My Father's Trip to Poland in 1936 - By Phyllis Zych Budka

In 2008, as I prepared for my second trip to Poland, I opened an old wooden box containing my Father’s things. In it was a diary of his summer 1936 Poland trip along with other Polish‐American Scouts and Scout leaders. He was 23 years old at that time. Included in the box was a flier advertising the trip:

We believe that when these youth come to know the fatherland of their ancestors, they will come to love it and come to respect it and have within them a deep unbreakable feeling of connection to the blood, culture and spirit of Poland from afar. And then, when their love for everything Polish flows into their hearts, this youth will understand the importance of standing on free land and tradition here in Washington and to protect and to build upon the beautiful heritage of their forefathers in the form of Polish organizations, newspapers, churches and schools.

My Father, Stanley Jacob Zych, was a Scout Leader with Council 53 of the Polish National Alliance (PNA) on Crane Street in Schenectady, New York. He was born in 1913 in Schenectady of immigrant parents from Nowy Targ, Poland. Dad and fellow Schenectadian Mary Pieszczoch were the “special envoys” selected to represent the PNA on this trip.

Budka's father in a group  photo during their Polish travels.

They sailed in early July from New York City on the M.S. Batory ocean‐liner along with more than 100 other young Americans. The first brief stop was Copenhagen, Denmark. On July 10th, the group landed in Gdynia, Poland. After touring that port city, they visited Poznań, Częstochowa, Zakopane, Kraków, Wieliczka, Lwów and Warsaw. Their final destination was Camp Brenna, Śląsk. The list of their names and travel plans were published in a booklet, “Jedziemy do Polski” (We are going to Poland; Karol Burke, Drukiem Dziennika Związkowego, Chicago, Il, 1936).

Batory enters the harbor in Gdynia

In the summer of 2008, I served as a teacher volunteer at the Kościuszko Foundation – UNESCO English Language Immersion Camp in Kraków, Poland. For 3 weeks, 17 Americans, many, like myself, of Polish heritage, and more than 100 high school students from all over Poland, lived, studied and laughed together. In my suitcase was a copy of the pages from my Father’s trip diary. He documented his two weeks at the Scout camp in Brenna, Śląsk, southern Poland, mostly in English, with parts in Polish. My Father was fluent in Polish. As Language Immersion Camp newspaper editor I requested that my homeroom students transcribe the English or translate from Polish these diary pages for publication. That process sparked my interest in the details of the 1936 trip:

July 13th, 1936, Place: Częstochowa and somewhere between Częstochowa and Nowy Targ: We arrived at 5.45 AM by buses at Jasna Góra. Near the gateway, we met our procession and came into the church to the altar of Częstochowa Holy Mother (sometimes called the Black Madonna). A priest blessed us. Next we visited Skarbiec Jasnogórski where there are a lot of different old buildings. Next we went to a monastery for breakfast. After breakfast, buses took us to the railway and we went to Zakopane. At 10:00 AM, we passed through a beautiful area. About midday we arrived at the railway station in Kraków and soon set out on a journey. About 6:00 PM we passed through Nowy Targ. I stopped here so I could meet my family. I slept at Wincenty Kolasa’s home.

July 14th, 1936, Place: Zakopane: At 8:30 in the morning we took the train to Zakopane. We went to the Hotel Limka and had breakfast. At 10:00 AM we took buses to Morskie Oko and saw the Paderewski waterfall; next we climbed to the top of the mountain and saw Black Lake.

July 26th , 1936 Sunday, Place: Camp Brenna, Śląsk: We arrived in camp at 10:00 AM and had army coffee and hot dogs. Got right down to business putting up tents. I spent the rest of the day building beds, grub racks also swimming Pool. Went out on general food strike. Won out the point. Had Tough Camp officer. Breaking him in slowly.

Batory Stamp from Poland

My own awareness that the trip was a special experience for my Father came in 1986. Trip participants held a “50th Anniversary P.N.A. Batory Cruise Reunion” on Saturday, September 20, 1986, in Chicago. By that time, my Father had been disabled for many years and could not attend. But in that old wooden box is a large “Get‐Well Wishes For Someone Special” card full of good wishes from reunion attendees. It must have been a great trip!

