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NEWSMARK
KISZCZAK GETS SUSPENDED SENTENCE. A Polish court handed down a two-year suspended prison term to a communist-era interior minister for
his role in implementing martial law in Poland in 1981.
The verdict is the latest effort by democratic Poland to hold communist-era officials accountable for abuses during their rule.
The Warsaw Provincial Court found retired Gen. Czeslaw Kiszczak guilty on charges of membership in an armed criminal group that illegally
declared the clampdown, aimed at crushing the Solidarity freedom movement, and violated the freedom of many Poles. The 86-year-old Kiszczak was absent from court.
Former president and Solidarity founder, Lech Walesa, reacted by saying that “full justice is not possible,” and that the main
point of such trials is “not to punish, but to draw conclusions for the future.”
“It is important that the matter was closed and we can move on,” said the 1983 Nobel Peace Laureate.
The court also ruled that the then First Secretary of the Communist Party, Stanislaw Kania, 84, was innocent.
ST. STEPHEN STONED AGAIN. Metuchen Bishop Paul Bootkoski issued a decree December 30 suppressing another Polonian parish, St.
Stephen’s Parish in Perth Amboy, N.J., effective July 1, 2012. The decree simultaneously suppresses Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima Church, the Portuguese parish in the city, and St.
Mary’s Church, one of the two territorial parishes in Perth Amboy and the de facto Irish parish there. The three will be merged into a canonically new parish, whose name has yet to be decided,
probably under the continuing administration of Polish Redemptorists.
St. Stephen’s was established in 1892. The Polish American bishop previously suppressed Holy Family Parish in Carteret, another Polish
parish, merging it with two others under the name “Divine Mercy Parish.”
The Diocesan Chancellor’s Annual Goal Statement includes a tasking to develop a paper on “a canonical and pastoral resource guide
for parishes in transition from personal/national parishes to territorial parishes.”
COMING TO THE SILVER SCREEN. A film is planned on the role of the United States’ Kosciusko Squadron pilots who risked their lives
during the 1919-1921 Polish-Soviet War. The squadron leader, Merian Caldwell Cooper, arrived in Poland in 1919 with a Herbert Hoover mission of humanitarian assistance for war-torn Europe. With seven
American volunteers, he joined the elite Polish squadron named after Tadeusz Kosciuszko. Cooper escaped after spending nine months as a soviet POW after his plane was shot down. For his valor, he was
awarded the highest Polish military medal, the Virtuti Militari by Marshal Pilsudski, Polish commander-in-chief.
The idea for the film came from The Foundation to Illuminate America’s Heroes, which described Cooper an “an outstanding American
whose story can inspire present and future generations of Americans.”
Cooper’s great grandfather fought alongside Kazimierz Pulaski in the American Revolution. Cooper was a founding board member of Pan
American Airways, an adventurer, a film director, a screenwriter, and a producer of films, the most famous of which was King Kong. He died of cancer at the age of eighty in 1973.
The Foundation is seeking donations to fund the film. It is a tax exempt 501(c)(3) public charity. Write or call 1616 Anderson Road, McLean, VA
22102; (334) 718-9501.
TWO NEW AIRPORTS TO OPEN IN POLAND. A former military airport in the town of Modlin, a half hour’s ride from Warsaw by train, will
open in time for the Euro 2012 soccer championships in June. Maximum capacity is estimated to be two million passengers annually.
A brand new airport will open in the fall near Lublin. Called Swidnik Airport Lublin, the facility will serve a million passengers a year.
AMERICAN POLONIA
AT A GLANCE
MINNESOTA
MINNEAPOLIS — The Polish American Cultural Institute of Minnesota (PACIM) invites you to a formal carnival ball with
fine food, entertainment and dancing at the Historic St. Paul Hotel (Valet parking available), 350 Market Street, St. Paul, Feb. 18, 2012.
$60 per person or reserve a table of eight for $440. Program: 6:00 Social and Silent Auction, 7:00 p.m. Welcome, 7:15 Dinner, 8:00 Presentation
of Award to Dolores Strand, Columbia Heights Sister Cities, 8:30 Dolina Polish Folk Dancers, 8:50 Ball opens with polonez, 9:00-1:00 Dancing to Nicholas Mrozinski and “The Feelin.”
For more information, call PACIM at (612) 378-9291.
