St. Andrew's Night - Fortunetelling, 1867, Henryk Siemiradzki
Posts Tagged ‘Ethnicity’
Poland’s Emigration Museum and the story of immigration
Maritime Station at 1 Polska Street in Gdynia was a port building commissioned in 1933. It served passenger traffic, including thousands of emigres who left Poland to resettle in distant lands. Because of the building’s strong relationship to the history of emigration, and its location at the hub of emigration routes, the building has been revitalized and now houses the Emigration Museum.
The Museum is seeking input for its Portrait Of An Emigrant Collection. This Collection of emigration stories will assist in recreating the history of Polish emigration through family albums, memoirs, and diaries. The collection seeks: Stories of emigrants; Recollections of departures, homesickness, home, family, and work; News of the new world, new people, new habits, and new motherlands; Reports of family life, children, education, learning a foreign language, us and them; Photos of farewells in the old country; Family stories about those who left and those who stayed; and The tales of relatives, acquaintances, and old friends.
Each of these is a start of a new history; the stories and illustrations that make up the collective portrait of the emigration epic. This history composed of individual fate –- ordinary, stormy, and sometimes dramatic is compelling. The Museum is compiling the collection of emigration from the stories of individuals and their archival photos.
Contact the Museum or Mr. Aleksander Gosk by E-mail for more information.
Traveling photographic exhibition, “Katyn: Massacre, Politics, Morality”
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) Golda Meir Library is hosting the traveling photographic exhibition, “Katyn: Massacre, Politics, Morality,” from November 7-27 in the 1st floor east wing of the Library.
The exhibit recounts the execution of 21,857 Polish troops and civilians in the Katyn Forest by the Soviet KGB during World War II, and the decades-long suppression of the truth about the atrocity.
Created by Poland’s Council for the Protection of the Memory of Struggle and Martyrdom, the exhibit debuted last May in the Rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington D.C. and has traveled to the Hoover Institute at Stanford University and the Buffalo NY Public Library.
In conduction with the exhibit, the UWM Libraries will host a panel discussion, “The Katyn Forest Massacre: The Crime, the Coverup, the Historical Legacy,” on Wednesday, November 9 at 7 p.m. in the fourth floor Conference Center of the Golda Meir Library, 2311 E. Hartford Ave.
Participants are Douglas W. Jacobson, author of The Katyn Order: A Novel; Michael Mikos, Professor, UWM Dept. of Foreign Languages and Literature; Neal Pease, Professor, UWM Dept. of History; and Donald Pienkos, Professor Emeritus, UWM Dept. of Political Science.
The panel discussion and the exhibit are free and open to the public. For more information or special needs, call 414-229-6202.
Film: Remembrance
From J: Wartime love, escape propel immersive ‘Remembrance’
To those who swore they’d seen enough Holocaust-themed films to last a lifetime: Rescind your vow, just this once.
The German drama “Remembrance” (“Die Verlerone Zeit”) is that good. It’s better than good, in fact. It’s unforgettable.
Anna Justice’s fact-based saga relates a tale of escape from war-torn Poland nearly as incredible as Agnieszka Holland’s jaw-dropping “Europa Europa” did two decades ago. At the same time, “Remembrance” cuts between the past and the present (circa 1976) with far greater emotional force than the recent “Sarah’s Key” mustered.
The generator of all that power is a pressure-cooker love affair portrayed with such urgency, immediacy and intensity that it makes every screen romance you’ve seen in the last 10 years look like a foolish game of charades.
In other words, “Remembrance” is the whole package. This is the rare film that’s epic in scale and reach, yet effortlessly capable of touching every viewer.
“Remembrance” receives its North American premiere Tuesday, Oct. 25 in the Berlin & Beyond Film Festival at the Castro Theatre, in a co-presentation with the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival and the honorary consul of Poland. The film is preceded by Werner Biedermann’s seven-minute short “Laula,” an artful ode to his relatives who perished in the Holocaust.
“Remembrance” begins in a gray concentration camp in Poland in 1944, where German Jew Hannah Silberstein (Alice Dwyer) scrubs floors in the bakery and tries to be invisible. That’s the best survival strategy, she’s learned, and her mastery of it is a big reason she makes it through the war.
I’m not giving anything away, for we’re immediately, and jarringly, shown her comfortable life in Brooklyn. Now Hannah Levine (Dagmar Manzel), she’s picking up a tablecloth from her neighborhood cleaners for a party that night when she’s stunned to overhear a television interview with a middle-age Polish ex-partisan.