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This post is reprinted from PAHA Newsletter, Spring 2011, p. 6-7.

On Hejnal Mariacki and the Soundscape of Krakow

The silver tones of the trumpet brighten the crisp morning air. The trumpeter, unseen, plays from the top of the tower of the Marian Church in the Main Square of Kraków, Poland. It is still foggy and the streets are almost empty, save for delivery trucks and the most courageous flower sellers filling their vases with water in the market. The melody is called “Hejnał Mariacki” and named after the Marian Church where it is played four times at every hour from tower windows opening to the four directions of the world. The Hejnał flows and echoes off the rooftops until it suddenly ends, as if interrupted. This abrupt end, repeated each hour, every day (96 times per day, if all repetitions are counted) is a memorial of sorts.

 A legend has it that during a Mongol invasion in the 13th century the Hejnał, played as a warning by the town’s guard, was cut short by an arrow that killed the trumpeter and the melody has been played the same way ever since. Actually, as documented by historian Jerzy Dobrzycki (Hejnał Krakowski, Kraków: PWM, 1983), there is no historical proof of that story and the first record of the melody’s existence dates back to 1392; it was initially played at dawn and dusk, to mark the opening and closing of the town’s gates. It has sounded daily since 1810, and the performances were institutionalized in 1873 when the professional Fire Brigade was created in Kraków and the firemen were given the task of playing the Hejnał. Four full‐time musicians serve on rotation around the clock, they ring the bell to denote the hour and then play the melody.

One of them, Zygmunt Rozum interviewed on ikrakow.com, said: “Life is very fast. But here for centuries traditionally the Hejnał was played every hour and will be played every hour. I am not in a rush here; exactly every hour, I play the Hejnał.”

Since 1927, the Polish Radio has broadcast the noon performance nationwide. This allows us to discuss the different meanings of this melody. The Hejnał sounds different to Kraków residents and to those who hear it on the radio. Their memories or recollections have markedly different emotional undertones. During my Polish childhood in the 1960s and 1970s, the noon performance was broadcast by Polskie Radio 1 (“Jedynka”); it is still on air daily. The four repetitions of the melody, separated by the steady steps of the trumpeter walking from window to window, appear after the 12 strokes of the bell announcing noon. The bell, the steps, the squeaking windows, and the trumpet melody are all part of the performance on air.

I regularly heard it only during summer vacations at my grandparents’ houses, since we did not listen to “Jedynka” at home, in Warsaw. I have always liked it, with its overtones of freedom and fun of the summer, with its air of mystery – What was that noise? Who’s walking? The regularity of the noon Hejnał transformed it into a part of the daily routine for children and their caretakers: hearing Hejnał meant it was time for nap after lunch. It was an aural security blanket of sorts. Played daily at the same time, it told children that the world was well‐ordered and peaceful, filling them with a sense of trust and belonging… or so I thought until I interviewed other émigrés from Poland.

Biologist and UCLA Lab Director Barbara Nowicki stated, “I never liked the Hejnał on the radio, it was interminable, boring, awful. I do not have good memories of it.” Composer Jarosław Kapuściński (Assistant Professor at Stanford University, California) wrote: “Everyone in our generation always heard the Hejnał somewhere in the background, on the radio. I did not pay much attention to it, though subconsciously it reminded me that somewhere in Kraków there lives Poland’s heart that ticks‐and‐tocks loudly (trumpet), interminably (the four repetitions to the four corners of the world extended to infinity) and – in the romantic‐Christian tradition – also heroically (I do not know how many cultures would cherish daily reminders that one of their heroes has just been killed).”

