History

Despite the threat of loss of life and the destruction of their works, over two thousand nuns during the German occupation of Poland became involved in saving Jewish fellow citizens. The sisters gave them food, medicines, and sheltered them. They risked it because the Gospel and the sense of universal solidarity dictated it.

This work appeared in connection with the centennial of Poland’s rebirth as an independent state in 2018. Its focus is Poland-United States diplomatic relations. Several highly respected individuals contributed to it.

Poland was devastated during WWI (1914-1918). Poles living in America initiated the Polish White Cross and Polish Gray Samaritans of YWCA, which recruited nurses to support Polish soldiers and families. These actions were critical to Poland's postwar rebuilding efforts. Sadly, their stories have been forgotten.

There were at that time in our country, in Poland, people who had extraordinary courage; who deeply in their hearts had the ideals of humanity, respect for life, for other people, love of neighbor - yes, the Christian one - of the great ethos of the Commonwealth of many nations, which together for years after regaining independence in 1918 they co-created as a free, independent, sovereign Poland, imbued with these ideals so deeply that they were not afraid.

He was an extremely active political activist, the author of many books, hundreds of articles, he was involved in many open and less open political actions. Without the involvement of people such as Jerzy Giedrojć and the creators of the Parisian Culture, as well as Jan Nowak-Jeziorański and RFE, Poland's full independence would not have come so quickly.

Jerzy Giedrojć is a man who is completely unknown to the young generation. And yet, despite the fact that he remained in exile after World War II, he had a huge impact on the thinking of Polish intellectual elites and, through them, also on the thinking of Poles. He never returned to Poland, but many of his ideas were used to build the foundations of the Third Polish Republic.

Were the fears of a large part of the Polish community, mainly from the East Coast, justified? The announcements of changes at Exchange Place were very radical. Polonia had a bad experience with the authorities of Jersey City a few years ago, when the monument was in danger of being moved...

Brzezinski was considered a hawk by the Democrats, and a dove by the Republicans of the 1980s. His position certainly cannot be assessed unequivocally. He was a child of his era, dominated by the Cold War conflict, but he was able to significantly anticipate it.

Nicolaus Copernicus is "the man who stopped the Sun and moved the Earth", as he is commonly referred to. However, this was someone with truly versatile interests who thoroughly revolutionized science. This year marks the 550th anniversary of his birth.

Bishop Franciszek (Francis) Hodur is well known among the members of the Polish National Catholic Church as its organizer, visionary, patriot, and charismatic leader. He has dedicated his time and effort to preserving the catholic faith and Polish heritage among immigrants in the United States and Canada.

2023 marks the 160th anniversary of the outbreak of the January Uprising. Despite the passage of years, the echoes of this uprising have not ceased in the public debate. An important and difficult question - "to fight (for the freedom of your country) or not to fight?" – thanks to him, it returns in Central Europe even today. The sense and significance of the act of the January insurgents cannot be understood without the historical context of the entire region of Central Europe, today's territory of Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania and Belarus.