Tag: freedom

Events, Poland - Polish - Polonia, , , , , , ,

Polish Film Festival ’11

Come see the latest award-winning Polish films and meet some of the people who made them at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York.

All films screened at the Canisius College, Montante Cultural Center, 2011 Main St, Buffalo. “IRENA SENDLER: “In the Name of Their Mothers” will be shown in the Student Center on Hughes St. (off Main). All films have English subtitles and are subject to change. Admission is $5. Tickets available at the door. Admission to “IRENA SENDLER: “In the Name of Their Mothers” is free.

For more details on the films, please visit the Permanent Chair of Polish Culture’s events page.

Polish Film Festival 2011 at Canisius College, Buffalo, NYMonday, November 7
7:00 IRENA SENDLER: “In the Name of Their Mothers” The latest documentary about the Polish Catholic women who saved Jewish children during WWII.
MEET THE DIRECTOR: Mary Skinner
Co-Sponsored with The Polish Legacy Project-WWII
Screened in the Student Center, Hughes St.

Thursday, November 10
7:00 WYGRANY – “The Winner” (Drama, 2011) The story of a young pianist. After losing everything, an accidental meeting with his former math teacher and avid horsetrack gambler helps him find his way in life. Dir. Wiesław Saniewski

Friday, November 11
7:00 ŚLUBY PANIENSKIE – “Maiden Vows” (Comedy, 2010)
Film adaptation of the early 19th century comedic play by Aleksander Fredro, still popular in Polish theatres.
Dir. Filip Bajon

Saturday, November 12
7:00 CZARNY CZWARTEK – “Black Thursday” (Drama, 2010) This film is dedicated to the workers’ strikes that swept over Polish coastal cities in December of 1970, only to be brutally crushed by communist authorities. The film focuses on the story of the family of one of the Gdynia shipyard workers.
Dir. Antoni Krauze

Sunday, November 13
3:00 MEET THE PRODUCER of LABYRINTH Fr. Ron Schmidt, S.J.

3:30 LABYRINTH (Documentary, 2010)
Memory, art and hell collide as an Auschwitz survivor finally confronts the horrors of his past after 50 years of silence. Unable to speak after a stroke, he draws the scenes he witnessed as one of the first prisoners of the camp.

4:00 JOANNA (Drama, 2010). WWII under Nazi rule. Gripping story about Joanna, a Polish woman to whom fate presents a split-second choice: whether to hide a young Jewish girl she finds sleeping in a church.
MEET THE DIRECTOR: Feliks Falk

Sunday’s events co-sponsored by: The Joseph J. Naples Conversations in Christ and Culture Lecture and Performance Series and The Polish Legacy Project-WWII

Free Parking across Main Street, Lyons Parking Lots #1, 2, and 4. For information contact the Canisius College Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures at 716-888-2835.

Events, Poetry, Poland - Polish - Polonia, , , , , , ,

Miłosz events

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.

Poland - Polish - Polonia,

Ś+P Brig. Gen. Tadeusz Sawicz

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.

Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political, , , ,

Drop Visas for Poles

Please contact your Senators and Representatives asking that they include Poland in the Visa Waiver Program by co-sponsoring and supporting House Bill H.R. 959 and Senate Bill S. 497.

From Alex Storozynski, President of The Kosciuszko Foundation, The U.S. Must Respect Its Allies

Polish-Americans [marched] up Fifth Avenue on Sunday, [October 2nd] in honor of Gen. Casimir Pulaski, a hero who saved George Washington’s life at the Battle of Brandywine. Yet ironically, if he were alive today, Pulaski would not be allowed to march in the parade without paying $140 and applying for a visa. However, Lafayette and Von Steuben would be able to visit the United States for free because France and Germany are included in the Visa Waiver Program.

The Nowy Dziennik-Polish Daily News, The Kosciuszko Foundation and the Polish community in America urge the United States Congress to include Poland in the VWP, which allows citizens of 36 foreign countries to travel to the U.S. for up to 90 days without a visa.

Poland is one of America’s closest and steadfast allies, sending its soldiers to shed their blood for freedom in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and other war zones. Polish troops have fought side by side with American troops, going wherever the United States asks them to go. So far, 29 Polish soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan, and 30 Polish soldiers have been killed in Iraq.