Neither the steps nor the mysterious noises of opening and closing of the windows are heard live, in the city below. During the Fifth Workshop on American Ethnicity at Jagiellonian University in May 2012, I listened to the Hejnał several times each day – in my hotel room on Floriańska Street, while walking around the Old Town, in the lecture hall at Collegium Maius of the University, and at a restaurant just beyond the part of Planty, surrounding the Old Town in a ring where the historical fortifications once were. The trumpet sounded muted, distant, with only one version of the melody heard clearly – the one directed towards me. The faint repetitions played in other directions were scattered, in bits and pieces.

I have not heard the Hejnał since leaving Poland over 20 years ago, so I was really moved by the sound on my first day in Kraków. My response to the Hejnał was echoed in its praise by others. A retired school principal from the village of Trzebieszów (Lublin region), Barbara Miszta, stated: “For me, the Hejnał is joyous, rhythmical, uplifting! When I hear its broadcast by the Polish Radio, I immediately know it is noon...and the image of the Mariacki Tower in Kraków comes to mind.”

Similarly positive were Kraków residents, musicians Mariusz and Łucja Czarnecki. An accomplished soprano, teaching at the Kraków Academy of Music, Ms. Czarnecki stated: “Hejnał Mariacki, played every hour by a trumpeter to the four corners of the world, played in the heart of Kraków, the city of the kings, from its highest church tower, where people with upturned faces look high up, above the clouds, feeling in these sounds their Polishness, the Slavic nature of their souls, a joy that overflows in their hearts! For foreigners it is also an exceptional moment. While admiring the Main Square (Rynek Główny) they enjoy listening to the Hejnał from the Mariacki Tower, and they wave to greet the trumpeter. Delighted with the charms of Kraków they listen with a smile on their faces, thinking about their loved ones, left far away… The sounds of Hejnał have a magic power and transport everyone into a metaphysical trance.”

Quite similar is the tone of the reflections of Mariusz Czarnecki, a percussionist and a true Cracovian. His comments are rooted in the aural landscape where the melody is heard day and night: “Of course, I like the Hejnał! If you live in the town’s center it defines time, it obviously is also a tourist attraction. But I remember these magic moments in the fall when the square is nearly empty, foggy, and above it all there soars the Hejnał with the hourly chimes of the church bells. Then you feel the magic of Kraków at its best – the Hejnał defines time and simultaneously floats above it. There are many magical places in Kraków at night, where the Hejnał takes you into another dimension of time. It is too loud here during the day, when the city is solely a tourist attraction, but in the early hours of the morning it is something else. You will find echoes of it in the Young Poland literature, even in Wyspiański’s The Wedding – the magic Golden Horn… The heart of Kraków, at night, at dawn, with the mist and the Hejnał – this is pure genius.”

Conclusion? Live music = pure genius. Radio broadcast = not so much… I should add that the Polish Radio is planning to shorten the broadcast to two repetitions of the Hejnał and that Polish Americans may remember the melody and its legend from a tale by Eric P. Kelly, The Trumpeter of Kraków (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1928).

 Maja Trochimczyk

 Reprinted from PAHA Newsletter Vol. 69 no. 2, October 2012.
All interviews were conducted by email, August 2012.

Jan Karski Exhibition at the United Nations in New York

A new exhibition about Jan Karski, The World Knew - Jan Karski’s Mission for Humanity will open to the public on January 22, 2013 at 6:00 PM at the United Nations Visitor’s lobby in New York, NY (1^st Avenue, between 45^th and 46^th Street). 

This visually captivating presentation will walk you through Jan Karski’s life, his wartime ordeals and his noble mission to stir the conscience of world leaders about war atrocities in Nazi-occupied Poland.  The exhibition was produced by the Polish History Museum in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, the Polish Mission to the United Nations and the Jan Karski Educational Foundation. 

This exhibition is a part of UN 2013 Holocaust Remembrance Events, built around the theme “Rescue during the Holocaust: The Courage to Care.” The exhibit will be on display until February 18, 2013. 

 Space for the opening ceremony on January 22 is limited* so you NEED TO REGISTER online at:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dG1pSG8xaDZvS1gyVlhWbU1jNUV1R1E6MQ#gid=0

For more information about the exhibit go to:

http://www.polishculture-nyc.org/index.cfm?eventId=2047

*Please allow at least 10 minutes for security clearance at door.