Her world thrown off its axis, Hannah spends the evening ricocheting between frantic action and distracted reverie, to her husband’s puzzlement and frustration.
Tomasz Limanowski, the gentle non-Jew Hannah glimpsed on TV, is the other reason she’s alive. He was a fellow prisoner and they were secret lovers — which may sound impossible but is presented in an utterly convincing manner. (Bribery, along with Nazi efficiency and fear, kept the camps running, apparently.)
A plan has been concocted to spring Tomasz from the camp with a roll of film exposing Nazi abuses. In an impulsive and breathtaking act of courage and devotion, he takes Hannah with him…
Polish Film Festival ’11
Come see the latest award-winning Polish films and meet some of the people who made them at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York.
All films screened at the Canisius College, Montante Cultural Center, 2011 Main St, Buffalo. “IRENA SENDLER: “In the Name of Their Mothers” will be shown in the Student Center on Hughes St. (off Main). All films have English subtitles and are subject to change. Admission is $5. Tickets available at the door. Admission to “IRENA SENDLER: “In the Name of Their Mothers” is free.
For more details on the films, please visit the Permanent Chair of Polish Culture’s events page.
Monday, November 7
7:00 IRENA SENDLER: “In the Name of Their Mothers” The latest documentary about the Polish Catholic women who saved Jewish children during WWII.
MEET THE DIRECTOR: Mary Skinner
Co-Sponsored with The Polish Legacy Project-WWII
Screened in the Student Center, Hughes St.
Thursday, November 10
7:00 WYGRANY – “The Winner” (Drama, 2011) The story of a young pianist. After losing everything, an accidental meeting with his former math teacher and avid horsetrack gambler helps him find his way in life. Dir. Wiesław Saniewski
Friday, November 11
7:00 ŚLUBY PANIENSKIE – “Maiden Vows” (Comedy, 2010)
Film adaptation of the early 19th century comedic play by Aleksander Fredro, still popular in Polish theatres.
Dir. Filip Bajon
Saturday, November 12
7:00 CZARNY CZWARTEK – “Black Thursday” (Drama, 2010) This film is dedicated to the workers’ strikes that swept over Polish coastal cities in December of 1970, only to be brutally crushed by communist authorities. The film focuses on the story of the family of one of the Gdynia shipyard workers.
Dir. Antoni Krauze
Sunday, November 13
3:00 MEET THE PRODUCER of LABYRINTH Fr. Ron Schmidt, S.J.
3:30 LABYRINTH (Documentary, 2010)
Memory, art and hell collide as an Auschwitz survivor finally confronts the horrors of his past after 50 years of silence. Unable to speak after a stroke, he draws the scenes he witnessed as one of the first prisoners of the camp.
4:00 JOANNA (Drama, 2010). WWII under Nazi rule. Gripping story about Joanna, a Polish woman to whom fate presents a split-second choice: whether to hide a young Jewish girl she finds sleeping in a church.
MEET THE DIRECTOR: Feliks Falk
Sunday’s events co-sponsored by: The Joseph J. Naples Conversations in Christ and Culture Lecture and Performance Series and The Polish Legacy Project-WWII
Free Parking across Main Street, Lyons Parking Lots #1, 2, and 4. For information contact the Canisius College Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures at 716-888-2835.
Miłosz events
California Experiences to be Discussed at Yale
By Raymond Rolak
New York — A celebration and conference will be at the Czeslaw Milosz archive at the Bienecke Library on the Yale campus November 4-5, in New Haven, CT. An exhibition will be on display thru December 17, 2011, titled Exile as Destiny: Czesław Miłosz and America. The manuscripts, documents, and photographs on display are lesser-known aspects of Milosz’s relationship with America. What will be especially analyzed will be the multifaceted relationships with his adopted home in California and fellow émigré authors. How he embraced and distained his translations with the English language will also be discussed.
An academic poetry conference at Claremont McKenna College in Los Angeles regarding the celebrated author just concluded.
Centennial and Poetry of Milosz Featured in N.Y.
An evening of remembrance and poetry will be held at Columbia University on Saturday, October 27, 2011 at 5:30 pm., in the Butler Library. It will be a celebration of the memorabilia and poems of Czeslaw Milosz.
He died in 2004 at the age of 93 and had previously been a professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of California-Berkley from 1961 to 1998.
Milosz gained recognition for his poetry when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1980. There will also be an exhibition of artifacts and letters opening at the Butler Library.