Like Pulaski, many Polish soldiers have served with distinction at the behest of the U.S. military. Gen. Roman Polko, former commander of the Polish Special Forces unit, GROM, (Thunderbolt), led the capture of a heavily guarded oil platform in the port of Umm Qasr during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The U.S. Army awarded Gen. Polko the Commendation Medal and the Legion of Merit Medal. But when I invited Polko to attend an event at the Kosciuszko Foundation in the spring, he told me that he could not come to New York because he did not have a valid American visa.

While Polko and other Polish soldiers can fight for American freedom, they cannot come see the Statue of Liberty without a visa.

Is this how America treats its allies?

President George W. Bush acknowledged that Poland is one of America’s closest allies and promised to include Poland in the VWP. Poland meets all of the criteria for the VWP, except one – the number of citizens denied visas after they pay the $140 fee.
American consulates around the world interview foreign citizens who apply for tourist visas to visit the United States. These consulates deny visas to people they think might overstay their 90 day visas or work illegally in America.

In 2008, President Bush announced that the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and South Korea would become part of the VWP because these countries had a visa refusal rate lower than 10%. Poland was excluded because at the time its visa refusal rate was slightly higher than that. Today, Poland’s refusal rate is 9%. But after these other countries were added, Congress said that no new countries would be allowed into the VWP unless their visa refusal rate was less than 3%.

The only reason Poland has a 9% refusal rate is that American consulates count the same people over and over as they are denied visas several times. The true percentage of Poles who are denied visas is actually lower. And fewer than 3% of the Poles who do come to America stay longer than the 90 days allowed on their visas.

Countries with an overstay rate of less than 3% should be included in the VWP. The Secure Travel and Counterterrorism Partnership Act of 2011, H.R. 959, would do just that. The bill must pass both houses before President Obama can sign it.

The bill is sponsored in the House by Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois, and the co-sponsors of the bill that are friendly towards Polonia include: Rep. Shelley Berkley [D-NV], Rep. Brian Higgins [D-NY], Rep. Duncan Hunter [R-CA], Rep. Marcy Kaptur [D-OH], Rep. Daniel Lipinski [D-IL], Rep. William (Bill) Pascrell, Jr. [D-NJ], Rep. Jared Polis [D-CO], Rep. Janice (Jan) Schakowsky [D-IL], Rep. John Shimkus [R-IL].

The Senate Bill S. 497 is sponsored by Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, and co-sponsored by Senators Mark Kirk of Illinois, Mark Begich of Alaska, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.

President Obama has written to Congress in “strong support” of the bill, but it must first pass both houses of Congress before it can be signed into law.

The key to passing this bill lies with New York Senator Charles Schumer, Chairman of the Immigration, Refugee and Border Security subcommittee in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senator Schumer can influence the outcome of this bill in the Senate. It’s time for Sen. Schumer to take action on this bill and show that he cares about the one million people of Polish descent in New York State. He must become a co-sponsor.

In the House of Represenatives, the key is Rep. Elton Gallegly of California, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement. Both committees must pass the bill before it can go to the Senate and full House for a vote.

The arguments for including Poland in the VWP are strong. In addition to being one of America’s greatest allies, a productive member of NATO, and the European Union, the notion that Poles need to come to America to work is just flat out wrong. In fact, many Poles who have Green Cards have returned to Poland in recent years because the economy in their own country has grown faster than the U.S. economy.

Those Poles who do want to seek employment elsewhere can work in various countries across Europe. Poland is part of the “Schengen Area” of 25 European nations that allows passport-free travel across borders. Poles do not need to come here to work. They only want to come here to shop, visit relatives and see tourist sites, just like other Europeans.

It’s estimated that 7,000 Poles will be denied visas to the U.S. this year. Many more don’t even apply because the process offends them. I have several relatives and friends in Poland that have professional careers, and they refuse to come here and spend money because of the visa issue. Instead, they travel to tourist sites in Africa, Asia and South America to spend their vacation money.

Poland presently holds the rotating Presidency of the European Union, but incredibly, its President, Bronislaw Komorowski, had to apply for visa prior to his trip to the United States. By refusing visa free travel for Poles, the United States is pushing away an ally, and taking Poland for granted.

Poles pose no terrorist threat to America, and allowing Poles to visit the United States as tourists would encourage international trade and pump tourism dollars into our economy.
While the United States requires Poles to have visas when traveling to America, Poland waived visas for Americans more than 20 years ago.

Allowing Poles to travel without visas will add to our security and enhances law enforcement and crime-fighting efforts through data-sharing agreements between our respective countries.

There are 10 million Polish-Americans in the United States and they have been actively trying to include their fatherland in the VWP. As we march down Fifth Avenue today, we will not just be celebrating Polish culture, we will be handing out letters that Polish Americans can send to their Representative and Senators.