See you at PAHA Meeting in New Orleans!

New Orleans Skyline in 2011. Photo by Demetrio Mascarena, www.123rf.com

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We will see New Orleans' festive skyline very soon! PAHA Annual Meeting will take place at New Orleans Marriott Hotel on January 3 to 5, 2013. 

We hope you will join us for our celebration of Polish and Polish American history and culture. We will talk about Kazimierz Pulaski, Zbigniew Przezinski, Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki, Joe Biden, Marion Lush, Monika Krawczyk, New Orleans Polonia, immigration history, Poles in the Civil War, Polish Catholicism, Detroit, Polish nobility, letters to the editor, spies, and much more!

Christmas Lights on the corner of Royal and Dumaine Streets
 of the Latin Quarter. Photo by Colin Young, www.123rf.com 

PAHA ANNUAL MEETING 2013 PROGRAM

PAHA Annual Board Meeting

Thursday, January 3, 2013: 3:30 PM-5:30 PM
New Orleans Marriott, Preservation Hall, Studio 5

 

Themes in Polish and Polish American Arts, Letters, and Sciences

Friday, January 4, 2013: 8:30 AM-10:00 AM
New Orleans Marriott, Preservation Hall, Studio 5

Chair: Pien Versteegh, Windesheim University of Applied Sciences

Papers:
Constructing Femininity: The Monica Krawczyk Short Story Contests of the 1960s
Grazyna Kozaczka, Cazenovia College

Between Myth and Stereotype: Tackling the Story of Polish American Inventors and Their Contributions
Slawomir Lotysz, University of Zielona Gora

The Career and Lyrics of Marion Lush: Their Significance for Polonia
Thomas Napierkowski, University of Colorado Colorado Springs

Górecki in America: From Copernicus to Sorrowful Songs
Maja Trochimczyk, Moonrise Press

Comment: The Audience

 

Casimir Pulaski: New Facts and Discoveries

Friday, January 4, 2013: 10:30 AM-12:00 PM
New Orleans Marriott, Preservation Hall, Studio 10

Chair: Jack Pinkowski, Nova Southeastern University

Papers:
Forgotten Records of Casimir Pulaski's Birth and Death
Peter Obst, La Salle University

The Other Pulaskis: How They Changed Their Names to Become Impostors
Edward Pinkowski, Poles in America Foundation

Identifying Pulaski without DNA
Charles Merbs, Arizona State University

Comment: The Audience

 

Topics in Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century Polish American History

Friday, January 4, 2013: 10:30 AM-12:00 PM
New Orleans Marriott, Preservation Hall, Studio 5

Chair: Maja Trochimczyk, Moonrise Press

Papers:
The Polish Museum of America: Twenty-First-Century Developments
Geraldine Balut Coleman, Polish Museum of America

The Chene Street History Project: Documenting a Lost Detroit Neighborhood
Karen Majewski, University of Michigan

Death Comes to Polonia: Mortality among Polish Immigrants in the Early Twentieth Century
John Radzilowski, University of Alaska Southeast

Comment: The Audience

 

Polish and Polish American History in the Cold War

Friday, January 4, 2013: 2:30 PM-4:30 PM
New Orleans Marriott, Preservation Hall, Studio 5

Chair: Brian McCook, Leeds Metropolitan University

Papers:
Joe Biden: Politics in the Polish American Community in Wilmington, Delaware
Thomas Duszak, State Library of Pennsylvania

"The Little UNO" at 769 First Avenue, New York, 1956–63
Anna Mazurkiewicz, University of Gdansk

Spies from the Embassy: Polish Counter-intelligence Structures Responsible for Surveillance of American Diplomatic Posts, 1956–89
Patryk Pleskot, Institute of National Remembrance

The Strategic Mind of Zbigniew Brzezinski: How a Native Pole Used Afghanistan to Protect His Homeland
J. B. White, Louisiana State University

Comment: The Audience

 