Controversy always followed him. He refused to categorically identify himself as either a Pole or a Lithuanian. He defected to France in 1951 and immigrated to the United States in 1960.
A collection of his essays published as “To Begin Where I Am” and “The Captive Mind” in 1953 brought him great notoriety. The author will be honored with comments by Professor Helen Vendler of Harvard University. The event will coincide with other multilingual readings of his poetry by members of the Colombia University community. Also featured will be Colombia’s Alan Timberlake and Dr. Anna Frajlich, who will both do readings.
Readings Also in San Francisco
In California, another celebration will be hosted by the Polish Arts and Culture Foundation of San Francisco when they present A Celebration of Milosz on Saturday October 29, at 2:00 PM. at the Main Library’s Koret Auditorium. A panel of literary notables, friends and family will read some of his works representing his European experiences and influences.
Miłosz at Central Connecticut State University
A Miłosz event at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU): “Czesław Miłosz: A Poet of Both Nations.” Yale professor Tomas Venclova will present on Wednesday, November 9th at 7pm in Founders Hall, Davidson Bldg, CCSU, New Britain CT. Professor Venclova is one of the outstanding scholars of Slavic Studies in the world. He was a friend of Polish poet Czesław Miłosz. Professor Venclova is an author of collections of poems, poetry-translations, essays, articles. His poetry has appeared in many languages. He is a recipient of numerous international poetry prizes including Valencia (Slovenia, 1990) and Qinghai (China, 2011), as well as of the Lithuanian National Prize (2000). The event is free and open to the public. Parking is available in campus garages. For more information, please contact the CCSU Polish Studies Department at 860-832-3010, or via E-mail.
The S. A. Blejwas Endowed Chair of Polish and Polish American Studies at CCSU will also be presenting “The Magic Mountain: an American portrait of Czesław Miłosz” on Sunday, November 13th at 4pm in the CCSU Vance Academic Center, Room 105. Celebrating 100th anniversary of Czesław Milosz’s birth, Polish Studies Program presents a documentary about American years in the life of Polish poet and 1980 Nobel Prize winner. Milosz’s own reminiscences and remarks by his friends and students, some of them the most prominent 20th century American intellectuals, complete the portrait of nearly 40 years the poet spent in Berkley, California. This event is also free and the public is cordially invited. For more information, please contact the CCSU Polish Studies Department at 860-832-3010, or via E-mail.
Miłosz centenary
Poetry of Milosz Featured at Colombia
By Raymond Rolak
New York — An evening of poetry and remembrance will be held at Columbia Universityon Saturday, October 27, 2011 at 5:30 pm., in the Butler Library. It will be a celebration of the memorabilia and poems of Czeslaw Milosz.
He died in 2004 at the age of 93 and had previously been a professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of California-Berkley from 1961 to 1998.
Milosz, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1980, has an exhibition of artifacts opening at the Butler Library. Controversy always followed him. He refused to categorically identify himself as either a Pole or a Lithuanian. He defected to France in 1951 and immigrated to the United States in 1960.
The commemorated author will be honored with comments by Professor Helen Vendler of Harvard University. The event will coincide with other multilingual readings of his poetry by members of the Colombia University community. Also featured will be Colombia’s Alan Timberlake and Dr. Anna Frajlich, who will both do readings.
Another celebration of the centennial of his birth will be the academic poetry conference at Claremont McKenna College in Los Angeles, October 19-21. Readings by Polish and American Poets including Piotr Florczyk, Jacek Gutorow and Joanna Treciak will be featured on Thursday, October 20th at 3:00 PM.
Folklore events in Eastern New York
Legends and Tales
The New York State Folklore Society is hosting Legends and Tales on November 12th at Binghamton University. The tentative schedule includes:
The Fabled and the Fabulous: Dawn Saliba of Binghamton University on “Shakespeare, Three Sisters and a Scottish King: The Witchlore of Macbeth as Influenced by King James’s Demonology;” Daniel Irving, of Binghamton University on “You Can’t Lose What You Ain’t Never Had: Southern Mythology and the Precariousness of Performance;” and, Trisha Cowen of Binghamton University on “A New Perspective on Happily Ever After: Children Dying to Close the Portal Between Worlds.”
