Poland

After World War I, the United States provided the countries of devastated Europe with multi-million dollar aid transferred as financial aid, food, clothing, or technical advice. Poland was affected not only by the effects of the Great War (1914-1918) as its major battleground, but also by the consequences of the Bolshevik invasion and infectious disease epidemics ravaging Poland at the time. It was one of the countries receiving help.

Penal camps have a centuries-old "tradition". Many of them were established in isolated and unhealthy places of the world, where it was not possible to encourage free emigrants to settle. These were places where labor was needed to build roads and fortifications, to work on plantations, fell trees and extract natural resources.

The war in Ukraine and the sense of threat made Polish diplomacy more active. The nations of the eastern flank behave in a similar way, and the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO only confirms the fact that we are not alone in our assessments when it comes to the threat of aggression from imperialist Russia.

In 1917, Jan Ignacy Paderewski composed and wrote the words of the song Hej, Orle Biały! The song was to be the battle anthem of the Polish Army in France, known as the Blue Army. On the New York first edition of the song from 1918, the composer ordered a note reading: "all proceeds from the sale of this anthem are intended for national purposes".

After inflicting unprecedented death and destruction on Poland and its people during World War II, Germany arrogantly spurns Poland’s demand for reparations.

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.

Polish consulates in the United States encourage you to support the efforts of Arkadiusz Mularczyk, MP and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, who held a series of meetings with senators and congressmen in the US Congress. The purpose of these meetings was to obtain support in two aspects: assistance for Ukraine and assistance of the United States to support Polish claims for German reparations for Poland.

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.

Whether Polishness in Wisconsin will survive depends on the leaders in Warsaw, in the consulate in Chicago, the leaders in Wisconsin. Can they come up with a logical and practical program? Kuryer Polski, in accordance with its mission, will suggest ideas and encourage the creation of connections between Wisconsin and Poland.

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.