—The good Lord gave the director two eyes —” one to look into the camera, the other to be alert to everything that is going on around him.— —” Andrzej Wajda
We’re honored to be able to present what will be far and away the most complete retrospective of Wajda’s work ever mounted in the United States, and we hope to welcome the Academy-honored director to the Walter Reade Theater for the opening weekend of this historic overview.
Wajda was only 13 years old when World War II broke out. His father, a former officer in the Polish Army, was called up to lead a cavalry regiment. A few months later, he was rounded up along with thousands of other Polish soldiers and citizens and murdered by the Soviet Army in the Katyn forest—”an event denied by the Soviets and, even more cruelly, by the Polish Communist government for decades.
Growing up with the knowledge that his father had been murdered yet forbidden from speaking openly about the circumstances had a profound impact on Wajda, and after attending the newly-founded Lodz Film and Theater School, he developed a filmography that constitutes, quite simply, one of the great legacies of world cinema. No single visual style or strategy characterizes his films: His early work often employed intricately illuminated deep spaces, while his work in the ’70s featured a looser, more documentary feel. When Socialist Realism, the Stalinist aesthetic of exemplary working class heroes and didactic narratives, was the order of the day, Wajda’s films served as alternative or counter-histories to the officially sanctioned versions of events.
As we move away from the fog of the Cold War, his films seem less dependent on the specifics of the political or historical issues they address, becoming meditations on concepts such as the price of individualism, one’s duty towards others, and the meaning of freedom. Close artistic collaborators, especially actors Zbigniew Cybulski, Daniel Olbrychski, Andrzej Seweryn, Wojciech Pszoniak and Krystyna Janda, and screenwriters Jerzy Andrzejewski, Aleksander Scibor-Rylski and Agnieszka Holland often did their finest work under his direction. And several of his films, including the marvelous Ashes and Diamonds, which established him as a major international artist after only three features, are among cinema’s unquestionable masterpieces.
Kosciuszko Foundation Marching In 71st Annual Pulaski Day Parade
The Kosciuszko Foundation will be joining the New York Polish-American community in the 71st Annual Pułaski Day Parade, and we invite members, their families, and friends, to join us. It gives us a chance to join thousands of Poles and Polish Americans in celebrating our heritage. Since this year is also the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first Poles in America, in Jamestown, it is especially significant.
The Parade is Sunday, October 5, beginning at 12:30 PM.
New York’s Pułaski parade is a huge event for Poles and Polish-Americans. Check it out if you are in the New York Metropolitan area.
Rafał Olbinski Art Show opening Thursday, October 9th
Rafal Olbinski, the renowned Polish artist, will have a show of his works at the Rotunda Gallery of the Kosciuszko Foundation in October. The exhibition will open with a presentation by Olbinski on Thursday, October 9, at 7 PM, and continue through Sunday, October 26. The Foundation is located at 15 East 65th Street, between Fifth and Madison Avenues. Visitors can see the show during office hours Monday-Friday, 9-5 PM, and on Saturdays, October 11, 18, and 25, from 3 —“ 7 PM. Since other events take place at the Foundation, it is best to call ahead of time. Office phone is (212) 734-2130.
Olbinski is an architect by professional training, as well as painter, poster artist, graphic designer, and illustrator, and has lived in New York since 1981. His illustrations regularly appear in the press, including Time, Newsweek, Der Spiegel, Business Week, and other newspapers and magazines. For many years he has been creating opera posters, including commissions for the New York Metropolitan Opera and City Opera. In 2002 Olbinski designed stage settings for the Philadelphia Opera Company’s production of ”Don Giovanni” He also created a famous poster after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Since 1995, he has taught at the School of Visual Arts in New York.
Rafal Olbinski’s posters are a synthesis of surrealistic mood and, from the other side, symbolism, characteristic of the Polish school of poster design. He has received more than 100 awards for his work, including Gold and Silver Medals from the Society of Illustrators and Art Directors Club of New York. In 1994 he was awarded the International Oscar for the World’s Most Memorable Poster, “Prix Savignac 1994” in Paris. In 1995 his poster was chosen as the official New York City “Capital of the World” Poster in an invitational competition, by a jury led by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. In the following year he won the award for the best painting in the annual exhibition of the Society of Illustrators.
Olbinski was born in city of Kielce, Poland, and graduated from the Architectural Department of Warsaw Polytechnic School. In 1981 he emigrated to the US, where he soon established himself as a prominent painter, illustrator and designer.