Legendary Transformations: Chris MacKowski of Binghamton University on “The Legend of Stonewall Jackson’s Arm;” Nick Hilbourn of Binghamton University on “The Stranger Upstairs: Disability Representation in Urban Horror Legends;” and Bambi Lodell of the State University of New York at Oneonta on “Mythic Elements in the Life and Legend of Lucy Ann/Joseph Israel Lobdell.”
The Keynote Address, “Haunted Halls, Mansions, and Riverbanks: Legends of the Southern Tier” will be delivered by Dr. Elizabeth Tucker.
Other sessions include a reading by Novelist Jaimee Wriston Colbert from her work “Shark Girls,” “Folklore in Practice: Collecting Narratives after Disaster Strikes” with an esteemed panel of folklore professionals, and a closing session focusing on storytelling in performance with Milbre Burch, “Changing Skins: Folktales about Gender, Identity and Humanity.”
Milbre Burch is a grammy-nominated and internationally known storyteller. She is currently a graduate student in theater and folklore at the University of Missouri. Her performance, “Changing Skins” is informed by research on the wealth and persistence of gender-bending folktales and cultural expressions around the world. The tales — adapted from print collections by folklorists, anthropologists, linguists and literary scholars – are interwoven with personal observations of the social construction of gender, and notes on historical and contemporary thinking about the diversity of gender expressions.
For additional information and to register visit Legends and Tales.
Folk Arts in Education Development
The Society will also be presenting “Folk Arts in Education Development, a Workshop for Artists and Teachers” on Friday, October 21st from 8AM till 3:30PM at Celtic Hall, 430 New Karner Road, Albany, NY
The presentation will be led by Arts in Education Specialist Dr. Amanda Dargan of City Lore, Inc. along with featured artist Andes Manta.
Amanda Dargan holds a Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania. She is the Arts in Education Director for City Lore, Inc., a folk arts organization in Manhattan. In a joint effort with the Bank Street College of Education, Amanda Dargan pioneered a program of staff development sessions and seminars for teachers, administrators, and artists on how to integrate cultural studies and the arts into the core curriculum. Through a national initiative, Amanda Dargan and Paddy Bowman of the National Task Force on Folk Arts in Education have offered these trainings on how to effectively and creatively use students’ and communities’ resources in classrooms throughout the United States.
The session provides a forum where teachers may meet traditional artists from a variety of backgrounds, discover resources available for arts in education, make curriculum connections to traditional arts, and enhance local learning possibilities.
The event is free, but registration is required. For further information, contact Lisa at the New York Folklore Society at 518-346-7008.
2011 Summer Community Documentation Program
In the summer of 2011, the New York Folklore Society teamed up with the Schoharie River Center, the Schenectady Job Training Agency and the Schenectady High School to offer a six
week Community Documentation Program. NYFS staff Lisa Overholser and Ellen McHale joined SRC staff John McKeeby, Scott Haddam, and Ben McKeeby in working with nineteen Schenectady teens to document Schenectady’s green spaces and the activities which occur in and around Schenectady’s parks and waterways. The successful program was given special notice by the Schenectady Job Training Agency for its innovation.
Philadelphia’s Pulaski Day Parade 2011
Father Major Sławomir Andrew Biliński of the Polish National Catholic Church served as 2011 Pulaski Day Parade Military Marshal.
Polish-born priest and doctor, Father Major Slawomir Andrew Bilinski has a distinguished career of service in military and civilian settings. After arriving in the U.S. as a priest in the Polish National Catholic Church, he was assigned to Holy Mother of Sorrows PNC Church in Dupont, PA, where he served as pastor until 2000. After earning a B.S. in pre-medical studies at Wilkes University, Father Bilinski entered Thomas Jefferson University Medical College in Philadelphia and joined the U.S. Army as a Lieutenant. Upon completion of his medical degree in 2004, he was promoted to Captain and served his internship in Emergency Medicine at Hahnemann University Hospital and residency training at the Underwood Memorial Hospital of Thomas Jefferson University. At that time, Father Bilinski also assisted at St. Valentine’s Church in Philadelphia.
In 2007, Captain Bilinski was transferred to Brooke Army Hospital and Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX, where he served as medical doctor in the Emergency Room, Troop Clinic, and wounded soldiers unit. He was promoted to the rank of Major in October, 2010.
Major Bilinski now serves a triple vocation as U.S. Army officer, priest and physician by caring for our soldiers and their families at Fort Lee, Virginia. When he visits his hometown of Philadelphia, he assists with Father Krzysztof Mendelewski at St. Valentine’s PNC Church on Margaret Street, in the Frankford section of Philadelphia.
