Wednesday, March 19, 2014, 2:00 – 4:00 PM
Western Reserve Historical Society

As part of the series of events celebrating the life and work of Julian Stanczak, a panel discussion on Cleveland’s Polish immigrant community will be held at Western Reserve Historical Society on Wednesday, March 19^th, from 2 to 4 pm. Participating in the discussion will be Gene Bak, Mary Erdmans, John Grabowski, and Sean Martin. This panel discussion will examine the long history of Cleveland’s Polish immigrant community, with particular emphasis on the post-war migration of individuals like Julian Stanczak who came to play major roles in art and culture within and outside of that community. This is a free event. For more information on Stanczak, including details of current exhibitions, see http://www.siegallifelonglearning.org/stanczak-programs.html

On Location: Polish Museum in Slavic Village

Last night Channel 3 News featured our wonderful Cultural Center and Polish Museum in their On Location news report.

If you are interested in getting a private tour of the Polish Museum you can schedule an appointment by calling 216-883-2828 or stop by any Sunday from 11 am – 3pm. (more…)

A member of our editorial staff, kind-hearted, reserved, taciturn, patient, reflective, understanding, tolerant, warm, kind… humble, wise, mature, sensitive, helpful and…    I could use many other adjectives describing an exceptional and good person because it so happens that they all fit his personality.

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“Polska jest, prosze pani. Ja jestem Polakem!” Powerful words of a powerful climax of a powerful play. Chances are they don’t mean much to you, but they meant a tremendous amount to the audience who heard me recite them on stage; and to me, whose self-esteem had been faltering because of the disease that plagued my eyes.

“Mooooom, please don’t make me go. I know Polish just fine, I can speak it perfectly, see?” It was my eighth grade year, and I had convinced myself that the saints, demons, and Greek gods of boredom had embodied themselves in the abomination of Polish School. Every Saturday morning, my mom heard the same suppliant request: “Let me stay home from Polish School today.” Every Saturday morning, I experienced the same simple response: “No.” Every Saturday morning, I had to sacrifice the new episodes of Pokemon that I held so dear to my heart. Polish School had always been a part of my life, and only recently had I decided that I was “too cool” for it.
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Twelve months have passed since the moment of my departure from Poland and my heart was filled with warmth as I viewed the exhibition “Discover Poland” at the Cultural Center. It showed the beauty, history, culture, and economic accomplishments of Poland.

We were able to see the cities of Poland. It is important to mention that many Polish cities are older than the country itself. According to Alexandrian geographer Claudius Ptolemy, the town of Calisia existed in the second century, and the country of Poland began to form in the 10th century. In later years, large cities formed at the initiative of powerful magnates, like Zamość shown on the first picture with its renaissance town hall. The next photograph is the Church of Peace in Jaworze. It is hard to believe that this building formed from wood and clay in the gothic style has a baroque interior. From southeast, we move north. We can admire the harbor in Szczecin, the modern business center, as well as remember the past in the ramparts of King Chrobry. It is impossible not to stop in Malbork, the fortified stronghold of the Teutonic knights. The capitals – old Krakow and the present Warsaw, hold a separate chapter in the history of Poland’s cities. Then, there is Lodź which quickly developed in the late 19th and early 20th century with its many examples of Art Nouveau in architecture. Next was Poznań, popular for its inter-national commerce. Then there was Wroclaw, a city of many cultures. A statement made about the royal city of Kraków says that if “the homeland disappeared, in its monuments one can see the kaleidoscope of Polish history, changes, ways of thinking, and human achievements across the centuries”. It is hard to disagree, looking at the Main Square of the Old City, Sukiennice, and Wawel – the royal castle overlooking Vistula River. Additional pieces of Krakow presented in the colorful pictures are Kazimierz quarters, which was the center of activity at the heart of Krakow for seven centuries. The Jews formed spiritual and economical cultures here contributing to the Polish culture. Currently, the Festival of Jewish Culture – Kazimierz brings back its old charm.

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How many of us realize that the Warsaw Uprising stands as one of the biggest battles of World War II?   This unprecedented Battle for Warsaw claimed 18 thousands lives of the Home Army soldiers and about 200,000 civilian lives on the Polish side, and about 17 thousands lives on the German side.  According to Heinrich Himmler, the Battle for Warsaw was “the most fiercely fought battle from the beginning of the war, equally fierce as the Stalingrad Battle.” The Battle for Warsaw engaged German forces comparable in strength to those of General Rommel’s forces in North Africa during the 1940-1942 campaign. Thus, the Battle for Warsaw effectively limited German defensive capabilities on the western front at the time of the Normandy Campaign and facilitated the Soviet passage to Berlin.  And yet for decades this important battle has been effectively marginalized on both sides of the Atlantic due to political reasons. For many Polish people the Warsaw Uprising still represents a very controversial chapter in Polish history.  Soviets labeled this battle as an irresponsible brawl. This interpretation is deeply engraved in the post-war conscience of the Polish people and represents a prevailing view in the English language historiography.

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Because many witnesses to dramatic events of the past often fail to leave any written record behind, a scholar of Polish history is often hampered in his quest to uncover the truth. And so is a lay person simply eager to learn about Poland from a personalized account. Eugene Bak set out to remedy the problem. His Life’s Journey: Autobiography (Boulder, CO. and New York: East European Monographs and Columbia University Press, 2002) is a combination memoir, travelogue, history textbook, and a business school lesson.

Born in Polska Wola, near Podhajce, the Province of Tarnopol, in Poland’s Eastern Borderlands, Bak’s life was regulated by the daily chores of village life and, on a larger plane, by Catholic and partriotic holidays. (…) The nightmare began with the joint Nazi-Soviet invasion of Poland in September 1939.

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