The Mariacki Altarpiece, Its theft by Nazi Germany, and its complicated post-war return
Mariacki Altarpiece
Agata Wolska, archivist of the Mariacki Cathedral, the oldest and richest archive in Poland, will give an illustrated talk on the Cathedral’s magnificent altarpiece, stolen during World War Two and only returned more than a decade after the war ended. The talk is on THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, at 7 PM. The talk is open to the public and no ticket is required; donations are welcome.
Krakow, Poland’s ancient capital is blessed with world-class art and architecture. Wit Stwosz (German Viet Stoss, ca. 1440-1533) one of the greatest Gothic sculptors lived and worked there for 19 years. For twelve years he worked on his masterpiece; the 3-story-high altarpiece in the Mariacki (Basilica of the Virgin Mary) on the city’s central Rynek Glowny (Grand Square). The altarpiece is the largest Gothic sculpture in the world, 42 feet high and 36 foot-wide. It consists of some 200 fine limewood sculptures treated with color and gold foil.
It is a Flugelaltar (German style “wing altar”) with two wings framing the center. The central part, with huge lifelike statues of the saints, depicts dramatically the Virgin Mary’s Dormition, surrounded by the Apostles. Looking upwards one sees the Ascension of Our Lady and Lord. At the top there is the Madonna’s Heavenly Coronation by the Trinity. The wings are covered with relief scenes from the life of the Holy Family. The huge structure is ceremonially opened at noon each day, and closed at night.
During the Nazi occupation of Poland, the altar was dismantled and taken to Germany. Its rescue and return by the Americans is a thrilling story.
Agata Wolska studied art history at Krakow’s ancient Jagiellonian University, and received further training in archival maintenance and computerization. She has received a grant from the Kosciuszko Foundation to do research in the Library of Congress and U.S. National Archives in connection with the altar’s return. Ms. Wolska is in charge of the Mariacki archives, and is preparing a book on the altar’s troubled wartime history.
Dorian Wind Quintet featurning Grazyna Bacewicz will open Chamber Music Season
The Dorian Wind Quintet, recognized worldwide for its uniquely polished and passionate performances, returns to inaugurate the 2008-2009 Chamber Music Series on Sunday, October 26, at 3 PM, at the Kosciuszko Foundation. The program includes works of Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz (1909 – 1969) as well as Darius Milhaud, Anton Reicha, and Lalo Schifrin. Tickets are $40 ($30 KF members), including a reception with the musicians, and can be reserved by calling the Foundation Office at (212) 734-2130.
Since its formation at Tanglewood in 1961, the Dorian Wind Quintet has performed repertoire ranging from the Baroque to Pulitzer Prize winning commissions, in the world’s most renowned concert halls. The Quintet has literally been around the world, concertizing in 49 of the 50 states and Canada, touring Europe eighteen times, and playing throughout the Middle East, India, Africa and Asia. The Dorian made history as the first wind quintet to appear at Carnegie Hall in1981.
The Dorian Wind Quintet collaborates often with well-known artists, and has appeared at numerous festivals including the American and international festivals. It has served as the resident ensemble for many institutions including the Mannes College of Music, Brooklyn College and the State University of New York System,and for over 10 years, at the Festival Institute at Round Top, Texas. Dorian currently serves as Ensemble-in- Residence at Hunter College in New York City. It has recorded on the Vox, CRI, Serenus, New World, and Summit Records labels.
Every member of the Dorian is a virtuoso in his or her own right, as well as a dedicated chamber player. Each has been associated with the most prominent performing ensembles, venues and musical institutions in the world and has joined the Dorian Wind Quintet out of passion for the repertoire and the joy of its performance.
The current members of Dorian are Gretchen Pusch, flute; Gerard Reuter, oboe; Jerry Kirkbride, clarinet; John Hunt, bassoon; and Karl Kramer-Johansen, horn.
The article attempts to give a history of Roman Catholic parishes in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania:
More than a century ago, a congregation of people of German heritage decided to start St. Boniface Parish in Wilkes-Barre. Parishioners previously had to travel down to the German parish, St. Nicholas on Washington Street, or go to one of the territorial parishes for Mass and school.
—Children had to cross railroad tracks to get to school; it was dangerous,— Brother DePorres Stilp said. —So they tried to make a new church here in the neighborhood.—
Stilp’s grandfather was one of the founding members, and for years the parish, which celebrated Mass in German and EnglishMore likely in Latin only – but he wouldn’t know that., was a center for the German Catholic community in the area.
Many of the national parishes in Luzerne County that are historically attended by people and practice traditions from one ethnic background grew up in this manner, according to the Rev. Hugh McGroarty, senior priest at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Pittston.