This is not a partisan issue, Republican or Democrat. It is an issue of respect. It is respect for the millions of Poles that helped build this country. It is respect for the millions of Poles who helped overturn Communism and bring down the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union thanks to the actions of the Solidarity movement and Pope John Paul II.

If, like Gen. Polko, Gen. Pulaski were turned away from America’s shores because he did not have a visa, he would not have saved George Washington’s life at the Battle of Brandywine. If Gen. Thaddeus Kosciuszko had been kept out of America because of the visa issue, he would not have built West Point, or drafted the winning plans for the Battle of Saratoga. The American Revolution would have turned out much different.

For too long, the United States has treated our friends and families in Poland as second class citizens requiring them to pay hefty fees to apply for visas to visit this country, while Europeans from other countries travel here without visas.

Media, Poland - Polish - Polonia, , , , ,

Actors, Actresses, Personalities on Poland

The BBC Program, Who Do You Think You Are speaks with Strictly Come Dancing (BBC1)/Dancing With the Stars (ABC) judge Len Goodman. Mr. Goodman discovers the role his Polish great great grandfather had in 1830 November Uprising.

What’s special about Poland? Together with Val Kilmer, Natalie Portman, Russell Crowe, many more world celebrities discover the uniqueness of Poland!

Art, Poland - Polish - Polonia, , , , , ,

Films, openings, screenings

The Battle of Warsaw 1920

The Battle of Warsaw 1920, a new film by Jerzy Hoffman released this week. The movie tells the story of Polish – Bolshevik War of 1920 and the Battle of Warsaw, the pivotal moment in the war which stopped the spread of communism in Central and Western Europe.

The first world war is over; people are enjoying peace. But the Red Army is approaching and Lenin has ideas of world revolution. The Polish unite to resist and stop the Red Army outside Warsaw. In part this is a love story as well as a history lesson. We follow two newly married people caught up in the conflict. We sway back and forth from the front-lines, back to Warsaw, as the Red Army pushes east.

Wojtek The Bear That Went to War

Screening of Polish-British documentary about the bear who fought in World War Two: Wojtek The Bear That Went to War on Tuesday, November 15th, 6.30pm at Riverside Studios, Crisp Road, London W6 9RL

Wojtek The Bear That Went to War, directed by Will Hood and Adam Lavis, Narrated by Brian Blessed, and produced by Animal Monday and Braidmade Films, is the story of Wojtek the Soldier Bear – a magnificent 500lb military bear who fought in World War Two alongside a band of Polish soldiers, shared their beer and cigarettes – and eventually their fate. Told by those that knew him, his story will capture the imagination and provide a very different perspective of the Polish war story.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director and veterans who knew Wojtek

Tickets: £8.50/7.50 cons.

More from BBC Scotland: Wojtek: the Polish soldier bear who lived at Edinburgh Zoo

In his own lifetime, Wojtek, a Syrian brown bear adopted by Polish soldiers in the Second World War, was a celebrity among his comrades. Seven decades on, in Scotland, his legend is undergoing a renaissance thanks to the efforts both of the Polish community itself and of local artists and writers.

Acquired as an orphaned cub in Iran, the young Wojtek was soon well-travelled: with the Artillery Supply Command of the Polish Second Corps he saw fighting in the deserts of north Africa, where the Second Corps joined the British fight against Rommel’s forces, and in Italy…

The Polish Americans on PBS

The Polish Americans applauds the spirit, determination and solidarity of an immigrant success story like no other. Using vintage film footage, family photos, personal recollections and experiences, this documentary special embodies Polish pride in a televised “family album” of the Polish-American experience.

The Polish Americans takes viewers to the bastions of Polonia across the United States, from New York City and Schenectady to Cleveland and Chicago, where parents instill in their children the virtues and values of their native land and a love of its traditions, like the pierogi so many mothers filled and pinched just right.

While strongly American and part of the larger culture, Polish Americans maintained a desire to keep their heritage alive — with rewarding results. The Polish Americans celebrates these proud achievements.

The Officer’s Wife

The Officer’s Wife was screened in Chicago on Friday, October 7th at the Copernicus Center. The screening was sponsored by the Polish American Congress.

