POLISH AMERICAN CONGRESS – MICHIGAN DIVISION

11333 Joseph Campau, Hamtramck, MI 48212

Telephone: (313) 365-9400, E-mail: office@pacmi.org

May 26, 2020

Dear PAC-MI Member/Delegate,

I write to you with an urgent request from PAC National President Spula, as well as from myself as Division President. There is a resolution being considered by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senate Resolution 566 (https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/116/sres566/text), commemorating the 80^th Anniversary of the Katyn Massacre. Initially the resolution will go to a sub-committee, most likely the Sub-Committee on Europe and Security Cooperation. Following a favorable vote there, it will be sent back to the full committee for a vote. The next step would be its presentation to the full Senate (100 members) for a vote.  We are being urged by the PAC national office to telephone our Senators and appeal to them to vote to pass this resolution bill.

Now, our 2 Michigan senators are not on the above-mentioned committees, but just the same we want to inform them of the resolution’s importance to the Polish American community, which Polish American Congress represents, and strongly urge them for the bill’s passage, at the time it comes up for a vote by the full house. The PAC divisions, that have representation on the committees, are currently being asked now to call their Senators with this urgent request (see attached list).

The initial resolution was brought to Senator Menendez, who serves on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, by the New Jersey Division of PAC. He agreed to be one of its sponsors. What ensued, after this submission, was a resubmission and reformulation of the resolution’s wording by the national PAC Executive Committee, which quite a number of national directors and Division presidents found unacceptable. There continue to be ardent discussions on the National Directors Forum on this matter. The original wording of the resolution stated that the Katyn Massacre was a genocidal act by the Soviets against the Polish nation. The current resolution removed genocide from its wording, in hopes that it would strengthen the chances of the resolution’s passage.

What followed was a proposal of an amendment to Resolution 566 submitted to Senator Menendez’s office. It was signed by eleven PAC Division presidents (see amendment attached), encouraging an improved version of Resolution 566. This amendment brings attention to, and gives reasoning why, the Katyn crimes were genocidal for the Polish nation. You can view the two attached document texts indicating where the wording was changed. These division Presidents, as well as many of the National Directors, are of the strong opinion that we need to express and bring attention to our moral outrage in regard to the Katyn Massacre and to inform and persuade our Senators, with compelling arguments, why it was a genocidal act. This stance is particularly significant at a time when Putin’s Russia is actively revising WWII history.

By presenting this amendment, we do not strive to diminish Resolution 566, but rather to bring attention to the truth behind Stalin’s order to murder Polish citizens, for the very reason of who they were.

• In calling our Senators (Sen. Stabenow at 202-2904-2822; Sen. Peters at 202-224-6221) you may follow this script to record your message:  After providing your name and address, say: “As one of the Senator’s Polish American voting constituents, I personally ask for his / her vote for passage of Resolution 566, the Menendez-Risch-Durbin Resolution titled: “Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Katyń Massacre.”  I also strongly urge that you review and consider to pass the amendment to this resolution which further enlightens as to the significance of the crimes perpetrated on the Polish nation.

It is in the interest of our organization and community that we express our stance and be heard. Please make this call and inform our two senators as to the importance of these matters and the need for favorable passage of Resolution 566, hopefully with the amendment to its text as was suggested. President Spula wants Division Presidents to report to him who of our membership made calls to their Senators. While I do not agree with this course, I welcome anyone letting me know if they made the call.

On behalf of the Michigan Division, I will be both emailing and mailing letters to our two Michigan senators with information as to the Resolution, along with the Amendment document and two additional links. (http://www.librainstitute.org/ARTICLES/Lukaszewski-Statement.html;http://www.librainstitute.org/ARTICLES/Witomila-Wolk-Jezierska-list.html

Please review the Resolution (link above) and Amendment document (text attached) , and kindly express your opinion to our Senators. As a community we truly need to practice being heard where it counts.

We will keep you further informed as to this situation. We plan to have information on our division website: pacmi.org.

Wishing you a safe and healthy summer. Hope to be able to meet at our September quarterly meeting.

