September 1st marked the 4th anniversary of the reactivation of Kuryer Polski after almost 60 years . The original Kuryer Polski was the first Polish daily newspaper published in the United States. Its founder was Michał Kruszka, who published the newspaper in June 1888 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Kuryer was established to raise the national awareness of Poles living in Milwaukee and to fight for their interests. Kuryer's motto was: representing Polish interests in America.
On June 27, 1908, Kuryer Polski celebrated its 20th anniversary and was the largest newspaper published in Milwaukee at that time, even beating American newspapers in this respect. At that time, the newspaper had 66 pages, and was distinguished by the excellent quality of articles and advertisements. It is worth adding that Kruszka was already publishing bilingual materials at that time, which made this newspaper extremely attractive. The original Kuryer Polski ended its operations on September 23, 1962. Today Kuryer Polski is a continuation of the honorable, over 70-year tradition of the first Polish newspaper in America with that name, published in Milwaukee until 1962, and reactivated as a bilingual internet portal in September 2020.
Our articles are published on the Internet in both Polish and English, which means that some phrases entered into popular search engines – especially in English – bring up articles from Kuryer Polski in the first place. This is our great success, because the lack of Polish narrative in the world of the English-language Internet is striking. Writing about Polish issues in English is an extremely important task and the Polish raison d'état needs it. In general, there is a huge shortage of publications in this language that would present a truly Polish point of view. The Polish raison d'état is therefore poorly promoted and today's world is, after all, a world of information – which needs constant promotion, so that the true information does not get lost in the flood of fake news, i.e. lies. Content that is not available in English simply does not exist in the world.
Kuryer readership - Map (Source: Google Analytics)
Some statistics for the last 12 months, based on data we obtained from Google Analytics :
- Today, we are read regularly, on an annual basis, by approximately 30,000 people scattered all over the world.
- Somewhat unexpectedly for us – since we are, after all, a Polish publication – the majority of our readers come from Poland itself (43%), with readers from the US (36%) constituting the second, almost equally large group.
- We are also read in the UK and Ireland, Germany, Canada, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and even Australia.
- Our articles are published simultaneously in Polish and English, and are read that way, with a slight predominance of readers who prefer English.
- The majority of our readers (57%) use their phones to read our articles, while 41% use desktop computers.
- Of the devices used to read Kuryer , those based on Android software make up the majority (31%), but those based on Apple iOS (28%) and Windows (28%) are not far behind.
- The majority of readers (54%) use Google Chrome, while 24% use Apple Safari.
- Our most read articles are:
- Partitions — the Loss of Independence by Poland by Lidia Waluk-Legun
- In Memory of Volhynia by Ania Navas
- Project 2025 by Waldemar Biniecki
Recently, in the Memorial Chamber dedicated to the Polonia in Wisconsin — in Necedah, in the hospitable home of Mrs. Zofia Puszyńska and Mr. Józef Koniecko — an unusual meeting of laureates awarded the "Cross of Freedom" by the Free Poland organization took place. Among those recognized were the editors of Kuryer Polski: Waldemar Biniecki and Katarzyna Murawska, and the "Cross of Freedom" was presented by the doyen of Polonia journalism and the current editor-in-chief of Gwiazda Polarna, Knight of the Officer's Cross of Polonia Restituta — Edward Dusza.
The "Free Poland" Decoration (Source: Kuryer Polski)
The Free Poland organization was founded in New York in May 1975. Its founder was a prominent independence activist — a Pole by choice — Dr. Konstanty Zygfryd Hanff (1920–2000). It was an anti-communist organization, exposing communist agents operating in the USA and Western Europe.
For the editorial team of Kurier Polski, this is a sign that we are read and appreciated, that our work in the field of commemorating great Polish figures - emigration activists and perpetuating Polishness among the Polish diaspora is needed. We are grateful for this recognition.
