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Remembering September 1, 1939

Merciful and loving Father, Who knowest the misfortune of our nation, with eyes of mercy look Thou down upon us; pardon our sins, make straight our ways, watch over a guide us amid the confusion of the world, that serving Thee in truth and righteousness, we may behold at length Thine everlasting light. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. — A Prayer for the Polish Nation from A Book of Devotions and Prayers According to the Use of the Polish National Catholic Church.

Zakazane piosenki – Dnia pierwszego września
Forbidden songs – On the First of September

Dnia pierwszego września, roku pamiętnego
Wróg napadł na Polskę z kraju sąsiedniego

Najwięcej się uwziął na naszą Warszawę
Warszawo kochana tyś jest miasto krwawe

Kiedyś byłaś piękna bogata wspaniała
Teraz tylko kupa gruzów pozostała

Domy popalone, szpitale zburzone
Gdzie się mają podziać ludzie poranione

Lecą bomby z nieba brak jest ludziom chleba
Nie tylko od bomby umrzeć będzie trzeba

Gdy biedna Warszawa w gruzach pozostała
To biedna Warszawa poddać się musiała

I tak się broniła całe trzy tygodnie
Jeszcze Pan Bóg pomści taką straszną zbrodnie.

From the Wikipedia list of events in September 1939:

  • September 1 —“ World War II: At 0445 Central European Time, the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opens bombardment on the Westerplatte, a Polish military base outside Danzig, firing what are, according to many sources, the first shots of World War II. At the same time, regular Wehrmacht troops begin crossing the border into Poland.
  • September 15 —“ World War II: Diverse elements of the German Wehrmacht surround Warsaw and demand its surrender. The Poles refuse and the siege begins in earnest.
  • September 17 —“ World War II: The Soviet Union invades Poland and then occupies eastern Polish territories.
  • September 22 —“ World War II: Joint victory parade of the [German] Wehrmacht and [Russian] Red Army in Brest-Litovsk at the end of the Invasion of Poland.
  • September 28 —“ World War II: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union agree on a division of Poland after their invasion.
  • September 28 —“ World War II: Warsaw surrenders to Germany; Modlin surrenders a day later; the last Polish large operational unit surrenders near Kock 8 days later.

A link to memories of the beginning of the war and the mass deportation of Poles to Russian slave labor camps from three Roman Catholic sisters courtesy of the Young Fogey.

From the Guardian, a video of the dawn memorial service at Westerplatte where the first shots of the war were fired.

Dr. John Guzlowski will be speaking on Saturday, September 5, 2009 between 10 and 11:30am at Michigan’s commemoration service held in conjunction with the Polish Roman Catholic Mission at the Orchard Lake Schools.

September 1, 1939 Commemoration

Russian revisionist history, setting the stage for the next conflict by excusing the crimes of the past: “…but it wasn’t all our fault that we deported 1.7 million Poles to Siberia, killing 1.3 million in the process including the 25,000 unarmed Polish military officers, police and intellectuals we shot to death in Katyn over a few days.”

PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia, ,

A question about the Polish Catholic Church

…at Roman Catholic Resources. I posted a comment which reflects what I’ve written below. I think the writer is asking (?) whether the PCC believes in “papal infallibility.” My response (extended and revised):

The Polish Catholic Church (Kościół Polskokatolicki) is a member of the Union of Utrecht, but has very little in common with what remains of the Union. A little history:

The Union of Utrecht was formed after Vatican I in response to the “dogmas” of papal infallibility and the immaculate conception. The Union desired to stick with the Church’s common dogmas as established prior to 1074. At the time of its organization it primarily consisted of Churches in the Netherlands and Germany.

The PNCC was organized in the United States. The Rev. Francis Hodur was elected Bishop and was consecrated in 1907 by Archbishop Gerard Gul of Utrecht, Bishop John Van Thiel of Haarlem, and Bishop Peter Spit of Deventer, the Old Catholic Bishops of the Netherlands thus becoming a member of the Union of Utrecht. In approx. 1920 the PNCC sent a mission to the old country and attempted to establish parishes there. There was some success particularly in northern Poland.

Like the Orthodox we all see the Papal office as a man-made office established for the good order of the Church; not a Divinely instituted office ordained with special powers and privileges onto itself.

