News and Updates 
February 2021
Your participation will be greatly appreciated!
"... Poland is being repeatedly rebuked (along with one-time democratic partner in the vanguard, Hungary) for violations of the generally liberal rule of law that define EU democratic norms. This different side of Poland must be explained at least in part with a historical, journalistic/activist, and political view of the ways in which populists have exploited the politics of difference, particularly regarding race, and leveraged deeper cultural ambivalences about pan-European ideas about human rights". This symposium brings together a set of cross-disciplinary experts prepared to explore this contradiction in Poland as an erstwhile would-be vanguard of liberal democracy and now fulcrum for an illiberal turn.
  • For those invested in the contemporary liberal face of Poland, what traditions and new creative demonstrations of civil society offer hope?
  • For those who are more interested in understanding the more conservative turn in Polish identity, an identity that has been visible through the post-Communist period, what is important to understand about the wishes and grievances of those currently pushing back on the wider embrace of EU values by the previous Polish political leadership?"
 

LEX est REX?
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Prof. Robert Frost

TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 2021, AT 12:00 PM (EST) / 1:00 PM CST

The Jagiellonian Law Society in cooperation with The Kosciuszko Foundation is honored to invite you for the second lecture from the series dedicated to various ethnic minorities that have lived or are living in "Polish lands: "

Prof. Robert Frost is the chaired professor of history and philosophy at the Aberdeen University, UK, the eminent scholar of the Polish-Lithuanian Union.

275 Birthday of Tadeusz Kosciuszko

Feb 4 marked the anniversary of the birth of Tadeusz Kościuszko, a military engineer, outstanding general, Polish national hero, and participant in the American War of Independence.  Kościuszko was a fierce fighter for freedom and equality.   In June 2020,  the Pilecki Institute in Berlin published a very informative and at the same time personal comment from Prof. Rebecca A. Denton, an American professor and recognized expert in the field of education and training.  We encourage you to view this recording and share it. 
 

Prof. Rebecca A. Denton, MBA, Ph.D. 
remarks on Tadeusz Kościuszko
COVID

Do We Really Care About Each Other?

How we live our lives during pandemic seems to be a personal choice, but is it? Clearly, not everyone has been willing to accept restrictions intended to contain the spread of the virus. The article below touches on the problem which many of us experience but we are hesitant to talk about it, especially with friends who exhibit a rather cavalier attitude about COVID: leisure travel, parting with friends, family reunions. 
And if that wasn't enough, we are broadcasting our irresponsible attitude on social media.
The failure to make a personal sacrifice and responsibility for each other only amplified our differences resulting from the political divide. By now pandemia claimed the lives of nearly 2.5 million people worldwide and it keeps growing. Please, read the article below and let us know your thoughts. 

I'm Trying Not To Judge My Friends,
But It’s Getting Really Hard

by Dara Kurtz February 12, 021 

"I’ve noticed the pandemic has brought me closer to friends who are making the same choices my family is making. We talk on the phone often, supporting one another, validating each other, helping one another when there’s been exposure or illness. I’m grateful for these friendships. [..]  I’ve also noticed I’ve grown apart from other friends, people who have been living completely differently than I have. Will we be able to reconnect once life is normal?

When the pandemic first hit, I sat in the kitchen listening to Dr. Fauci and Governor Cuomo, glued to the news, watching in horror as New York shut down. Even though I live in North Carolina, it was terrifying to watch. My family immediately took social distancing very seriously, including my two daughters who are now 21 and 18. They understood our position, even though they didn’t always like it. While we’ve had some heated conversations over the past year, I am grateful my kids respected our rules. I also know what they’ve missed because of it. [..]

Click Here to access the article
Click here for COVID-19 Vaccine Information in Missouri

  #DontCallMeMurzyn: 
Black Women in Poland Are
Powering the Campaign  Against a Racial Slur

 

Like many Polish people of African descent, Sara Alexandre still remembers when she first realized she was seen as different. “For me it was kindergarten,” says Alexandre, whose father is Angolan, describing an incident when she was barred from playing dollhouse. “I was five and [another girl] didn’t let me in, saying that she cannot allow a little Murzyn in it. That was the first time I knew I was different.”
[...]

