August 2008 Journal • Vol

www.polamjournal.com POLISH AMERICANAUGUST 2008 JOURNAL • VOL. •97, AUGUST NO. 8 2008 $2.00 1 POLISH AMERICAN Dancers Celebrate JOURNALESTABLISHED 1911 www.polamjournal.com AND ADDITIONAL ENTRY OFFICES AND ADDITIONAL ENTRY Sobotka—Page 9 DEDICATED TO THE PROMOTION AND CONTINUANCE OF POLISH AMERICAN CULTURE PERIODICAL POSTAGE PAID AT BOSTON, NEW YORK BOSTON, AT PAID PERIODICAL POSTAGE MARTHA STEWART VISITS POLAND • DIRTY POLITICS IN THE MOTOR CITY • SKALNY, PSFCU SCHOLARSHIPS A CALL TO IMPEACH SCHUMER • REMEMBERING THE SISTERS OF THE HOLY FAMILY OF NAZARETH POLAND THE BEAUTIFUL • POLISH KISSING, HUGGING AND HAND GESTURES • THE POLES AND THE POLES Tribute to Our Forefathers St. Louis Archbishop NEWSMARK Gets New Job in Rome GEREMEK KILLED IN ACCIDENT. ST. LOUIS—Archbishop Ray- Bronislaw Geremek, 76, a key figure in mond Burke has been appointed to the Solidarity trade union that helped top- lead the Vatican’s supreme court, ple communism, and went on to become the Apostolic Signatura, the high- Poland’s foreign minister, was killed in a est judicial authority of the Catholic car accident July 13. Church. Burke is the first American Geremek’s car collided head-on with to hold the position. a van near the western Polish village of The new position means Burke Miedzichowo, said a police spokeswom- will leave St. Louis after heading an. the archdiocese for more than four The activist-turned-politician had been years marked by battles with St. serving as a member of European Parlia- Stanislaus Church. ment since being elected in 2004. The soft- Burke has held other positions on spoken, urbane Geremek was highly respected in Poland as a scholar, the Apostolic Signatura. statesmen and key adviser in the Soviet bloc’s first free trade union, The College of Consultors—a Solidarity. seven-member board made up of “Polish sciences and politics have lost a great man,” Prime Minister archdiocesan priests—elected Bish- Donald Tusk said in a statement. op Robert Hermann to serve as the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called Gere- archdiocese’s administrator until mek “an exceptional European, a Pole with strong convictions.” Pope Benedict names Burke’s per- manent successor. American CIA agentS told the NEW YORK TIMES that the most Burke called the news of his de- important CIA jails were located in Poland for about three years. The parture “bittersweet.” country was chosen as it had no cultural or religious links with Al Qa- Yet Burke’s tenure in St. Louis eda, which limited the risk of infiltration or attack from its supporters. has been marked by a number of “What is even more important, Polish agents were willing to cooper- controversies. The archbishop is ate,” said a CIA agent. considered one of the best canon “This news does not surprise me, as this confirms what we were say- lawyers in the world, and his gov- ing for a long time,” said Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch. Victoria and Joseph Kmiec (above) and Stanley Smardz of erning style often betrayed both his He added that he did not understand why Polish authorities denied Haverhill, Mass. were honored for their dedication to preserving Pol- legal acumen and his reliance on the truth, if it was going to be revealed sooner or later. ish culture and heritage at “The Tribute to Our Forefathers,” a charity church law as a pastoral tool, said “Since President Bush admitted that such centers existed, there is no event held at the Stopyra Post VFW–Lawrence to benefit the Poczatek Tim Townsend of the ST. LOUIS need to deny it. Until the authorities confirm it, we shall not know the Scholarship Fund. Story on page 5. See “Going to Rome,” page 4 truth,” said the former head of the National Security Agency. Poland’s defense minister labeled the report as simple electioneer- Wałęsa: Hero, ing. “Spirit of Compassion” “I see it as an element of the election campaign in the United States,” Informer or Victim aimed at discrediting the Republican administration, Bogdan Klich told Exhibition Opens in Buffalo Poland’s commercial Radio Zet. of Circumstance? Herbert Hoover’s Assistance to Poland Remembered The Polish minister was angered by a quote in the article attributed to former CIA official James L. Pavitt, described as an ex-director of the agency’s clandestine service, which said “Poland is the 51st state” of the United States. “It’s unacceptable,” Klich added. “The fact we’re in tough negotia- tions with the Americans on the missile shield suggests we are an inde- pendent state,” he said. KATYN INVESTIGATION RULING UPHELD. A Russian court refused to consider a request for a criminal investigation into the execu- tion of thousands of Polish army officers executed by the Soviet Union in a World War II massacre. After blaming Nazi Germany for the