Bearing Witness: The Legacy of Jan Karski Today

Join Georgetown’s Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics for a special event honoring the legacy of Jan Karski and its relevance to the current moment.

This event will feature:

Hon. Nancy Pelosi (H’02), Speaker of the House of Representatives

Bearing Witness: The Legacy of Jan Karski Today

Speaker Nancy Pelosi shaking Director Derek Goldman’s hand at Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski during the SFS centennial weekend.

Members of the creative team of The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics’ original production Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski: Oscar-Nominated actor David Strathairn; director and co-author Prof. Derek Goldman (Lab co-director; Chair of Performing Arts); Clark Young (COL’09) co-author

Ambassador Cynthia Schneider (Lab co-director); Ijeoma Njaka (Lab Inclusive Pedagogy Specialist and co-professor of the current “Just Communities” course Bearing Witness: The Legacy of Karski Today); Father Leo O’Donovan

With additional contributions from President John J. DeGioia, Dean Joel Hellman, and students in the Just Communities course on Karski.

Outside of Georgetown’s White-Gravenor Hall sits an iconic commemorative bench and statue honoring Holocaust witness, Polish World War II hero, spy and diplomat, Jan Karski, one of the most influential Professors ever to teach at Georgetown University.

The event features a 30-minute conversation on Karski’s legacy between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Oscar-Nominated actor David Strathairn, who plays Karski in The Lab’s celebrated original production of Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski which premiered at the SFS Centennial Celebration in November, 2019.

The creative team for the theatrical production will also join for a dialogue about the recent film adaptation, Remember This, to be released in 2021. Be sure to attend for a sneak-peak of the upcoming film!

The production and forthcoming film are the centerpiece of a current undergraduate course exploring Karski’s story and its contemporary resonance that is part of Georgetown’s “Just Communities” curriculum. The event features members of the political, artistic, faculty, and student communities engaging with Karski’s remarkable legacy — one which speaks to the importance of moral courage; of bearing witness to history; of respect for others, especially those who are different; of the responsibility to question; and of the role of the individual in speaking out, even when the message is not “convenient.”

Photo of Clark Young, Prof Derek Goldman, Cynthia Schneider, Father Leo O’Donovan, and David Stratharin (right to left) at Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski on Nov 15, 2019.