Click Here to access the article

 
FROM HUMAN RIGHTS TO GENDER RIGHTS

Below is a link to a recording of a live webinar that was hosted by the St Louis County Library on January 30, 2021.  This talk explores the evolution of official perceptions of homosexuality in postwar Poland, from the consolidation of communist rule in 1945 to its ultimate demise in 1989. The lecturer’s focus is on sexual behavior as a form of non-conformity and challenge to the system that sought total control and cultural homogeneity. The party-state’s response to the potential danger of sexual non-conformity differed little from postwar Western European governments. But instead of the gradual liberalization of approaches to same-sex relations in the West that took place since the 1960s, both the communist and Catholic legacies made Poland particularly intolerant toward homosexuality.  About the speaker: Dr. Michal Kwiecien received his doctorate in modern European history at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2013. Michał is a history teacher at Whitfield School in Creve Coeur, Missouri. His courses focus on human rights and the history of genocide in modern world history.

Multiethnic Poland? 

Ethnically, Poland is today a very homogeneous country, with 96.7% of the population being Polish. However, this was no the case until the end of World War II.  Polish culture is the product of its geography at the confluence of various European regions that incorporate traditional inhabitants of Poland’s historical lands: Poles, Jews, Ukrainians, Germans, Lithuanians, Belarusians, Ruthenians, and other ethnic groups.  In the process of the post-1989 democratic changes minorities were given the right/allowed to form associations and express their opinions. Despite the liberal laws concerning religious freedoms, as well as ethnic and national minorities, liberal and tolerant practices have not been completely accepted by society as a whole and integrated into daily practices. This lack of acceptance is also not uncommon among Polish immigrants in America.  The topic of a Polish historical multiethnicity and its influence on contemporary Polish culture will be covered during our upcoming events this year.



Multicultural Opole? ‘Multilingualism’ in an ethnolinguistic nation-state

Upper Silesia remains the most multiethnic region in today’s Poland.

Tomasz Kamusella 

Opole. Photo: falco. pixabay

Massive wartime and postwar ethnic cleansings turned Poland into an ethnically homogenous nation-state of Polish-speaking Catholics. During the communist period the existence of any ethnic minorities was strenuously denied, though Jews had to be expelled in 1968, Germans after 1970, or Roma in 1981. Yet, Upper Silesia remains the most multiethnic region in today’s Poland. According to the 2011 census, the country’s most numerous minorities (that is, non-Polish-speaking citizens of Poland), include Silesians (850,000), Kashubs (230,000), Germans (150,000), Ukrainians (50,000), and Belarusians (50,000). Out of 1.4 million ethnic non-Poles, over two-thirds (1 million) live in this historical region. There are a further 10 to 20 thousand Roma who are also living in the region but have been undercounted in censuses due to widespread discrimination. Furthermore, it should be remembered that after World War II, Polish Jews who survived the Holocaust found a relatively safe Yiddish-speaking haven in Silesia until 1968.

Click Here to access the article

 

A Little Annihilation by Anna Janko

translated from Polish by Philip Boehm

Sochy in Zamość region, June 1, 1943. It took a couple of hours for the village to disappear. The buildings were burned down. Residents executed. Among the smoldering ruins, there was one house left, few adults, and several children. Among them is nine-year-old Terenia Ferenc, Anna Janko’s mother. The girl saw the Germans murder her family. The inhuman image has accompanied her for years in the orphanage to never let itself be forgotten
                                             
“Scenes from the war live on as trauma in the memory of the next generation. A Little Annihilation by Anna Janko is an extraordinarily personal and powerful account of how the worst wartime atrocities affect ordinary people and are seldom recorded in the official histories.”―OLGA TOKARCZUK,  Nobel Prize Winner in Literature.