The Church in Poland was somewhat prosecuted by Roman Catholics as was the PNCC in the United States. During WWII the Polish Church’s bishop, as well as its priests, were arrested and imprisoned by the Nazi Germans. Its bishop, Jozef Padewski was released in a prisoner exchange and returned to the United States until after the war. On his return to Poland he was arrested by the communists, was tortured, and was martyred for the faith. The communist authorities in Poland then forced the Polish Church to break its ties with the PNCC and to independently establish itself (in other words PNCC and PCC were made administratively separate).

To this day the PNCC and the Polish Catholic Church consider themselves sister Churches but remain administratively separate.

While the Polish Catholic Church remains a member of the Union of Utrecht, the PNCC broke its ties with the Union in 2003 over the Union’s liberal innovations (“womanpriests” and gay “marriages”). The PNCC had previously broken its intercommunion with the Episcopal Church over the issue of women’s “ordinations” in 1978. The PNCC was the largest Church in the Union. What remains of the Union, excepting the Church in Poland, is rather small and insignificant. In my opinion it will eventually become a rump organization absorbed into the Anglican or Episcopal Church. Sadly, once a Church with close ties to Orthodoxy, it has become just another “church of what’s-happenin’-now,” another Protestant body with fancy externals.

As noted, the Polish Catholic Church remains a member of the Union of Utrecht even though it rejects women’s “ordination” and gay “marriages.” How long that union lasts remains to be seen.

A side note, there is a group in Poland that calls itself the “Polish National Catholic Church in Poland” (PNKK). Don’t be fooled. It is a group of deposed clergy and vagantes. It has nothing to do with the PNCC or the PCC.

Current Events, Media, Perspective, Poetry, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political, , , , , ,

The latest issue of The Cosmopolitan Review

The latest edition of The Cosmopolitan Review has been published. The Cosmopolitan Review is published by the alumni of Poland in the Rockies, a biennial symposium in Polish studies held at Canmore, Alberta. This editions features include:

EDITORIAL: Between Past and Present, Poland and North America

This summer at CR, we took the time to slow down and to bring you an eclectic mix of warm delights to enjoy while sipping that glass of chilled white wine or licking the last of your strawberry sorbet. In this issue, travel back in time with architecture critic Witold Rybczynski when he visits Poland for the first time in 1967, discovering his parents’ homeland for himself…

…and more including events, politics, reviews, travel, and spotlight.

PNCC, ,

Happy Birthday Middleport, PA

From the Republican-Herald: Middleport turns 150

Middleport Legion Post 144 members lead the borough's 150th anniversary parade, walking past St. Joseph's Polish National Catholic Church, St. Clair Street, on Saturday.
Middleport Legion Post 144 members lead the borough's 150th anniversary parade, walking past St. Joseph's Polish National Catholic Church, St. Clair Street, on Saturday.

MIDDLEPORT – When the borough council met for the very first time, there were only 33 states, Pennsylvanian James Buchanan was in the White House and the nation was headed for a civil war.

The country has changed radically between 1859 and Saturday, when Middleport celebrated its 150th anniversary. The speakers at Middleport Gardens, however, were nearly uniform in praising the timeless small-town values and attitudes they said they remembered growing up and still see today.

U.S. Rep. Tim Holden, D-17, contrasted how he was greeted with shouts of “Hey Timmy!” while walking in the noon parade with the greeting he’d get from neighbors on his morning walk to work in Washington.

“If you say ‘Hello’ to them, they look at you like you’re going to mug them,” Holden said to laughter. “But that’s not the way we live in Middleport and Schuylkill County, because we all know each other, we all care about each other and we all want to help each other.”

Mayor Josh Leshko echoed Holden’s sentiment when he issued a “simple challenge” for the future success of the borough.

“One person alone cannot drive the success of a town. What can we do? Can we share a friendly smile with our neighbors? Can we share the memories of Middleport with our younger generations?” Leshko said. “The smallest and simplest actions, when brought together, can make a profound and noticeable difference.”…

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

Poland To Buffalo Through WWII: Untold Stories Come Alive

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the start of WWII. It all began with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Living among us in Western New York are civilian and military survivors of the war who endured Nazi and Soviet labor and concentration camps as well as battles on many fronts. These eyewitnesses to the dramatic historical events of the 20th century have lived quietly in WNY for 60+ years without telling their story to the wider community.

The Polish Legacy Project was formed by a group of people whose aim is to capture the stories of these survivors while they are still among us. Our first major event will be a conference held October 3-4 in Buffalo. The title of the conference is: “Poland To Buffalo Through WWII: Untold Stories Come Alive.”