Piotr Uzarowicz’s grandfather was one of the nearly 22,000 Polish prisoners of war executed in the Katyn massacre of 1940. Piotr recently completed “The Officer’s Wife,” a documentary about Katyn and the far-reaching effects the massacre – and its cover-up – had on the Uzarowicz family. The film is an ode not just to Piotr’s grandfather: Piotr’s grandmother and father, deported to Siberia during the war, are also key players – as is Piotr himself, who journeys to Poland, Russia, England, Canada, Ukraine and the U.S. on his film-making and personal odyssey. “The Officer’s Wife” was first previewed in May at the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York.

Warsaw Jewish Film Festival

The Warsaw Jewish Film Festival will take place in Warsaw, Poland from November 8-13. Screenings will be at the Kinoteka and Świt Theaters. This year’s Honorary David Camera is dedicated to Polish film and TV director and screenwriter Mrs. Agnieszka Holland.

Among the films competing, David, about the unlikely friendship between a Jewish and Muslim boy in Brooklyn, directed by Joel Fendelman.

“David” trailer from Joel Fendelman on Vimeo.

Into the Wind

Into the Wind is Steven Hatton’s first feature length documentary, capturing the life and wartime experiences of former Bomber Command veterans from the Second World War. As well as a document of unique historical value and significance, Into the Wind is a record of deeply personal stories, tales of friendships gained and lost, the perpetual possibility and proximity of death, the importance of love and family, the shared passion for flying and the moral implications of warfare.

The documentary features interviews with former aircrew originating from Poland, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and the United Kingdom, all of whom share the weight and responsibility of having helped change the course of history.

See the BBC Article
Into the Wind: The story of Bomber Command
.

Events, Poland - Polish - Polonia, , , ,

Deportees, crimes, and historical recollection

From Polskie Radio: Deportee Day [September 17th] recalls forgotten WW II exodus

Saturday sees the 7th World Day of the Siberian, saluting the hundreds of thousands of Polish citizens who were deported to far-flung corners of the Soviet Union during World War II.

Following tradition, the event is held on 17 September, marking the anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939.

Survivors from across the world are expected in Poland. Ceremonies will take place in the northern city of Gdansk, as well as in the nearby village of Szymbark, site of the extensive Siberian House Museum.

Deportees, including the elderly and children, were dispatched from Poland’s Eastern territories following the division of Poland between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in September 1939.

The four transports began in February 1940, primarily to Siberia and Kazakhstan. Many perished during the cramped train journeys, as more did while working in forced labour camps or on collective farms.

The deportations dealt a heavy blow to Poland’s professional elite, but the transports included citizens of all classes and ethnic backgrounds.

Historians are still divided as to the numbers of those deported. Contemporary Moscow figures cited 330,000, yet Poland’s wartime government-in-exile claimed over a million.

The matter became a source of embarrassment to the Soviet Union, after Hitler reneged on his non-aggression pact with Stalin and invaded Moscow-held territory in 1941, thus prompting Stalin to turn to Great Britain – and by default its Polish ally – for support.

An amnesty was declared, and General Wladyslaw Anders, one of the thousands of Polish internees in the Soviet Union, was allowed to raise an army from among the prisoners.
The so-called Polish Second Corps journeyed to Iran, where it regrouped and joined the fight against the Nazis, as part of the British 8th Army.

However, thousands did not make it out of Soviet territory. Historian Andrzej Paczkowski puts the mortality rate at 8-10 percent.

Noted deportees included the writer Gustaw Herling-Grudzinski, whose post-war book A World Apart was cited by historian Anne Applebaum as one of the finest accounts of life in the Soviet Gulag.

Likewise, Poland’s most celebrated pre-war film star, Eugeniusz Bodo, was among those who perished in the Soviet Union.

Oscar-nominated Polish-Jewish film-maker Jerzy Hoffman survived the ordeal as a child. He is currently preparing to release Poland’s first 3D film, The Battle for Warsaw, this month.

As it was, the vast majority of Anders’ Army did not return to the Soviet-dominated Poland that emerged after the war.

Ryszard Kaczorowski (1919-2010), the last president of the government-in-exile in London, was himself a survivor of both Siberia and the Italian campaign.

Although the wartime deportations were devastating in Poland, they were by no means unique. In May 1944, Moscow launched the deportation of the entire Tatar population of the Crimea. Activists are calling for the action, known as Surgun, to be classified as genocide.