Fair enough. Then the article goes on to say:
The first immigrants to the area were mostly Irish, and they built Catholic parishes. However, when immigrants from other areas of Europe came, many lived in the same communities and wanted to worship with people who spoke their languages and shared their culture…
Are they saying that Irish = Catholic? That sets the tone for this:
So the Catholic Church gave many of these groups of immigrants national parishes, and made the parishes built by the Irish territorial so anyone in the area could attend.
—There’s no Irish church,— McGroarty said. —There was one church in the area, and so the Polish made their own. And the Slovaks came in, and so on. The other church, which they called Irish, was for everyone.—
The problem of course was that the area church was Irish – right Fr. McGroarty. You had to fit in or get out. They didn’t want the Poles, or Slovaks, or Ukrainians, or Italians. You wore green, spoke English, and worshiped St. Patrick like a good “Catholic” or you got out.
I like the way he implies that these other nationalities were “given” parishes while the Irish parish was the Catholic one. Does that mean that the Poles, etc. had a slightly less than Catholic parish, and the the only truly Catholic parish was the Irish one? Is that because Irish = universal?
What a bad retelling of history. These industrial and mining towns didn’t have homogeneous R.C. parishes. You either fit with the crowd in the Irish parish or you did not. The Poles wouldn’t give in, and wouldn’t turn their assets over the the local [Irish] R.C. bishop as demanded of them (no one was “given” a church) thus in part the genesis for the PNCC.
Later in the article Fr. McGroarty says:
Many parishes held on to their roots, but, McGroarty said, there aren’t nearly as many traditions and ethnic bonds as in the past.
—There isn’t that much,— he said. —The tradition is with the old people.—
I guess you ought to cancel the St. Patrick’s Day parade Father, and dump the corn beef and cabbage down the Susquehanna — it’s only for the old folks anyway. Tradition is only for the old? Kind of like the all that funny old Catholic stuff like devotions, the Traditional form of the Holy Mass, etc.? Sorry Father but those are all things the PNCC hasn’t had to rediscover (í la Benedict XVI) because we retained them – because we listened to the people. The Church’s Tradition is universal, consistent, and is for all people.
—It is easy to see in this mutuality of obligation,— writes sociologist Andrew Greeley, —a continuation in the urban environment of the old peasant loyalties of village and clan.—
The Catholic immigrant experience proved that homogenous neighborhoods can enhance American urban life —“ quite a contrast the 1960s big-government social engineers who, in the name of urban renewal, turned many of them into municipal deserts.
I refer to this as the good life because this environment, the associations created therein, and as the author states, this “mutuality,” is part and parcel of God’s design for mankind. We are designed to grow in our understanding of our obligations toward each other. We are meant to act within a supportive and connected community, valuing our family and our neighbor (Luke 10:29). The good life is found in communities that build up and support the right aspirations of their members — aspirations founded in the Gospel and the teachings of the Church. The confluence of right teaching and communal membership forms a microcosm for teaching and passing on an understanding of our moral, social, and religious obligations.
From experience we know that such communities were not without their sins and shortcomings. That is where we all fall short. That said, we must not negate the greater value provided by those communities all-the-while rushing headlong into forced unanimity. As we have ventured into new, unexplored, individualistic territories, under the mask of unanimity, we have seen the fabric of society torn in numerous ways. As recent events tell we have all played the role of robber-baron in an attempt to claw to the top, enriching ourselves at the cost of family, community, and our nation’s treasure.
As our PNCC experienceThe author notes the growth of ethnic rather than territorial parishes in urban centers. The National Church movement was a key motivator in this arena. R.C. bishops were focused on homogenization, but homogenization into the culture, language, and traditions they personally espoused at the expense of people’s natural connections. demonstrates, the joining together of the component parts of the universal Church is not a denial of the Church’s universality, but rather a strengthening of its component parts – each offering its skills, talents, and abilities to the enrichment of the wider community.
During last year’s Polkas at the Pavilion, the floor of the Pavilion was hopping almost as much as the dancers. This year, organizers hope to have an even bigger crowd for the daylong event Saturday, Sept. 20.
“Last year, we had around 900 people in attendance and raised almost $9,000 for the pavilion,” said organizer Ron Raczkowski. “We’re trying to build on that for this year.”
Raczkowski, along with his wife, Kathy, and brother, Dan, started the event after attending a rock music event at the pavilion and thought it would be fun to fill the 6,725 square foot building with polkas. They got eight polka bands together, organized refreshments and donated all the proceeds to pavilion restoration efforts.
“We had a blast,” Raczkowski said. “It was really fun seeing all the different musicians mingling with the crowd.”