Sincerely,

Ann Bankowski, President

Polish American Congress- Michigan

It happened 400 years ago, in 1619, that the first ever workers strike took place in the New World.  That year English settlers in the colony of Jamestown, Virginia were granted the right to vote in colonial America.  The colony, however, was settled by craftsmen and industry specialists from other countries, notably Poles, to come work at the colony since 1608, recruited to develop this settlement.  The Poles specialized in making soap-ash, glass, lumber milling, naval stores, and mining. Upon learning that they were deprived of representation, the Polish artisans, whose contributions to the settlement were inestimable, organized a work stoppage.  In response to this civil action by the Poles, court records for The Virginia Company of London, of July 21 1619, thus declared “It is now agreed they shall be enfranchised and made as free as any inhabitant whatsoever”.

Sunday, July 21, the very date of the Poles’ gaining the right to vote, Polish American Congress-Michigan is hosting a 400th anniversary celebration to honor the brave example demonstrated by these industrious Polish craftsmen, in their efforts to gain their own individual freedom.  It will take place on the campus of the Orchard Lakes Schools, 3535 Commerce Rd, Orchard Lake, MI 48324.

Come hear the rest of the story!

At 11:00 am, enjoy an interesting program at the campus Adam Maida Alumni Library, featuring expert presentations about Jamestown, informative exhibits, souvenirs, and refreshments, culminating with a glass blower’s demonstration.

At 1:00 pm there will be a bilingual mass in the St. Mary of Orchard Lake Shrine Chapel, followed by a mini piano concert of music of Polish emigrants, including selections by Frederic Chopin and Paderewski.

Everyone is welcome and admission is free.  More information can be obtained on the PAC-MI Division website, pacmi.org, or by calling the event chairman, Richard Lapham, at 313-443-1560.

ZAPRASZAMY!

W tym roku POLONIA obchodzi 400-lecie historycznego wydarzenia w Nowym Świecie.

W roku 1619, w angielskiej kolonii Jamestown, Virginia, utalentowani rzemieślnicy z Polski, sprowadzeni do pracy i rozwoju kolonii, urządzili pierwszy „strajk” robotniczy, aby osiągnąć swoje prawo do głosu w tym osiedlu.

Głos im przyznano 21-go lipca 1619 r.

∞

Kongres Polonii Amerykańskiej w Michigan, wraz z Polską Misją w Orchard Lake, celebrują to unikalne wydarzenie.

Zapraszamy Polonię do Zakładów Naukowych w Orchard Lake

(3535 Indian Trail pomiędzy Orchard Lake i Commerce Rd.)

Niedziela, 21-go lipca 2019 r.

11:00 rano- ciekawy i informacyjny program w bibliotece, oraz wystawy, poczęstunek, i demonstracja szklarza;

1:00 pp.- Msza Św. (dwujęzyczna) w głównej kaplicy NMP

Koncert fortepianowy muzyki Polskich emigrantów po mszy.

Wstęp wolny.

 Celebrujcie z Nami!

Ian Brzezinski – Atlantic Council, Ann Bankowski – President PAC-MI, Dr. Mark Chodakiewicz – Chair Polish Studies, Institute of World Politics

A few weeks ago, two members of the PAC-MI Executive Board, Ann Bankowski and Barbara Lemecha, were happy to travel to Washington DC, where, on May 20 2019, in the historic Cannon Building of the U.S. House of Representatives, an informational Capitol Hill briefing took place about Poland, entitled, “Poland’s Painful Past and Bright Future”. The National PAC organized the event and invited all Congressmen to attend.

The two expert speakers featured were Dr. Marek Chodakiewicz, present holder of the Kosciuszko Chair in Polish Studies at the Institute of World Politics (IWP) in Washington, DC and Ian Brzezinski, Senior Resident at the Atlantic Council, and son of the late Zbigniew Brzezinski.

Attendees included staffers from congressional offices of both political parties, government office representatives, and numerous Polonia members.