MINNEAPOLIS — Feb. 21, 2012. Sauerkraut Supper. Holy Cross’ yearly Sauerkraut Supper (upstairs) with polka music and crowning of
the Sauerkraut King and Queen (downstairs). They serve nearly 1,000 people but the lines go pretty fast. Begins at 4:00 p.m. The Church of the Holy Cross is at 1621 University Ave. NE. (612) 789-7238.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
SHARON — Eryk Jadaszewski of Polish Hussar Supply Plus, will teach a class that may of interest to Polish
Medieval and Renaissance re-enactors. “An Intro to Metal Armor” will be taught at the Sharon Arts Center, Saturday and Sunday, February 11-12, from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Students will learn a brief history of armor-making as well as historic and modern armor reproductions. We will discuss how to research the
project of your choice for historical accuracy and learn the facets of Medieval and Renaissance armor and its unique vocabulary. Special emphasis will be placed on studio and material safety, and
tool use. We will discuss types of metals, measurements, and how to create and use templates. Students will learn about basic techniques (annealing, hammering and forming), and about how to polish
and care for their work. Students will be able to complete one or two small pieces of armor during the two days of class.
“Typically the class is a 6- or 8-week course in the evenings, but this would be a condensed workshop over 2 day for a total of 12
hours,” said Jadaszewski.
Additional materials fee: $20.
For information call Alexandra Wall at (603) 924-7256, ext. 3, or visit www.sharonarts.org.
NEW YORK
NEW YORK — The Kosciuszko Foundation announces it annual Marcella Sembrich Memorial Voice Scholarship Competition. The
Competition honors the great Polish soprano Marcella Kochanska Sembrich who made her Metropolitan Opera debut in its brand-new building in 1883. After an enormously successful career, the popular
singer founded the vocal programs at both the Juilliard School and Curtis Institute. Previous winners of the competition include Barbara Hendricks and Jan Opalach.
Cash prizes are $3000, $1500, and $1000.
Preliminaries are Fri., March 9, 2012, and finals are Sat., March 10, 2012.
The Kosciuszko Foundation is also holding its annual Chopin Piano Competition, established in 1949 in honor of the hundredth anniversary of the
death of Frederic Chopin. The inauguration took place at the Kosciuszko Foundation House in New York City with Witold Malcuzynski as guest artist and Abram Chasins, composer and music director of the
New York Times Radio Stations, presiding. Over the years, many outstanding musicians have been associated with the competition including Van Cliburn, Ian Hobson, and Murray Perahia. Today the
Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition continues to encourage gifted young pianists to further their studies, and to perform the works of Polish composers.
Cash prizes are $5,000, $2,500, and $1,500.
Preliminaries are Fri., April 13, 2012, and finals are Sat., April 14, 2012 .
For more information on either event, write or call: The Kosciuszko Foundation, Inc., 15 East 65th St., New York, NY 10065; (212) 734-2130; www.thekf.org.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
A new Facebook group has been initiated, the Jan Karski Campaign Supporters.
During World War II, Karski (inset) was dispatched by the Polish Underground to inform the West about the situation in Poland, including the
atrocities being committed by the German Nazis and to seek their intervention. Karski’s courageous mission and testimony set the record straight about what was known about the Holocaust and
bloodbath in Nazi German-occupied Poland when there was still time to act, and qualifies him as a great educator as well as a voice of conscience.
The purpose of the Jan Karski U.S. Centennial Campaign is to shine the spotlight on this great man and to propagate the Karski legacy with
international educational activities, public events and artistic performances, leading up to the centennial year of his birth in 2014. The culmination of this campaign will be having the
Congressional Gold Medal – America’s highest civilian honor – awarded posthumously to Professor Karski.
To join the group, search for “Jan Karski Supporters” on Facebook. For more information about the Campaign, visit www.jankarski.net
Ambassador/LTG, USA (retired) Edward L.Rowny, president of the Paderewski Scholarship Fund, presents classical pianist and Paderewski
devotee John Robilette in a piano concert to benefit the Fund. It will be held Sat., Feb. 11, 2012, 7:30 p.m. at the Embassy of Italy Auditorium, 3000 Whitehaven Street NW.
Prior to the concert, Ambassador Rowny will discuss Paderewski’s contribution to freedom and culture, and his life as a composer,
pianist, and eminent statesman. By virtue of drafting the Thirteenth Point of the Versailles Treaty, Paderewski became the first President of modern Poland.
A light supper and wine are included in the ticket price.
For more information about John Robilette, please go to www.robilette.com.
To learn about the Paderewski Scholarship Fund and Ambassador Rowny, see www.paderewskirowny.com, or contact Ambassador
Rowny at erowny@aol.com. or (202) 541-0345.
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