Baracks Brochure - Poland To Buffalo Through WWII: Untold Stories Come Alive

The conference will allow Polish survivors of WWII who have settled in the United States to share their stories of struggle and survival with the wider community. This unique gathering will be the first large-scale opportunity for the community at large to become acquainted with these untold stories of wartime survival and immigration to America in the English language.

On October 3, a panel of survivors will speak about their experiences, a keynote speaker from Montreal will give a presentation on “The Childrens’ Odyssey” to America, a background will be given on Poland in WWII and opportunities for one-on-one interviews with survivors will be available.

On October 4, the day will begin with a Remembrance Mass, followed by a Reunion of Families who settled in America after the war and a film entitled “Exiles” about a daughter’s quest to learn her mother’s wartime story. Opportunities to share photos, buy books and get assistance with research will be available.

A full program and registration form can be found here [pdf]. In order to obtain a discount on the registration fees, please register by September 15. Admission for WWII survivors is free.

The conference is being organized in collaboration with the Polish American Congress, WNY Division, The City of Buffalo through the office of City Council President David Franczyk and the Permanent Chair of Polish Culture at Canisius College. WNED-TV is the Media Sponsor for the event.

Current Events, PNCC, , , , ,

Fraternals face varying crises

From the Tribune-Review: Fraternal society puts $12 million lien on policies reflecting a issue confronting many of the country’s fraternal organizations. Pennsylvania has placed particularly stringent requirements on fraternal organizations and in particular on their operational liquidity. It should be noted that most, if not all are completely secure in terms of their death benefit funding.

The PNCC’s fraternal, the Polish National Union (Spójnia), which also includes the Russian Orthodox Catholic Mutual Aid Society (ROCMAS) is quite secure. The PNU was founded because Polish-American organizations acceded to Roman Catholic demands to exclude PNCC members.

Beaver-based Greek Catholic Union —” the state’s largest fraternal-benefit society —” has placed $12 million in liens on members’ policies in an unusual bid to shore up a capital base wracked by financial markets.

The balance-sheet maneuver equals an average $300 off the cash-surrender value, or 2 percent, of each member’s life insurance or annuity contract. The society explained the liens in letters sent to its roughly 40,000 members within the last month.

“As long as they don’t cash the policy, they don’t see any reduction in the value” of the insurance policy or annuity contract, GCU national President George Juba said Tuesday. Only those who cash in while the lien is still in effect are affected.

How soon the lien may be lifted, “only time will tell,” said Juba, “but as soon as possible.” He added “it depends on “economic and investment market conditions.”

The society’s surplus has dwindled from $23.2 million in March 2008 to $5.1 million this past March, according to the most recent data from the local organization.

GCU’s stock and bond investments have declined in value. The organization posted net income of $349,000 in the quarter ended March 31, according to the most recent data. It had a net loss of $858,000 the year earlier.

The Greek Catholic Union issues insurance and annuities products in 17 states. It was organized in 1892 by immigrants from the Carpathian Mountain region of the former Austro-Hungarian empire.

Fraternal benefit societies are nonprofit organizations that provide life insurance, annuities and health insurance to members. They are linked by a common ethnic or religious background, such as the Polish Women’s Alliance of America or the Mennonite Mutual Aid Association. More than 70 such groups in the United States and Canada sponsor a range of social- and community-service events.

Juba said “less than 3 percent” of members, or about 1,000 people, had contacted the society about the liens.

“They seem to be understanding of the current condition,” he said…

Poland - Polish - Polonia, ,

Remembering the revolution (the better one)

From The Observer via the Guardian: A time when hope replaced repression

By the start of 1989 communist regimes had ruled eastern Europe for 45 years. By the end of that year they had all been routed by extraordinary public uprisings. Here, Neal Ascherson, who reported on the momentous events for the Observer, recalls the idealism and anger that drove the protests…

Twenty years ago, a landscape began to tremble. At first, nobody noticed anything special. In January 1989, business was much as usual in the Soviet half of Europe. Strikes in Poland, harassment of East German dissidents, a Czech playwright called Vaclav Havel arrested yet again after a small demonstration. The west had more important stories to think about. George Bush Sr was being inaugurated as president of the United States, and Salman Rushdie was in hiding after the Iranian fatwa. In Moscow, that wonderful Mikhail Gorbachev was pushing ahead with his perestroika and glasnost. (How the Russians must love him!)

In London, a Czech exile named Karel Kyncl wrote an article about the arrests in Prague. He said that he had a funny feeling about Havel. He wouldn’t be entirely surprised if he became president of Czechoslovakia and much sooner than anyone thought. Readers smiled indulgently. Poor old Karel!