PAC-MI was invited by the national office to take part in this briefing in order to talk about our promotion of the book, “Those Who Risked Their Lives”, giving attendees an informative view of the Polish experience during WWII from the vantage of Poles who risked their lives saving Jews in Poland during the war. Congressional staffers in attendance availed themselves of the books for their Congressmen and offices.

John Czop, the national office policy director, wrote an informative article on this meeting, a translation of which appears on June 5th Polish Weekly.

The following is the presentation I gave at the informational briefing on Capitol Hill.

Good Afternoon!

My name is Ann Bankowski and I am the president of the Michigan Division of Polish American Congress, an umbrella organization representing the organized Polish American community. I am happy and honored to join all of you for this informational briefing about Poland. Joining me today from Michigan is our division vice president, Barbara Lemecha. I thank Mr. Czop, of the PAC national office, who is its policy director, for inviting me to say a few words today about a project that our division has recently undertaken, which is to promote a book, entitled “Those Who Risked Their Lives” by Anna Poray. We inherited this project from a Michigan based organization named Heralds of Truth, which originally took the initiative andhelped to publish this book, some 12 years ago. I am here to tell you about its importance, what our division has done to enhance its usefulness, and to offer US Congressional members this book free of charge, for their informational enlightenment on this topic.

The book’s author/editor, the late Anna Poray-Wybranowska, was a Polish-Canadian scholar whose work focused primarily on researching the rescue efforts of Jews by Polish Christians in Poland during WWII. Her book compiles the stories of thousands of Poles, by name and place, who rescued Jews in wartime Poland. Per the book’s introduction by Dr. Richard Lukas, he quotes Rabbi Harold Schulweis , “we need to know the heroes and heroines, those exemplars of good”. These people were those who did good in a time and place when death, terror, and destruction reigned. This thoroughly researched book lists names and describes circumstances of rescue attempts, attempts offering secret refuge to persecuted Jews, sometimes over a long period of time, often ending in execution of everyone involved by the German Nazi occupiers.  Nonetheless they performed courageous and heroic deeds, at a horrific time for the country and nation of Poland.

Many may not know that it was decreed by the Third Reich occupiers of Poland that, during the years of German Nazi rule, from 1939-1945, anyone in Poland who offered any kind of help to a person of Jewish faith or origin, would be punished by death. Poland was the only occupied country during WWII to have this decree. The punishment could be extended to the accused rescuer’s family, neighbors, at times towns and villages. It was a true reign of terror. Nonetheless, there were hundreds of thousands of non-Jewish Poles who risked their lives to aid and shelter Jews, whole families at times, in very creative ways, motivated by values engrained in them by their own faith and family upbringing. Dr. Lukas notes that even if some among these rescuers might have held anti-Semitic views, prevalent in Poland and in many other countries before the war, the response to help and rescue Jewish persons, fellow neighbors and citizens, was an “expression of resistance against the hated Germans, who terrorized and killed Polish citizens, Jewish and otherwise, longer than any other people in Europe.”

Of course, the war years were particularly grueling, uncertain, and tragic for the Polish nation as a country occupied and controlled by both Germany and Soviet Russia, both totalitarian regimes, since September 1939 until the war’s end in 1945. It was then dominated by the Soviet Union until 1989. The war period was a time when close to three million Polish Christians lost their lives through battles, executions, bombings, torture, starvation, or overwork in hundreds of prisons, forced labor, and concentration camps. Millions more were deported into exile by the occupiers to forced labor camps and prisons. Poland lost 22% of its pre-war population, Christian, Jewish, and others- more than any other country of Europe. Poland lost so many of its young and many of the educated classes- a deathly blow to any society and its future.

What I do want to impress on today’s audience is that Anna Poray’s book presents a unique and a both thought and heart provoking documentation of real persons from real places, demonstrating heroic acts, thousands of them, to save fellow human beings, risking their own lives and of their families. To read and comprehend the enormity of such a compilation is not done at one sitting in order to gain and appreciate its full effect. It can and should be reviewed from time to time, both as a historical reference source and as a witness to the extremes of hate and genuine love for one’s fellow man, experienced in this tragic period by the country of Poland and its citizens.

