Karol Nawrocki visits Ground Zero ahead of 81st UN General Assembly session

Tribute at Ground Zero

Polish President Karol Nawrocki and First Lady Marta Nawrocka began their official visit to the United States on Saturday, 19 September 2026, by visiting Ground Zero in New York City. The presidential couple laid a ceremonial wreath at the Survivor Tree, located at the site of the former World Trade Center complex. They also visited the twin memorial waterfall pools, known as the Reflecting Absence, which occupy the exact footprints where the Twin Towers stood prior to their destruction. During the visit, the presidential couple met with members of the local Polish diaspora who had gathered in lower Manhattan, holding brief conversations and posing for photographs.

Survivors and the 25-year memorial

The commemoration coincides with the 25th anniversary of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, in which 19 Al-Qaeda hijackers seized four commercial passenger aircraft. Two planes struck the World Trade Center towers, a third hit the Pentagon near Washington, and a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania following passenger intervention. The coordinated attacks resulted in 2,996 deaths, including eight Polish citizens, and left thousands injured. Following the attacks, NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time, leading to military action in Afghanistan that removed the Taliban from power by late 2001. The Survivor Tree, a Callery pear tree severely damaged during the collapse of the towers, was recovered from the rubble by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, rehabilitated, and replanted at Ground Zero in 2010. Seedlings from the tree are distributed each year to three communities affected by disasters, with past recipients including Madrid, Boston, Las Vegas, Puerto Rico, and the New York borough of Queens.

United Nations General Assembly and diplomatic agenda

The visit to the memorial marks the opening engagement of a trip scheduled to conclude on Wednesday, 23 September 2026. The primary purpose of the presidential travel is participation in the general debate of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly. On Sunday, the official itinerary includes attendance at a Catholic Mass at the Church of St. Stanislaus Kostka in New York, followed by a formal meeting with the Polish-American community to present state decorations. In addition to addressing the assembly, Nawrocki is scheduled to conduct bilateral discussions with multiple international counterparts, including the presidents of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, alongside meetings with Polish and American business leaders.

Security discussions and Washington remarks

The diplomatic trip follows recent statements regarding regional security from officials in Warsaw and Washington. On Thursday, 17 September 2026, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk addressed the Sejm, cautioning that escalating Russian operations in the coming weeks and months could potentially involve drone and missile strikes against states supporting Ukraine, including Poland. On Friday, 18 September 2026, US President Donald Trump responded to questions at the White House regarding Polish concerns over Russian hybrid operations, commenting directly on Nawrocki:

He was in 12th place, I endorsed him, and now he is president and doing a fantastic job. And he has it under control.

The Polish delegation plans to conclude all scheduled bilateral and multilateral sessions before returning to Warsaw on Wednesday.