…
The success of last year’s event allowed the Raczkowskis to increase the number of bands this year.
“All the bands said yes to donating their time last year, not knowing how the crowd would be,” Raczkowski said. “But when they saw how big the crowd was, they all said yes again for this year. We even got two more to come.”
The event also will feature a polka dancing competition.
…
Our Saviors National Catholic Church in Mosinee will be selling authentic Polish food including four types of pierogies, golobki and kielbasa, said the Rev. Marion Talaga.
“Last year was wonderful. People loved the golobki and the pierogi and the Polish sausage with the real Polish sauerkraut,” he said.
Details:
What: Polkas at the Pavilion
When: Noon to midnight Saturday, Sept. 20
Where: Rothschild Pavilion, 1104 Park St., Rothschild
Cost: $10 for ages 18 and older; $8 ages 12 to 17; children younger than 12 get in free.
Contact: 715-571-8236 or 715-359-3660
Poland certainly has an amazing history. It has played a great role on the world’s stage, a role that goes beyond the two or three sentences commonly taught in U. S. schools. It is unfortunate that students in the U.S. are so unfamiliar with Poland’s history, and that they have a rather narrow understanding of European history. Europe doesn’t stop at the norder of England, France, and Spain. That said, in reading the seminarian’s post I recalled something Dr. Ryszard Sokołowski told me before my first trip to Poland in 1991, “Do not overly romanticize Poland.”
Getting to the truth:
It is a half funny, half true statement. Can you imagine your typical American tourist going to Poland, expecting to be greeted by girls in Cracovian costumes, dancing the Polka, and feasting on pierogi every night; gallant men riding into battle every day with sabers at their sides…
Of course the seminarian is both an idealist and a questioner of the future. It is the advantage and disadvantage of youth. He sees churches filled, he sees a history of faith, he sees the great martyr nation, w jedności siła, and a hero in John Paul II. He also sees uncertainty ahead. I offer him the same caution Dr. Sokołowski gave me. Don’t over idealize it.
Polish history is filled with sins equal to the heroism, fragmentation equal to strength in unity, abandonment of religion equal to conversion. As a member of the clergy you have to look to and understand the culture — long term, but only as the backdrop for the struggles people face every day.
Seeing the Sheep:
Individual struggles have not changed very much. The opportunities for sin may be a bit different today, but at the core it is the same temptation. If we spend too much time looking at the big picture, the movements on the world stage, we miss the souls we are supposed to care for. How can we help people see the way today? Pointing to history is part of the equation, but the greater measure is found in pointing to the future, to our hope in Jesus Christ.
Applying the Gospel:
I appreciate the fact that he states:
[Krakow] provides an interesting context to study the social doctrine of the Church
This is true because the city offers a micro level lesson in the application of the Church’s teachings. We can learn from the witness of people who have lived through the application of the Church’s teaching, both in their heroism and their sin. We can learn from culture because God endows each nation with unique gifts and skills that benefit man’s journey back to Him. At the same time we must avoid the trap of assuming that Church teaching, including social teaching, is solely based on the experiences of a people. Rather, the Church’s teachings are a unified whole formed from the Gospel. The Gospel message applies universally; past, present and future, in Poland, this nation, and in every nation. Bishop Hodur understood that. The Church is here to lift men up to their true potential: intellectually, morally, and spiritually. The Church is key to the fulfillment of God’s plan for mankind. So we have to continually ask: Lord help me to lift your people up to You. Help me to see their gifts and their challenges.
NEW CASTLE, Pa. —” The 18th Lawrence County Polish Day will be Sept. 21 at Cascade Park Pavilion, featuring polka bands Lenny Gomulka and Chicago Push and Eddie Blazonczyk’s Versatones.
Gomulka has earned 12 Grammy nominations, while Blazonczyk has a Grammy and 17 nominations.
The doors and kitchen open at noon with Polish food prepared by Holy Trinity Polish National Catholic Church. Admission is $12 (children 16 and under free). The dancing starts at 1:30 p.m.
For more information, contact Rose Marie at (724) 658-5916, Gary (724) 752-9988 or Christine at (724) 658-7990.
The festival features Holy Mass at 11am at St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr Cathedral, 529 E. Locust St., Scranton, PA. More details below as excerpted from the following article in the Scranton Times Tribune: Polish staple pierogies one of features at upcoming Polka Fest 2008
Around these parts, folks take their pierogies as seriously as their polka.
So, you can bet that at this weekend’s Pennsylvania Polka Fest 2008, they won’t be serving the stuff from the supermarket freezer section, no offense to Mrs. T.