Topics in Nineteenth-Century Polish and Polish American History

Saturday, January 5, 2013: 9:00 AM-11:00 AM
New Orleans Marriott, Preservation Hall, Studio 5

Chair: Neal Pease, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee

Papers:
The White Eagle with an Eagle, Globe, and Anchor: First Sergeant Peter Tolusciak
Annette Amerman, Marine Corps History Division

"Polish" Regiments in the U.S. Colored Troops during the American Civil War
Piotr Derengowski, University of Gdansk

Szlachcic As Model Gentleman: Poland, Partition, and the British Romantic Historical Novel
Adam Kozaczka, Syracuse University

A Portrait of New Orleans Polonia in the Mid-Nineteenth Century
James Pula, Purdue University North Central

Comment: The Audience

 

Polish Diaspora in America and Europe

Saturday, January 5, 2013: 11:30 AM-1:30 PM
New Orleans Marriott, Preservation Hall, Studio 5

Chair: Theodore Zawistowski, Pennsylvania State University

Papers:
Interethnic Relations in Letters to the Editor in the Polish Language Press, 1902–69
Anna D. Jaroszynska-Kirchmann, Eastern Connecticut State University

The Politics of Memory and Exile within the Polish Diaspora in the United Kingdom, 1945–89
Brian McCook, Leeds Metropolitan University

Explore Your East European Roots: A Guide to Genealogical Research
Barbara Pulaski, Mount Ida College
Francis Wolenski, Boston University

The Polish Diaspora in the Wider World: Polish Settlements in Belgium and the Netherlands, 1920–30
Pien Versteegh, Windesheim University of Applied Sciences

Comment: The Audience

 

Book Forum: Mikolaj Stanislaw Kunicki, Between the Brown and the Red

Saturday, January 5, 2013: 2:30 PM-4:30 PM
New Orleans Marriott, Preservation Hall, Studio 5

Chair: Neal Pease, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee

Papers:
Between the Brown and the Red: Nationalism, Catholicism, and Communism in Twentieth-Century Poland
Mikolaj S. Kunicki, University of Notre Dame

Comment: Neal Pease, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee

PAHA Annual Awards Ceremony 

Saturday, January 5, 2013: Evening.  Bourbon House Restaurant

News from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Poland

11 December 2012 - Changes on the map of Polish diplomatic and consular posts around the world.

For Polish diplomatic and consular posts to better respond to changing needs, the Minister of Foreign Affairs decided to close the Consulates General in Lille and Malmö, and move the seats of two other Consulates General – from Los Angeles to San Francisco and from Vancouver to Edmonton. The MFA also plans to open diplomatic missions in new locations, especially in Asia.

The Consulate seat was moved to San Francisco due to the city’s position as one of the leading American academic and business hubs, and a breeding ground for new technologies. The new location will help unlock the mission’s potential for promoting Poland and its economy. Meanwhile, Edmonton is Western Canada’s biggest centre of Polish diaspora, with important educational institutions and a thriving mining industry.

The decision to close the Consulates in Malmö and Lille by mid-2013 was based on economic considerations and the need to streamline the Polish diplomacy’s global presence. The sale of the Malmö Consulate property is expected to bring in approximately PLN 2.15 million, with PLN 1.5 million to be saved annually thanks to job cuts. In Lille, the savings are estimated at PLN 3.3 million and PLN 2.6 million respectively. Keeping properties and staff in these cities makes little economic sense given the small number of applications processed (e.g. in Malmö, one employee processes 6 non-passport applications a month).

In addition, the amended Passport Act signed by the President enables citizens to file passport applications in any consulate. The Consular Section of the Embassy in Stockholm will take over the functions of the Consulate in Malmö, while the Consular Section of the Embassy in Paris and the Consulate General in Lyon will be responsible for the tasks carried out by the Lille post.

The MFA will use the savings to bolster Polish diplomatic and consular presence in other regions, especially Asia. Over the last five years, the number of Embassies has been reduced from 101 to 91, while 9 Consulates Generals have been closed. At the same time, Poland has opened a number of new diplomatic and consular posts. They include: the Embassies in Podgorica and Astana; the Consulates General in Manchester, Reykjavik, Sevastopol, Vinnytsia and Donetsk; the Consular Agencies in Smolensk and Irbil; the Permanent Representation to UNESCO; and the Polish Institutes in Brussels, Madrid, Tokyo and New Delhi.

