California Experiences to be Discussed at Yale
By Raymond Rolak
New York — A celebration and conference will be at the Czeslaw Milosz archive at the Bienecke Library on the Yale campus November 4-5, in New Haven, CT. An exhibition will be on display thru December 17, 2011, titled Exile as Destiny: Czesław Miłosz and America. The manuscripts, documents, and photographs on display are lesser-known aspects of Milosz’s relationship with America. What will be especially analyzed will be the multifaceted relationships with his adopted home in California and fellow émigré authors. How he embraced and distained his translations with the English language will also be discussed.
An academic poetry conference at Claremont McKenna College in Los Angeles regarding the celebrated author just concluded.
Centennial and Poetry of Milosz Featured in N.Y.
An evening of remembrance and poetry will be held at Columbia University on Saturday, October 27, 2011 at 5:30 pm., in the Butler Library. It will be a celebration of the memorabilia and poems of Czeslaw Milosz.
He died in 2004 at the age of 93 and had previously been a professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of California-Berkley from 1961 to 1998.
Milosz gained recognition for his poetry when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1980. There will also be an exhibition of artifacts and letters opening at the Butler Library.
Controversy always followed him. He refused to categorically identify himself as either a Pole or a Lithuanian. He defected to France in 1951 and immigrated to the United States in 1960.
A collection of his essays published as “To Begin Where I Am” and “The Captive Mind” in 1953 brought him great notoriety. The author will be honored with comments by Professor Helen Vendler of Harvard University. The event will coincide with other multilingual readings of his poetry by members of the Colombia University community. Also featured will be Colombia’s Alan Timberlake and Dr. Anna Frajlich, who will both do readings.
Readings Also in San Francisco
In California, another celebration will be hosted by the Polish Arts and Culture Foundation of San Francisco when they present A Celebration of Milosz on Saturday October 29, at 2:00 PM. at the Main Library’s Koret Auditorium. A panel of literary notables, friends and family will read some of his works representing his European experiences and influences.
Miłosz at Central Connecticut State University
A Miłosz event at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU): “Czesław Miłosz: A Poet of Both Nations.” Yale professor Tomas Venclova will present on Wednesday, November 9th at 7pm in Founders Hall, Davidson Bldg, CCSU, New Britain CT. Professor Venclova is one of the outstanding scholars of Slavic Studies in the world. He was a friend of Polish poet Czesław Miłosz. Professor Venclova is an author of collections of poems, poetry-translations, essays, articles. His poetry has appeared in many languages. He is a recipient of numerous international poetry prizes including Valencia (Slovenia, 1990) and Qinghai (China, 2011), as well as of the Lithuanian National Prize (2000). The event is free and open to the public. Parking is available in campus garages. For more information, please contact the CCSU Polish Studies Department at 860-832-3010, or via E-mail.
The S. A. Blejwas Endowed Chair of Polish and Polish American Studies at CCSU will also be presenting “The Magic Mountain: an American portrait of Czesław Miłosz” on Sunday, November 13th at 4pm in the CCSU Vance Academic Center, Room 105. Celebrating 100th anniversary of Czesław Milosz’s birth, Polish Studies Program presents a documentary about American years in the life of Polish poet and 1980 Nobel Prize winner. Milosz’s own reminiscences and remarks by his friends and students, some of them the most prominent 20th century American intellectuals, complete the portrait of nearly 40 years the poet spent in Berkley, California. This event is also free and the public is cordially invited. For more information, please contact the CCSU Polish Studies Department at 860-832-3010, or via E-mail.
From CTV: Poland’s last Battle of Britain pilot dies in Toronto
WARSAW, Poland — A Polish World War II airman, believed to be the last surviving Polish pilot from the Battle of Britain, has died at the age of 97 in a Canadian nursing home.
Turner and Porter Funeral Directors said on its website that Brig. Gen. Tadeusz Sawicz died Oct. 19 at a nursing home in Toronto, Canada.
Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza daily reported Wednesday that Sawicz was the last surviving pilot from the Polish Air Forces in Britain during World War II. He fought in the 1940 battle and served with the air force until early 1947.
A spokesman for Britain’s Royal Air Force said the RAF was saddened to hear of Sawicz’ death.
“There is widespread admiration for the major contribution that the Polish aircrew made to the Allied victory in World War II and their commitment in the face of significant losses, especially those who so bravely fought in the Battle of Britain. Their vital contributions will be long remembered,” he said.