Then the trembling increased. The mountains around the cold war horizon began to wobble and fall over. Polish communism went first. Next, Hungary’s rulers published an abdication plan. In August, the Baltic republics of the Soviet Union began to demand independence. In November, Erich Honecker of East Germany was overthrown, and on 9 November the Berlin Wall was breached.

Next day, a palace coup in Bulgaria brought down Todor Zhivkov, the party leader. On 28 November, the Czechoslovak communist regime surrendered to the people. In December, Nicolae Ceausescu of Romania was chased from office and shot. And just three days before the end of the year, on 29 December 1989, Vaclav Havel became president of the Czechoslovak Republic.

…

The revolutions began in Poland. In 1981, General Jaruzelski had crushed the Solidarity movement and imposed martial law. But everyone knew that the system was mortally wounded. It was just a matter of waiting for it to die. Boys and girls went round wearing tiny Canada badges. The shorthand letters CDN also stood, in Polish, for three words: “Next Instalment Shortly”. Poland’s commercial break ended in 1988, as a fresh wave of strikes broke out. The government, nerveless and divided, eventually re-legalised Solidarity and opened round-table talks with the opposition in February 1989.

The round table sanctioned independent trade unions and provided for multi-party elections in June. Reluctantly, Solidarity accepted that the elections had to be rigged. A block of seats reserved for “official” candidates would ensure a regime majority in the Sejm (the lower chamber of parliament).

But then the people stepped in. I was in the cafe of the Europejski hotel in Warsaw on that June day, as young Solidarity messengers piled our table with billows of exit poll print-outs. At first, I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Solidarity had won all but one of the openly contested seats. But in those reserved seats, only two of all the communist candidates had reached the 50 per cent of the vote needed to qualify. The voters had worked out how to destroy them.

That summer morning, the whole game suddenly changed. After 45 years, Polish communism had been annihilated. And the incredible, which was also the inevitable, now took place as negotiations opened to form the first non-communist government in Soviet Europe. On 12 September, a dignified Catholic editor named Tadeusz Mazowiecki became prime minister. The benches of the Sejm were crowded with skinny, laughing young men and women who, only months before, had been dodging the security police.

…

Anyone who took part in the 1989 revolutions, or in the resistance movements that prepared the way for them, has to work through mixed feelings today. Disappointments live with an enduring sense that the victory was real and can’t be reversed. In Poland, I remember Marta Krzystofowicz from those times as a graceful, intrepid conspirator for freedom. Today, she is married and has a grown-up daughter. She says: “I have a glass of fresh orange juice, an uncensored newspaper to read, a passport in my desk drawer. It’s enough.”

Nobody regrets being part of a great and good revolution. That soaring feeling, physical and spiritual at once, has often been described. A girl in Leipzig told reporter Steve Crawshaw: “I felt that I could fly!” The Polish poet Galczynski once wrote: “When the wind of history blows/ The people, like lovely birds/ Grow wings …” And in 1989, for a few beautiful months, they flew.

Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political, ,

Holy Memory – Prof. Leszek Kołakowski

From the BBC: Polish anti-Marxist thinker dies

The Polish philosopher and historian of ideas, Leszek Kołakowski has died in hospital in Oxford, England. He was 81.

One of the few 20th Century eastern European thinkers to gain international renown, he spent almost half of his life in exile from his native country.

He argued that the cruelties of Stalinism were not an aberration, but the logical conclusion of Marxism.

MPs in Warsaw observed a minute’s silence to remember his contribution to a free and democratic Poland.

Leszek Kołakowski was born in Radom, Poland, 12 years before the outbreak of the World War II.

Under the Nazi occupation of Poland school classes were banned so he taught himself foreign languages and literature.

He even systematically read through an incomplete encyclopaedia he found.

He once said he knew everything under the letters, A, D and E, but nothing about the Bs and the Cs.

After the war he studied philosophy and became a professor. Seeing the destruction wrought by the Nazis in Poland he joined the Communist Party.

But he gradually became disillusioned and more daring in his criticism of the system. In 1966 he was expelled from the party and two years later he lost his job.

Seeking exile in the West, he eventually settled at Oxford’s All Souls college where he wrote his best-known work, the three-volume Main Currents of Marxism, considered by some to be one of the most important books on political theory of the 20th Century.

In the 1980s, from his base in Britain, he supported Poland’s pro-democracy Solidarity movement which overthrew communism in 1989.