Posted by Marcin Bosacki
MFA Press Spokesman

PAHA in Poland - Krakow and Gdansk, May 2012

PAHA Board and members attended two conference in Poland in May and June 2012.  First, on May 28-29, 2012, several PAHA members participated in the Fifth Workshop on American Ethnicity at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow.  The photo below was taken at the University and includes German university professors who participated in the event along with Prof. Brian McCook.

The photo album from the Krakow conference is posted on Picasa Web Albums: PAHA - Krakow, May 2012. The following presentations were made by PAHA members:

Brian McCook: "Hard Coal, Hard MEn: Polish Masculinity in the Coalfields of Pennsylvania"

James Pula: "Remembering Poland, but not Polonia"

Neal Pease: "Stanley Ketchel, the 'Michigan Assassin' - The First Polish American Sports Champion"

Maja Trochimczyk: "Created by Stalin, Embraced by Emigrants: Mazowsze and Slask and the Polish Folk Dance in California"

In addition, Dr. Ewa Barczyk of the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, Prof. Adam Walaszek and Prof. Dorota Praszalowicz of Jagiellonian University have chaired sessions.

The conference proceedings will be published in book format and the deadline for submission of papers is August 31, 2012. 


During a luncheon hosted by the Consulate General of the U.S. at Avanti restaurant in Krakow, Maja Trochimczyk presented the 2011 Modjeska Prize to actress Anna Dymna for her outstanding contribution  to Polish culture.  A report from this event is posted on the Modjeska Club Blog.

The attendees included the Public Affairs Officer in the US General Consulate in Krakow Benjamin Ousley Naseman, and Mrs. Maria Brzostek the Educational Adviser in the Consulate, the President of the Board of Directors of the Polish American Historical Association, Prof. Neal Pease, the President of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America, Prof. Mieczysław B.B. Biskupski, Prof. Dorota Praszałowicz of the Jagiellonian University, and many other scholars from several countries who participated in the Fifth Workshop on “American Ethnicity: Rethinking Old Issues, Asking New Questions” organized by Prof. Praszałowicz and her team.

Photos from the Modjeska Prize Ceremony are posted on Picasa Web Albums:  Modjeska Club - Anna Dymna's Award.  

Krakow is one of the most delightful and beautiful cities of Europe, especially if you start the day from listening to the hejnal, as I did on May 28, 2012 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1Mn7URfw14. Played from the top of the tower at Kosciol Mariacki at every hour, to the four directions of the world, the hejnal was a warning sign for the medieval city. The melody is interrupted in the exact spot where it was ended by an arrow of a Tartar invader back in the 12th century. They killed the watchman who played the melody then, but did not conquer the great city.

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East-Central Europe in Exile: Patterns of Transatlantic Migrations
University of Gdansk, May 31 to June 4, 2012

The Semi-Annual PAHA Board meeting was held on May 31 at the University of Gdansk and Board members (almost the entire Board was present, in person, including Stephen Leahy who traveled from China and Maja Trochimczyk from Los Angeles).


The Board meeting was one of the events of the extensive and exciting conference organized by the Department of History at the University of Gdansk, East-Central Europe in Exile.  Additional reports about the Conference program and participants will be posted here in the next weeks.

Anna Mazurkiewicz's album from a trip to the Emigration Museum in Gdynia:


http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.387241804673484.87022.362118833852448&type=1http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.387241804673484.87022.362118833852448&type=1

Stephen Leahy posted various pictures from the conference events and presentations:

 https://picasaweb.google.com/109785843998685536560/ECEInExileConference?locked=true&feat=content_notification

Conference Proceedings - Album by Stephen Leahy

 http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.387732124624452.87113.362118833852448&type=1http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.387732124624452.87113.362118833852448&type=1