Feb. 15 marks Irena Sendlerowa's Birthday

During the Holocaust, she was the driving force behind a critical operation to save Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto. She single-handedly smuggled 2,500 Jewish out of the ghetto and provided them with false identity papers. She did it at great risk to her life. After the war, she didn't reveal the incredible things she had done. For decades. Irena Sendler. On her birthday, we remember the bravery of this Polish-Catholic woman. Imagine how many Shoah victims would have lived had there been more individuals like Irena Sendler?
 
"She would have remained an unsung hero were it not for three teenage American girls who discovered her forgotten story 60 years later. Liz, Megan, and Sabrina, who began as students of history for a National History Day competition, became recorders of history, championing Sendler’s legacy in Poland, the U.S., and around the world. Three teenagers from rural Kansas helped crack open the silence about the Holocaust in Poland"
follow this link to learn about the story :  
https://www.neh.gov/article/irena-sendler-and-girls-kansas

Last year Google celebrated Irena Sendler's 110th birthday...


 
Please help us with planning our future events. 
Your participation will be greatly appreciated!

  •       Saint Louis Polonia was born out of a passion for the Polish heritage. During the last seven years, we delivered many programs designed to tell a story about Poland's complicated past and the contributions of the people of Poland to our shared heritage. We organized concerts, art exhibitions, literary events, lectures, and social gatherings. 
  • We remain volunteer-only, with no paid staff motivated by love for our rich heritage.
  • Today, we have finds ourselves in uncharted territory. Like many other organizations, we thrive on social and educational events and interactions. COVID-19 has obviously limited our abilities to organize events and ultimately fund-raise.
  • We recognize that there are many causes and organizations which are close to your heart.
  • We are very grateful to those who continue to support us financially.
  • Please consider us in your charitable support plans and help us spread the word on the value that comes with strengthening our community.
Click to help us via Paypal
Congratulations to Upstream Theater, recipient of a 2021 Missouri Arts Award, the state’s highest honor in the arts, in recognition of our work “promoting diversity,  inclusion, and the cultures and concerns of people from around the globe by bringing audiences international plays performed with imaginative non-traditional casting"

Philip Boehm

Artistic Director

https://www.summerscomptonwells.com/james-nowogrocki.html

SZELAG ART CONSERVATION, INC

2509 A Woodson Road,    Saint Louis,   MO  63114
tel  314-427-3006
szelagart@szelagart.com


Museum-quality restoration of paintings 
Meissen Restoration
Glass
Ancient Greek Ceramic
Marble
Fire and Water Damage
Insurance Claims

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Recognized by St.Louis Magazine "At Home" as THE BEST ART RESTORATION
 

Support Saint Louis Polonia!

Saint Louis Polonia, Inc. is a Missouri non-profit organization, whose purpose is promotion of the knowledge about the one-thousand-year-long history of Poland and its ethnic diversity and appreciation of the Polish contribution into the world’s culture.
  • Saint Louis Polonia subscribes to a way of thinking about Poland that is multicultural, diverse, inclusive, and pan-European. The historical Polish state embraced practices of civil rights, democracy, religious tolerance, and constitutional rule that today comprise universal global norms.  
  • Polish national identity has been historically contested by diverse social and political actors. Saint Louis Polonia draws on a legacy of civic Polish identity that incorporates the traditional inhabitants of Polish historical lands: Poles, Jews, Ukrainians, Germans, Lithuanians, Belarusians, Ruthenians and other ethnic groups.
  • Our goal is to share our time, talent and resources to create a variety of educational, cultural and charitable initiatives in order to enrich the lives of our local communities and contribute to a better understanding among people of different ethnic backgrounds.
  • We are proud to be part of beautiful St. Louis – a city that was built and shaped by immigrants from many countries including Poland.
  • Our mission is to celebrate our heritage by creating opportunities that educate, inform and inspire. We strive to expand our own horizons and the minds of our children, friends, and families by keeping them informed of events that celebrate Polish art, culture, and history.
There are many ways to help our mission including financial support, volunteering at our events, performing research for projects and publications and by participation in our events. Your generous support will allow us to do deliver the very best.
 
Donations to Saint Louis Polonia, Inc. are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Tax ID# 80-0953990

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