Polish Heritage Club - Polish Heritage Club

People and Events Honored in 2020!

POLONEZ

Polonaise medley for our 40th Anniversary

WOJCIECH KILAR
Polonaise from the movie
'Pan Tadeusz'

FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN
Polonaise in A Flat Major, Op.53
Arthur Rubinstein

BARTOSZ CHAJDECKI
Polonaise from the TV series
'Czas Honoru'

HENRYK WIENIAWSKI
Polonaise No. 2 in A Major
Henri Tymianka

KRZESIMIR DĘBSKI
"Hussar's Polonaise' from the movie "Ogniem i mieczem"

J.S.BACH
Polonaise from the Orchestral Suite in B Minor, BWV 1067 Emmanuel Pahud

HENRYK WIENIAWSKI
Polonaise No. 1 in D Major
Pinchas Zukerman

PYOTR TCHAIKOVSKY
Polonaise from Act III
opera Eugene Onegin

FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN
Polonaise in A Major, Op.40
Rafał Blechacz

MICHAŁ KLEOFAS OGIŃSKI
"Farewell to Fatherland"

author: IRENA FRACZEK

GENERAL MEETING AND ELECTION

WHEN: January 31, 2021 at 1pm
HOW: virtually via Zoom and mail-in ballots

►click here for details◄

January 26, 2021 at 7 pm
PHC BOOK Club meets to discuss

The WARSAW CONSPIRACY
by James Conroyd Martin

The author will attend the meeting

From GoodReads: " Engaging and opulent, THE WARSAW CONSPIRACY unfolds as a family saga set against the November Rising (1830-1831), partitioned Poland’s daring challenge to the Russian Empire. Brilliantly iIlustrating the psyche of a people determined to reclaim independence in the face of monumental odds, the story portrays two brothers and their fates in love and war.

VISIT THE PHC BOOK PAGE for more information

► download the booklet here ◄

Join in the fun and enter Competition

░D░o░░y░o░u░ ░k░n░o░w░
░P░O░L░A░N░D░?░

Sponsored by the Polish American Congress-Wisconsin Division, the contest challenges all to give their knowledge of Polish heritage a test by identifying images on the new cover of the "Do You Know Poland?" booklet.

ENTRIES DUE BY FEB 28, 2021

Click here for the submission rules and more information about the contest

........
........Wouldn't it be nice if the winner emerged from our club?

The Kosciuszko Foundation Gallery listed in the Do You Know Poland booklet is now open for virtual tours.

The gallery showcases works by great Polish painters including Jan Matejko, Józef Chełmoński, Jacek Malczewski, Wojciech Kossak, Tade Styka, Józef Brandt, Władysław T. Benda and others.

The gallery is located in the Van Alen Mansion, one of the NYC's architectural treasures, the KF home since 1945.

Click here - or on the image above -
to enter the gallery.

Poland Through the Centuries:
Who, What, Where, When?

In a series of lectures recorded on the invitation from the Polish Center of WI, Prof. NEAL PEASE (UW-Milwaukee) explains how much Poland, and the very idea of Polishness, has changed over the centuries

Click here - or on the image below -
to view first the lecture

LOST BORDERS: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE SECOND POLISH REPUBLIC

From the Kosciuszko Foundation FB page, here comes an extraordinary online report from the journey along the frontiers of pre-war Poland - including the territories of today's Poland (Kashubia, Greater Poland, Silesia), through the Czech Republic and Ukraine, to Belarus, Latvia, and Lithuania.

"The journey is not about stone pillars, but ordinary people who, despite the atrocities of the 20th century, were trying to survive on the erased border,"
say authors Tomasz Grzywaczewski and Kaja Grzywaczewska.

►Click here to begin the journey◄

ABOUT POLISH HERITAGE MONTH

October was Polish Heritage Month, a month in which Americans of Polish descent (about 10 million strong) are especially proud of their roots, Polish achievements and over 400 years of their presence in the lands of the contemporary USA.

From President Reagan's Proclamation 5229 signed on August 17, 1984:
The millions of Americans who trace their ancestry to Poland have made vast contributions to our Nation. Tadeusz Kościuszko and Kazimierz Pułaski crossed the ocean to help the American colonies win their independence. Throughout the last two centuries, thousands of Polish Americans have fought bravely to help preserve that independence. Polish Americans have also made outstanding contributions in the arts, the sciences, and in industry and agriculture. Through these efforts they have helped in innumerable ways to establish a strong and free United States.

The story goes back to the first celebration of Polish Heritage that took place in Philadelphia in August 1981. The event was organized by Michael Blichasz, the President of the Polish American Cultural Center in Philadelphia, with assistance of Polish American Congress, Eastern Pennsylvania District (and since 1986, the national Polish American Congress).

Amid the event's rising popularity, growing national interest and succeful lobbying, U.S. Representative Robert Borski (D-PA-03) sponsored House Joint Resolution 577 aiming to designate the month of August as "Polish American Heritage Month." The H.J.R 577 became public law after President Ronald Reagan signed it on August 7, 1984.

Just ten days later, he issued Proclamation 5229 in observance of this occasion and paying tribute to four great sons of the Polish nation: Tadeusz Kościuszko, Kazimierz Pułaski, Pope John Paul II and Lech Wałęsa.

President Reagan continued to issue similar proclamations every year through the end of his presidency but in 1986, the Polish American Heritage Month was moved to October. This was done partly to help schools organize celebrations during the school year, and in part to coincide with the arrival of the first Polish settlers in Jamestown, Virginia on October 1, 1608 (twelve years before the Pilgrims reached the Massachusetts). October is also the time to commemorate the deaths of Polish heroes of the American fight for independence: Kazimierz Pułaski (October 11, 1779) and Tadeusz Kościuszko (October 15, 1817).