From the Libra Institute: Report from the Capitol Hill Conference, “Katyń: Unfinished Inquiry”

On the eve of the 72nd anniversary of the Soviet aggression on Poland, an important conference took place on the Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The conference entitled “Katyń – Unfinished Inquiry” was co-sponsored by fifteen civic and academic organizations from all over the United States, including organizations representing Katyń families and Siberian deportees such as the Katyń Forest Massacre Memorial Committee of New Jersey, Kresy-Siberia Foundation USA, National Katyń Memorial Foundation of Maryland, Polish Legacy Project of Buffalo, New York, Siberian Society USA, Siberian Society of Florida, the Poles of Santa Rosa in Chicago, the Polish Army Veterans Association in America and the Polish American Congress. The conference was co-organized by Libra Institute and the Institute of World Politics with the support of Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur.

While commemorating the Polish victims of the Soviet aggression of September 17, 1939, the participants deliberated how to achieve healing of the wounds and genuine reconciliation between the people of Russia and Poland in the twenty first century. The participants acknowledged that the path to reconciliation leads through revealing the full truth.

Professor David Crane who served as Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone presented Expert Report from the Katyń Symposium that took place at Case Western Reserve School of Law in February 2011. Referring to the Expert Report, he pointed out that genuine reconciliation must be built on truthful accountability through full disclosure, atonement, contrition and compensation. He also stated that although various experts offer different classifications of the Katyń crime, according to him Katyń qualified as genocide. Prof. Crane also stated that the United States should consider forwarding the evidence, findings and recommendations of the Madden Committee to the General Assembly of the United Nations with the recommendations that the United Nations take appropriate steps to have the case forwarded to the International Court of Justice and/or seek the establishment of an international commission that will investigate this case. The other ways in which the United States could assist in seeking justice for the Katyń crime would be the full disclosure of documents related to Katyń that are in the possession of the US Government and adopting legislation that would recognize the wrong that has been done by the United States as a result of the suppression of evidence. The United States should also consider issuing an apology to the Katyń victims and the Polish people, providing compensation to the Katyń families who are US citizens either directly or through the establishment of the Katyń Truth and Reconciliation Institute, and should sponsor an educational outreach program on the Katyń crime and the cover-up.

Dr. John Lenczowski, President of the Institute of World Politics, in his opening remarks pointed out that the Katyń crime aimed at eliminating the leadership class of Poland. He criticized the Russian anti-Katyń strategy by pointing out that the Soviet soldiers taken as prisoners of war by Poland as a result of the 1920 Polish-Russian War represented the invading army and died of communicable diseases. He also elaborated on the role of the US Government in covering up the Katyń crime and suppressing all Katyń related information, including the destruction of the key eyewitness reports by the top US Military Intelligence Officer, in order not to upset Moscow. He pointed out that the key Katyń-related documents have never been released by the US Government. Apparently, there is never a good time to do so, especially when the USA aims at resetting relations with Russia.

Frank Spula, President of the Polish-American Congress, spoke about the significance of the Katyń crime for the Polish-American community. He stated that he was honored to be in this congressional office building and participate in such a historical event, especially considering that this building was named after Sam Rayburn who initiated the original investigation into the Katyń crime sixty years ago. Back then Roman Pucinski, the Chief Investigator of the Madden Committee led the struggle for truth and justice. Today his daughter, Aurelia Pucinski, came to this congressional building to continue her father’s struggle for justice. Katyń has a special significance to the Americans of Polish heritage.

The closing remarks belonged to Wesley Adamczyk, Son of the Polish Officer imprisoned in Starobelsk, murdered in Kharkov and buried in the Piatichatki forest. Having searched for his father’s burial site for six decades, finally in June of 1998, while accompanied by his American-born son, Mr. Adamczyk had an opportunity to pay last respects to his father at the Piatichatki cemetery. Upon leaving, he appealed to his son never to forget that even the grinding of the bones and planting of the trees over the graves does not stop the truth from coming to the surface. Mr. Adamczyk stressed that today, nearly seventy years later, there still exist a “universal cover-up” of the Katyń crime in its entirety. He also explained that the origin of the cover-up of the Katyń crime, referred to as “conspiracy of silence”, began by the Big Four during the London meeting in the summer of 1945. The purpose of that meeting was to establish procedures for prosecution of major war criminals during the upcoming trials by the International Military Tribunal to be held in Nuremberg. It was there that the Big Four agreed that the Soviets would handle the indictment and prosecution of the Katyń crime, even though the Western Allies knew that all arrows pointed to the Soviet guilt. The Western Allies won the war against Nazi Germany but justice for the victims of the Katyń crime was never sought. In closing, Mr. Adamczyk appealed to the Government of the United States to undertake pro-active steps towards full disclosure and dissemination of all documents related to the Katyń atrocity in the possession of the US Government because without revealing full truth justice cannot be served.