The spokesman declined to be named, in keeping with military policy.
Historian Adam Zamoyski — author of “The Forgotten Few: The Polish Air Force in the Second World War” — told The Associated Press that if Sawicz was the last surviving pilot from the 1940 battle it would close an important chapter in the war’s and Poland’s history.
He added that proving he is the last could be difficult, as there is no exact record of the pilots, who emigrated around the world after the war. Sawicz moved to Canada in 1957 where he worked in aviation.
At the start of World War II in 1939, Sawicz fought in Poland’s air defence against the invading German Nazis. At one point, he flew under German fire to carry orders to troops defending Warsaw.
Following the collapse of the city’s defence on Sept. 17, he joined Polish pilots fighting in France, but after Paris’ surrender in July he made his way — with tens of thousands of Polish airmen, soldiers and sailors — to Britain, making up the largest foreign military force in the country. Zamoyski said that some 17,000 Poles — pilots, mechanics and ground staff — served in the Polish air force in Britain at the time.
In the summer of 1940, Gen. Wladyslaw Sikorski — the head of Poland’s Government in Exile in London — signed an agreement with the British Government to form a Polish Air Force in Britain, of which Sawicz was to play his part.
After training on Hurricane fighter aircraft, he was incorporated into RAF Polish squadron 303 and later to squadrons 316 and 315. On and off, he served as a commander of the Polish wing.
Sawicz was among the 145 Polish pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain, 31 of which died in action. Other foreign pilots — from New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Czechoslovakia, South Africa, the United States and Ireland — also flew with the RAF.
A few British pilots from the battle are still alive, but it is not known how many of the international aviators — known collectively, after a phrase coined by Winston Churchill, as “The Few” — remain.
During his time as a pilot in Britain, Sawicz is credited with shooting down three German aircraft. He has been awarded Poland’s highest military order the Virtuti Military medal, and the Distinguished Flying Cross from Britain, the United States and the Netherlands.
He is survived by his wife Jadwiga. A service is planned for him at a later date in Warsaw.
Also, from the Telegraph: Wing Commander Tadeusz Sawicz
Wieczne odpoczynek racz mu dać Panie, a światłość wiekuista niechaj mu świeci.
Niech odpoczywa w pokoju, Amen.
On the Feast of Saint Luke the Evangelist, our Holy Church entered into a new reality. The Very Rev. Paul Sobiechowski was consecrated to the office of bishop in the Holy Polish National Catholic Church. Bishop elect Paul chose Rev. Stanley Bilinski and Rev. Raymond Drada as his chaplains. The principal consecrator was the Most Rev. Dr. Anthony Mikovsky, Prime Bishop of the PNCC. All bishops of the PNCC, active and retired were co-consecrators. Prime Bishop Mikovsky celebrated the Holy Mass assisted by Rev. Bruce Sleczkowski as deacon and Rev. Gregory Młudzik as subdeacon of the Mass. The readings and Holy Gospel were proclaimed in English, Polish, and Spanish. As part of the consecration rite, bishop-elect Paul chose to sign the Declaration of Scranton, which was first signed by our organizer, Bishop Francis Hodur, and signed by every bishop candidate ever since. Over 400 faithful participated in the Holy Mass.
Significant not only in its ritual and celebration, the Holy Rite was witnessed by ecumenical clergy from various jurisdictions from around the globe: Bishop TIKHON of the Orthodox Church in America; Most Rev. James C. Timlin, retired bishop of the Roman Catholic Church, Scranton diocese; Rt. Rev. Richard W. Lipka, from the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA), with whom we have recently sought dialogue; and Abbot-elect Luis A. Gonzalez, OSB, also of ACNA, whom Bishop Paul will witness his installation at St. Benedict’s Abbey in Bartonville, Illinois. These present were significant in showing the viability the PNCC has within the ecumenical world, as well as its place in the community of Christian Churches.
The ritual was performed with the utmost dignity and jubilation. It was my personal honor to be of assistance to the National Liturgical Commission helping in procession and sanctuary logistics.
Following his consecration, Bishop Paul becomes the Diocesan Ordinary of the Eastern Diocese. He plans to be in residence sometime prior to the Christmas holiday.
Please continue to pray for him, his family, and his ministry.
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sad’ducees, they came together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.” — Matthew 22:34-40