is Director of the Tannenbaum Center of Interreligious Understanding. Banki, upon learning of the street dedication, was immediately in touch with fellow Synagogue members and friends throughout the world.

Following the discussion, guests moved through the Tiffany ceilinged rooms to a grand reception room restored by the Polish Government to its 1900s gilded glory for wine and cheese and the chance to share stories of a man and an era that must never be forgotten. Certainly it was a day of great importance to the over 2.5 million New York area residents of Polish and Jewish heritage but as Southampton's Gary Andreassen pointed out," Everyone who comes to New York and sees that street sign will ask "Who was that man to have a street named for him? They will go and find out about true courage in the face of unthinkable evil."