More from the Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law: Katyń Conference Papers.

Kresy-Siberia Group and Foundation Resources:

Research, Remembrance and Recognition of Polish citizens’ struggles in the Eastern Borderlands and in Exile during World War 2. Kresy-Siberia is the premiere “one-stop” location on the internet providing information sources on the Kresy, the persecutions and deportations of Poles, and Polonian life in exile during and after World War II.

Their resources include:

[AMAZONPRODUCT=0226004430]

Maps and Shadows

A two part interview on Zita Christian’s show “Full Bloom” with Krysia Jopek. Ms. Jopek discusses her book “Maps and Shadows” and the story of two of the four survivors of the Polish deportation to Siberia in 1940, her father and aunt.

[AMAZONPRODUCT=1607720078]

PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia, , , ,

Philadelphia’s Pulaski Day Parade 2011

Father Major Sławomir Andrew Biliński of the Polish National Catholic Church served as 2011 Pulaski Day Parade Military Marshal.

Polish-born priest and doctor, Father Major Slawomir Andrew Bilinski has a distinguished career of service in military and civilian settings. After arriving in the U.S. as a priest in the Polish National Catholic Church, he was assigned to Holy Mother of Sorrows PNC Church in Dupont, PA, where he served as pastor until 2000. After earning a B.S. in pre-medical studies at Wilkes University, Father Bilinski entered Thomas Jefferson University Medical College in Philadelphia and joined the U.S. Army as a Lieutenant. Upon completion of his medical degree in 2004, he was promoted to Captain and served his internship in Emergency Medicine at Hahnemann University Hospital and residency training at the Underwood Memorial Hospital of Thomas Jefferson University. At that time, Father Bilinski also assisted at St. Valentine’s Church in Philadelphia.

In 2007, Captain Bilinski was transferred to Brooke Army Hospital and Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX, where he served as medical doctor in the Emergency Room, Troop Clinic, and wounded soldiers unit. He was promoted to the rank of Major in October, 2010.

Major Bilinski now serves a triple vocation as U.S. Army officer, priest and physician by caring for our soldiers and their families at Fort Lee, Virginia. When he visits his hometown of Philadelphia, he assists with Father Krzysztof Mendelewski at St. Valentine’s PNC Church on Margaret Street, in the Frankford section of Philadelphia.

Christian Witness, Perspective, Political, , , ,

And killing the innocent?

Troy Davis has 1 days to live before he is executed by the State of Georgia. But 7 witnesses say Troy is innocent, and that another man committed the crime for which he will be killed. Evidence presented at Troy’s trial was considered shaky at the time. Since then, seven witnesses have recanted their testimony, many saying they were pressured by police into false testimony. There’s no physical evidence Troy committed the crime. And, according to Amnesty International, nine people have signed affidavits implicating another man. Georgia’s Board of Parole and Pardons had said there should be “no doubt” about a person’s guilt before he is executed. Today they decided that “doubt” doesn’t matter.

Background on the case from Wikipedia.

From the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

E.D. Kain writing in Forbes with whom I totally agree: Troy Davis and the History of Injustice in America

The history of justice in America is pocked with such deep institutional injustices that time and again we make a mockery of the word. From slavery to the War on Drugs, the powerful have trampled time and again on the weak.

Law and order masquerade as justice, and our prisons fill to the brim with young men, mostly black and Hispanic, mostly poor. Meanwhile, inner cities lie like sunken ruins across the wealthiest nation in the history of civilization, stomped upon by drug warriors and poverty and violence.

And though we accept the limitations of our government and of the good judgment of our leaders, we nevertheless believe in the infallibility of this system we call justice, but which is not justice, to hand down the most final sort of judgment a man could ever know.

Troy Davis, convicted over two decades ago of killing an off-duty cop, though much doubt has been cast upon his guilt and the methods which police and prosecutors used to secure his conviction, will be executed by the state of Georgia tomorrow. The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles has denied him clemency, and there are no other avenues left to save him.

In the end, I am not concerned so much with whether or not Davis is guilty or innocent. I am concerned with the uncertainty of his guilt. “I’m not for blood. I’m for justice,” said the mother of the slain police officer. But we extract one or the other, not both. In a case where the blood may be that of an innocent, how can we call it justice?

If Davis is not guilty and we kill him nonetheless then we have simply stacked one murder on top of another. The life of Mark MacPhail will not be avenged. If Davis is guilty, surely serving out the remainder of his life in state prison should be enough. Justice does not require retribution.