The PAC division in Michigan took it upon itself the task to enhance the index of the book by cross referencing all names and places, Jews or Polish Christians, whose stories are documented in this compilation to facilitate and expedite research by the reader. Meanwhile, we have encountered persons, to whom the book was offered, whose family names appear in this book, documenting these heroic acts. Some were not even aware of their family’s rescue actions, while some knew only that something of this nature may have taken place through family lore, but no one was certain. They were gratified to learn that their family acted heroically and were thus being validated.

Of course, because of the extreme conditions imposed on occupied Poland, and those in the aftermath following the war, documentation of rescue attempts, and all persons involved, was a daunting task. More often than not, all persons involved, Jews and Christian Poles alike, died by tragic execution. Very often no one lived to fully authenticate the event. Finding reliable witnesses, at times requiring 3 or 4 eyewitness testimonies, decades later, involved slow, pain staking efforts.

Such documentations were published eventually by the Main Commission for Investigation of Crimes against the Polish Nation, the Institute of National Memory and Remembrance, and The Polish Society for the Righteous Among Nations in Warsaw. To date, some 7,000 names of Poles have been recognized by the Israeli Yad Vashem Institute, The Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem, as “Righteous Among Nations”. But more often, those who were executed have not been recognized among the “Righteous”. Many of these cases of execution await verification.

Anna Poray took on the onerous task to research and document such events and persons involved- some 6,000 documented here. Her book is testimony to thousands of examples of selfless sacrifice by a terrorized people acting alone, but standing up for their values, against all odds, to rescue another human being. Theirs is an affirmation of the Polish spirit of never ever giving up. It is inspiring and at the same time provoking, how many of us would go to such extreme measures, to help others?

I had hoped to share with you a couple of stories excerpted from this book, but unfortunately time today does not allow me to do so. I invite you to read “Those Who Risked Their Lives” as a historical source and as testimony of human heroism. As Dr. Richard Lukas states in the book’s Introduction, “The Talmud says that he who saves one life, saves the world.” This book shows how for many, their individual worlds were so saved in Poland in WWII.

Please pick up a copy here today or sign up with our PAC office administrator, to have one delivered to your office.

Thank you for your attention.

Ann Bankowski

PAC-MI President

Please join us for this annual Celebration.

Hamtramck, MI – In the cynical age in which we live, accounts of altruistic behavior by individuals who risked their lives for others during World War II should be especially welcome to readers.  In wartime Poland, unlike in other German occupied countries, gentiles who extended any form of assistance to Jews risked execution by Nazis.  Despite cultural, religious, and linguistic differences between Polish Jews and Polish Christians, most Poles were sympathetic to the plight of the Jewish people. Hundreds of thousands of Poles sheltered, fed, clothed, provided forged documents and looked after the medical needs of Jews on a regular basis. There were additionally hundreds of thousands of Poles whose assistance, though occasional and indirect, was no less dangerous.

“Those Who Risked Their Lives”, compiled, edited and annotated by Anna Poray, offers a glimpse of some of the thousands of Poles who rescued Jews.  The book records the names and experiences of many of these remarkable individuals.

Recently, an Index to accompany the book was created by members of the Polish American Congress Michigan Division (Henrietta Nowakowski, Barbara Gronet, Walter Bankowski, Richard Lapham, Greg Biesterk).  It was an enormous project, but the Index was much needed as an aid in identifying the rescued Jews and their Polish Christian rescuers as well as the locations where these acts of mercy occurred.  In the introduction to the Index its authors write: “This work pertains only to what the editor documented.  It neither exhausts the topic nor covers all known cases.  As such, it should be treated as a companion resource to other similar works”.

The Talmud says that he who saves on life, saves the world.  Thousand of Jews can bear the witness to the Poles who save their world.

“Those Who Risked Their Lives” was produced by the Heralds of Truth, a Michigan-based organization, and published by IRIS Publishing Services. The book with the accompanied Index is available for purchase ($20.00 + $5.00 shipping & handling) at the Polish American Congress Michigan Division office (11333 Joseph Campau, Hamtramck, MI 48212).  Call 313-365-9400 to order your copy.