Katyn massacre for decades, the Soviet Union admitted 18 years ago that its forces were responsible, but none of the culprits has ever been identified and investigations have been shelved. The families of some of the victims are trying to use the Russian courts to force prosecutors to launch a new investigation into a massacre seen in Poland as a symbol of the repression the country suffered under A new book says Wałęsa (above) Soviet domination. had been on the Communist In an earlier ruling, a court refused to hear the request. Lawyers for payroll and had informed on his the relatives appealed but a higher court upheld the earlier ruling, said a anti-communist coworkers at the Beneath Polish and American flags crossed over a photograph of Her- lawyer for the relatives. Gdańsk shipyard. bert Hoover, Polish orphans prepare to eat food provided by the Amer- “The Moscow City Court left that decision unchanged,” lawyer Anna by Robert Strybel ican Relief Administration, which Hoover headed. Stavitskaya told Reuters. “We will apply now to the district military PAJ Warsaw Correspondent court ... We think there are all legal grounds to satisfy our request (for a WARSAW–No stranger to con- BUFFALO, N.Y.—“The Spirit of tury of occupation by its three au- new investigation). But it is hard to say what the court will decide,” troversy, Lech Wałęsa, the former Compassion,” a just-opened major tocratic neighbors and four years of Two days after the July 7 ruling, RUSSIA TODAY reported Poland’s shipyard electrician regarded by exhibit at the Karpeles Manuscript having been a principal World War I Institute of National Remembrance has lost the documents detailing the many as “the man who overthrew Library Museum at 453 Porter Ave., battleground, the devastated country Katyn massacre. The papers were handed over to Warsaw by Moscow in communism,” is again at the center illustrates Herbert Hoover’s special had just regained its independence. early 1990s. The Itar-Tass news agency says the documents went missing of a heated national debate. The alle- relationship with the people of Po- The exhibit, originally curated two years ago, citing the head of the institute’s research department, Dar- gation that he had been a communist land. by Dr. Zbigniew Stanczyk of the iusz Gabrel. It was then they were stored in the President’s office, and it secret police informer code-named Its primary focus is on the ex- Hoover Institution at Stanford Uni- took some time to find out the documents were lost. Bolek in the 1970s has resurfaced traordinary humanitarian effort versity, is open from 11.00 a.m. Gabrel had to explain the documents’ embarrassing disappearance to time and again since 1992, when Hoover mounted to bring relief to through 4.00 p.m. daily except on the Polish Parliament. the people of Poland in the wake of Mondays. It features many historic See “Wałęsa ... ,” page 4 World War I. After more than a cen- See “Spirit of Compassion,” page 4 2 www.polamjournal.com POLISH AMERICAN JOURNAL • AUGUST 2008 ALMANAC JUST BETWEEN US / Mark Kohan August • Sierpieñ “Facing it, always facing it, that’s the With Sikorski at the Helm, Poland Matures way to get through. Face it.” While the jury is still out on wrath. predecessors, is following a policy less the Poles were ready to move —Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) whether or not a U.S. missile base The Bush Administration, for of quid pro quo. In short: if the ahead. in Poland would be good for either all purposes, has taken advantage United States wants Poland to stick While in Washington, Sikorski 2 1899. Birth, in Warsaw, of Apo- country, one thing is for sure: Po- of Poland’s willingness to associ- its neck out, it better be prepared to held talks with presidential hopeful lonia Chalupiec, silent screen land is maturing as a player in world ate itself with the United States. By pay for it. John McCain, and called them “so star later known as Pola Negri. politics. global economic standards, it gave cordial and precise that it surprised (d. 1987). The United States wants to place virtually nothing in return. Poland If the United States wants us.” 1899. Birth of poet and novelist a defense base on Polish soil, saying became one of Washington’s pre- He added that Barack Obama’s Stanislaw Balinski. Poland to stick its neck out, 3 1941. Birthday of Martha (Ko- the missiles will protect NATO al- eminent allies in Iraq War, yet its skepticism about the shield is lies from potential attacks from en- citizens were denied visa waivers. it better be prepared to pay “widely known.” styra) Stewart. for it. 1997. Phil Niekro inducted emy states such as Iran, an Islamic Bush stonewalled the visa situation McCain’s opinion strengthens into Baseball Hall of Fame.

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