Death is tragic. The death of Mark MacPhail is a tragedy that will never be undone. Not by blood, not by prison bars, not by time, not by proof that Davis is guilty or proof that he is innocent. But if we have even a glimmer of doubt about his guilt, there will be no justice in his death

I will not argue the death penalty here. There are times when it may be appropriate. However, a persons guilt or innocence cannot remain questionable. As long as questions persist, the course of least harm must be followed.

Christian Witness, Perspective, Political, , , , , ,

Getting poorer

Poverty is on the increase, inequality — not based on personal effort — but systematically driven is on the increase. Those who have are fewer and fewer, those without are increasing, and those in the middle are on a downward spiral. What is the proper faith response? Where are the strong calls to justice and prophetic witness?

From the U.S. Census Bureau: Poverty

The data presented here are from the Current Population Survey (CPS), 2011 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC), the source of official poverty estimates. The CPS ASEC is a sample survey of approximately 100,000 household nationwide. These data reflect conditions in calendar year 2010.

  • The official poverty rate in 2010 was 15.1 percent — up from 14.3 percent in 2009. This was the third consecutive annual increase in the poverty rate. Since 2007, the poverty rate has increased by 2.6 percentage points, from 12.5 percent to 15.1 percent.
  • In 2010, 46.2 million people were in poverty, up from 43.6 million in 2009—the fourth consecutive annual increase in the number of people in poverty.
  • Between 2009 and 2010, the poverty rate increased for non-Hispanic Whites (from 9.4 percent to 9.9 percent), for Blacks (from 25.8 percent to 27.4 percent), and for Hispanics (from 25.3 percent to 26.6 percent). For Asians, the 2010 poverty rate (12.1 percent) was not statistically different from the 2009 poverty rate.
  • The poverty rate in 2010 (15.1 percent) was the highest poverty rate since 1993 but was 7.3 percentage points lower than the poverty rate in 1959, the first year for which poverty estimates are available.
  • The number of people in poverty in 2010 (46.2 million) is the largest number in the 52 years for which poverty estimates have been published.
  • Between 2009 and 2010, the poverty rate increased for children under age 18 (from 20.7 percent to 22.0 percent) and people aged 18 to 64 (from 12.9 percent to 13.7 percent), but was not statistically different for people aged 65 and older (9.0 percent).

From the AP via Yahoo!: Behind the poverty numbers: real lives, real pain

At a food pantry in a Chicago suburb, a 38-year-old mother of two breaks into tears.

She and her husband have been out of work for nearly two years. Their house and car are gone. So is their foothold in the middle class and, at times, their self-esteem.
“It’s like there is no way out,” says Kris Fallon.

She is trapped like so many others, destitute in the midst of America’s abundance. Last week, the Census Bureau released new figures showing that nearly one in six Americans lives in poverty — a record 46.2 million people. The poverty rate, pegged at 15.1 percent, is the highest of any major industrialized nation, and many experts believe it could get worse before it abates.

The numbers are daunting — but they also can seem abstract and numbing without names and faces.

Associated Press reporters around the country went looking for the people behind the numbers. They were not hard to find.

There’s Tim Cordova, laid off from his job as a manager at a McDonald’s in New Mexico, and now living with his wife at a homeless shelter after a stretch where they slept in their Ford Focus.

There’s Bill Ricker, a 74-year-old former repairman and pastor whose home is a dilapidated trailer in rural Maine. He scrapes by with a monthly $1,003 Social Security check. His ex-wife also is hard up; he lets her live in the other end of his trailer.

There’s Brandi Wells, a single mom in West Virginia, struggling to find a job and care for her 10-month-old son. “I didn’t realize that it could go so bad so fast,” she says.

Some were outraged by the statistics. Marian Wright Edelman of the Children’s Defense Fund called the surging child poverty rate “a national disgrace.” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., cited evidence that poverty shortens life spans, calling it “a death sentence for tens and tens of thousands of our people.”

Overall, though, the figures seemed to be greeted with resignation, and political leaders in Washington pressed ahead with efforts to cut federal spending. The Pew Research Center said its recent polling shows that a majority of Americans — for the first time in 15 years of being surveyed on the question — oppose more government spending to help the poor.

“The news of rising poverty makes headlines one day. And the next it is forgotten,” said Los Angeles community activist and political commentator Earl Ofari Hutchinson.