The highly versatile Polish staple will be among the edible highlights at Polka Fest, the WVIA-sponsored celebration of the music, food and culture of Eastern Europe. It’ll be held all day Saturday and Sunday at the Radisson at Lackawanna Station hotel.
Among other things, Polka Fest will feature: performances by acts like The East-Side Groove and Ed Goldberg and the Odessa Klezmer Band; strolling accordion players; dance lessons given by Matt and Elaine Bonowitz, the No. 1 ranked Polka dancers in the country; a Polish Ethnic Mass in St. Stanislaus Polish National Catholic Cathedral, 529 E. Locust St., featuring Stanky and the Coalminers; and a live broadcast and show tapings of WVIA’s popular program, —Pennsylvania Polka.—
And then there’s the food. Area churches and nonprofit groups will be on hand selling a variety of Eastern European delicacies, including halushki, kielbasa, potato pancakes and, of course, pierogies. Saturday’s festivities will include a Best Pierogi Maker in Northeast Pennsylvania contest, for which WVIA is still searching for contestants. Those interested should call Wendy Wilson, WVIA vice president for corporate communications, at 602-1181…
Note that the article includes a pierogi recipe. Smacznego, Bon Appétit…
On a 2007 visit to talk over EU affairs, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said the Czechs reminded her of modern-day Hussites—”followers of Jan Hus, who was burnt at the stake in 1415 for challenging the Roman Catholic Church. This was a shrewd observation, says Alexandr Vondra, a deputy prime minister. The Hussite movement was crushed amid bitter in-fighting, and the Czechs remained Catholic. But Hus remains a national hero, and his legacy helps to explain why Czech views of the EU differ from those of such neighbours as Germany or Slovakia. Mr Vondra suggests that Czechs think like —classic reformation countries—, such as the Netherlands or Sweden.
I actually enjoyed the way the author used religious imagery throughout this report on the E.U..
Yesterday, I went to Baltimore’s Ukrainian Festival. For you who do not know, it is the weekend every year where Baltimore’s Ukrainian population gathers together and celebrates the good parts of their heritage like quality beers, potato pancakes, and meat filled dumplings, but otherwise demonstrating a studied ignorance of the relevant parts.
What was particularly ironic was the decision to hold the Ukrainian festival in front of the Count Pulaski statue. What made this ironic was the large-scale massacre of Poles by Ukrainians during WWII…
Yet, despite this history, the Ukrainian festival featured Polish sausages and a booth for the Polish National Catholic Church. Like I said, Baltimore Ethnic Festivals bring genocidal foes together.
What I wonder is whether the author: Was making an observation as to the ironies of history; Believes that people are just ignorant of past wrongs and now, so informed, should regurgitate these wrongs so to bring about a state of frenzied dislike within the remainder of old ethnic communities; or Thinks that every ethnic festival should include a display covering the darkest chapters of that group’s history.
Certainly Poles and Ukrainians have had a long history, living side-by-side and together throughout history. There are things that unite and some things that divide, but on the whole the relationship with the westward facing portion of the Ukraine has been generally positive. The eastern Ukraine is another story, but that is because the east faces east – toward Russia. For more on this see this RFE/RL article: Analysis: Ukraine, Poland Seek Reconciliation Over Grisly History.
A relatively unknown fact was that there was a civil war in Poland following World War 2. The remnants of the Armia Krajowa (AK – Poland’s underground army in World War 2) fought against the communist takeover of Poland. Some of these battles were along the Polish-Ukrainian border with the remnants of Bandera’s Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Much of what the author writes about reflects the World War 2 and the post World War civil war period.
Going back to things that unite and divide, the author might wish to study the history of ethic communities in his city and in the United States. He might find that some animosities from the old county come into play among more recent immigrants, but even there it’s less likely nowadays. Most modern Poles don’t carry around these types of grudges because they see their reflection in the eyes of the Ukrainians, slightly east, slightly poorer. As some have told me, ‘What America was to us, is what we are to the East.’ On the other hand Polish-Americans and Ukrainian-Americans who are heirs of the older generations (the pre-World War 2 immigration) have shared a common struggle here in the United States, attempting to maintaining ethnic identity, cultural and religious ties, and joining a common fight against natavist racial stereotypes.
I say great for Baltimore and the Ukrainian festival with Polish flavor. What we share is more than what divides – including kiełbasa or ковбаÑа. Irony only exists if yesterdays battles retain their relevancy. I would prefer to enjoy my вареники and the highlights of Ukrainian culture without a serving of ethnic remorse.