For many of its leaders he was an icon.

Along with a photographic retrospective, Interia carries the following quotes:

Czeslaw Milosz: “how could Leszek Kołakowski, philosopher, positivist, materialist and Marxist become Kołakowski the wise, turning against the philosophies of all the isims?”

Fr. Józef Tischner: He was “the spiritual master of the liberal intelligentsia”

From the Professor: “How to be a Conservative-Liberal-Socialist.”

PNCC, ,

New York Mills PNCC Parish continues to support its community

From the Utica Observer Dispatch: Bell Festival kicks off in New York Mills

When the Floyd Band invited its audience to dance Friday, only one couple was brave enough to accept the offer.

Beverly Floyd of New Hartford and Anthony Ricci of Schuyler cut the rug to a lively polka during the 7 p.m. concert in New York Mills’ Pulaski Park.

The concert was one of the first events held as part of the 10th Annual Bell Festival. The festival continues today with a chicken barbecue, a parade and fireworks.

The village also will present its annual Citizen of the Year award during a 6 p.m. ceremony.

Mayor Robert Maciol said the Bell Festival is a way to —honor the community’s heritage.— It’s held on Boilermaker weekend because many people who have moved away come back to the area for that event.

—It’s an opportunity for the whole community to come together,— he said. —…an old-fashioned, family-oriented, fun weekend.—

Event co-chairwoman Doreen Czupryna said the event began 10 years ago when the Sacred Heart of Jesus Holy Cross Polish National Catholic Church donated a bell from one of the former mills to the village. The bell is now part of a monument in the park, inscribed: —To the mill workers, with gratitude.—

The festival, which has drawn crowds of more than 2,000 people in previous year, also serves as an annual fundraiser for several local community groups including the fire department, the Lions Club and the VFW, Maciol and Czupryna said.

—The support is always great,— Czupryna said. —It varies every year with the weather and everything else, but we have good support. We really do.—

On Friday, kids with cotton candy walked past older couples on park benches, and families gathered at picnic tables to enjoy fair foods like fried fish, hotdogs, lemonade and strawberry shortcake.

The food booths were one of the first stops for Tammy Hall, her son Evan, 12, and her parents, Robert and Selma Mickel of Clinton. Hall said she and her son were attending for the first time after moving to the village recently.

—We’re starting a tradition,— she said.

Chris Jarosz, 30, said he’s lived in New York Mills for 23 years and hasn’t missed a Bell Festival since the event started in 2000. For the last two years, he’s been accompanied by his girlfriend, Renee Palumbo of New York Mills, and his nephew Jaedon Jarosz, 8, of New Hartford.

Palumbo said they primarily come for the food and to hang out, but that the festival’s location on Main Street is part of its appeal as well.

—It’s quiet,— she said. —It’s a good community. It’s good for kids. It’s good for adults.—

Jaedon had nothing but good things to say about the fish fry dinners sold by the church, and said he had enjoyed playing carnival games earlier in the evening.

—I just love the festival,— he said. —I love the food. I love everything.—

Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political, ,

Pennsylvania politics

An interesting analysis of Pennsylvania’s political geography from the Daily Kos PA-Sen and Gov: Western PA

Actually the full title should be the rest of PA outside Metropolitan Philadelphia. But mostly I’m writing about Western PA. Which is generally important in PA politics and maybe even more so in the Governor’s race in 2010.

…

There some small steel cities in the valleys and a few small towns and then there are a lot of rural areas. The valleys flood. Johnstown, in Cambria county would be the most famous example. It didn’t just flood in 1889, it also flooded several other times including 1936. This is the reason for the tax at Pennsylvania state stores. Western PA is still very much an ethnic Catholic area. My mother remembers that after Vatican II, the churches went from Latin to Polish, Croat, Slovak, Romanian and Czech. No one under 50 could understand the mass. The French and Indian war is the major source of historical tourism. Steel and Coal mining used to be big, but not anymore.

Central PA-East of Bedford County to the Susquahanna and Lancaster County has a large concentration both conservatives and Anabaptists (Brethren and Mennonite folk.) Moravians, on the other hand are in the Northeast around Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. The more common names in Lancaster and Dauphin county include Schlosser, Royer, Stoltzfus (or Stoltzfoos), Myer and Hartmann.

Demographically Pennsylvania is full of Seniors with the second oldest population in the country, and Union members. Pennsylvanians join the National Guard and Reserve in higher than average numbers…

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