Such is life in the Illinois town of Pembroke, one of the poorest in the Midwest, where schools and stores have closed. Keith Bobo, a resident trying to launch revitalization programs, likened conditions to the Third World.

“A lot of the people here just feel like they are on an island, like no one even knows that they exist,” he said…

From Robert Reich writing in the Christian Science Monitor: What you won’t hear about during the 2012 election: Why progressive ideas like wage increases and medicare won’t be mentioned during presidential debates

We’re on the cusp of the 2012 election. What will it be about? It seems reasonably certain President Obama will be confronted by a putative Republican candidate who:

Believes corporations are people, wants to cut the top corporate rate to 25% (from the current 35%) and no longer require they pay tax on foreign income, who will eliminate capital gains and dividend taxes on anyone earning less than $250,000 a year, raise the retirement age for Social Security and turn Medicaid into block grants to states, seek a balanced-budged amendment to the Constitution, require any regulatory agency issuing a new regulation repeal another regulation of equal cost (regardless of the benefits), and seek repeal of Obama’s healthcare plan.

Or one who:

Believes the Federal Reserve is treasonous when it expands the money supply, doubts human beings evolved from more primitive forms of life, seeks to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and shift most public services to the states, thinks Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, while governor took a meat axe to public education and presided over an economy that generated large numbers of near-minimum-wage jobs, and who will shut down most federal regulatory agencies, cut corporate taxes, and seek repeal of Obama’s healthcare plan.

Whether it’s Romney or Perry, he’s sure to attack everything Obama has done or proposed. And Obama, for his part, will have to defend his positions and look for ways to counterpunch.

Hence, the parameters of public debate for the next fourteen months.

Within these narrow confines progressive ideas won’t get an airing. Even though poverty and unemployment will almost surely stay sky-high, wages will stagnate or continue to fall, inequality will widen, and deficit hawks will create an indelible (and false) impression that the nation can’t afford to do much about any of it – proposals to reverse these trends are unlikely to be heard.

Neither party’s presidential candidate will propose to tame CEO pay, create more tax brackets at the top and raise the highest marginal rates back to their levels in the 1950s and 1960s (that is, 70 to 90 percent), and match the capital-gains rate with ordinary income.

You won’t hear a call to strengthen labor unions and increase the bargaining power of ordinary workers.

Don’t expect an argument for resurrecting the Glass-Steagall Act, thereby separating commercial from investment banking and stopping Wall Street’s most lucrative and dangerous practices.

You won’t hear there’s no reason to cut Medicare and Medicaid – that a better means of taming health-care costs is to use these programs’ bargaining clout with drug companies and hospitals to obtain better deals and to shift from fee-for-services to fee for healthy outcomes.

Nor will you hear why we must move toward Medicare for all.

Nor why the best approach to assuring Social Security’s long-term solvency is to lift the ceiling on income subject to Social Security payroll taxes.

Don’t expect any reference to the absurdity of spending more on the military than do all other countries put together, and the waste and futility of an unending and undeclared war against Islamic extremism – especially when we have so much to do at home.

Nor are you likely to hear proposals for ending the corruption of our democracy by big money.

Although proposals like these are more important and relevant than ever, they won’t be part of the upcoming presidential election.

But they should be part of the public debate nonetheless.

That’s why I urge you to speak out about them – at town halls, candidate forums, and public events. Continue to mobilize and organize around them. Talk with your local media about them. Use social media to get the truth out…

John Gray’s essay from the BBC: A Point of View: The revolution of capitalism

Karl Marx may have been wrong about communism but he was right about much of capitalism, John Gray writes.

As a side-effect of the financial crisis, more and more people are starting to think Karl Marx was right. The great 19th Century German philosopher, economist and revolutionary believed that capitalism was radically unstable.

It had a built-in tendency to produce ever larger booms and busts, and over the longer term it was bound to destroy itself.

Marx welcomed capitalism’s self-destruction. He was confident that a popular revolution would occur and bring a communist system into being that would be more productive and far more humane.

Marx was wrong about communism. Where he was prophetically right was in his grasp of the revolution of capitalism. It’s not just capitalism’s endemic instability that he understood, though in this regard he was far more perceptive than most economists in his day and ours.

More profoundly, Marx understood how capitalism destroys its own social base – the middle-class way of life. The Marxist terminology of bourgeois and proletarian has an archaic ring.

But when he argued that capitalism would plunge the middle classes into something like the precarious existence of the hard-pressed workers of his time, Marx anticipated a change in the way we live that we’re only now struggling to cope with…