kosciuszko foundation T H E A M E R I C A N C EN T ER OF POLISH C UL T URE NEWSLETTER Spring 2011 Volume LXI, No. 1 th ISSN 1081-2776 76 Inside... The Kosciuszko Annual Dinner 2 Foundation Stands Up for Polonia & Ball Polish Senate Hosts Kosciuszko 4 Foundation Exhibit in Warsaw SAturday, Cardinal Karol Wojtyła at the April 30th 6 Kosciuszko Foundation The Kosciuszko Foundation 7 76th Anniversary Dinner and Ball The Paintings of 8 Krystyna Brzechwa Exchange 10 Fellowships and Grants Scholarships Last Chance to Buy 13 and Grants for Americans Tickets to Ball & Take 17 The Year Abroad Program in Poland Ad Congratulating 17 Graduate Studies and Research in Poland the KF. Summer Sessions 18 Awards Giving to the Come MeetK! 19 Kosciuszko April 30, 2011 Foundation Coach 20 Calendar of Events For more information, call 212-734-2130 THE KOSCIUSZKO FOUNDatION StaNDS UP FOR POLONIA, BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP By Alex Storozynski A recent survey by Newsweek found that 40 percent of Americans do not know which countries the United States fought during World War II. It’s no wonder given that the media often refers to Auschwitz as a “Polish concentration camp,” which is a rewrite of history. That is why I posted a petition on The Kosciuszko Foundation website asking newspapers to change their style guides to avoid using this historically erroneous phrase. It confuses undereducated readers, leading them to believe that the Holocaust was executed by Poland, rather than Nazi Germany. My sincerest thanks to all of you who signed the petition. I also contacted members of the United States Congress who wrote letters to The New York Times and The Associated Press asking them to change their stylebooks. The members Members of Congress wrote to the Associated Press of Congress that signed these letters were Rep. Daniel and The New York Times Lipinski (Ill.), Marcy Kaptur (Ohio), Christopher Smith asking to change their (NJ), John Dingell (Mich.), Christopher Murphy (Conn.), stylebooks regarding German Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), Nydia Velazquez (NY), Mike concentration camps. Quigley (Ill.), Joe Courtney (Conn.), John Larson (Conn.), Brian Higgins (NY), and Sen. Mike Johanns (Neb.), Sen. economist Leszek Balcerowicz, historian Norman Davies, Mark Kirk (Ill). Thank you to all of them for supporting journalist Andrew Nagorski, Prof. Anna Cienciala author of Polonia on this issue. Katyn: A Crime Without Punishment, Columbia University As a result of the petition and our letters, The New York Prof. John Micgiel, journalist Jolanta Fajkowska, Lt. Gen. Times, The Wall Street Journal and The San Francisco Edward Rowny, Dr. Julian Kulski, Rabbi Michael Schudrich, Chronicle have changed their stylebooks, and promised to Nowy Dziennik Editor Jan Latus, director Juliusz Machulski be more vigilant in avoiding this error. We will continue who made such films as Vabank, Kiler and Seksmisja, Dr. collecting signatures on this petition until The Associated Tomasz Rogula, the artist Franciszek Starowieyski, Senator Press, Washington Post and all media outlets stop using this Marek Ziolkowski, poet Agata Tusznyska, plus many, many phrase. Keeping the petition posted online costs money, so more. please join the Kosciuszko Foundation and send in donations In the following pages of this newsletter you will find some so that we can keep this action going. Please be part of the of the scholarship recipients for the current year. In the solution. 18th century, Tadeusz Kosciuszko said, “By nature, we are This small victory shows what Polonia can do if we work all equals – virtue, riches and knowledge constitute the only together to educate Americans about the truth. The difference.” Education is the key to success, and Kosciuszko Kosciuszko Foundation’s primary mission is education and dedicated his life to the liberation and education of the promoting Polish culture in the United States. Thanks to a underprivileged. He also donated his last will and testament scholarship that I received in the 1980s, I was able to earn my to the education of peasants and slaves. In the 20th century, Master’s Degree at the Columbia University Graduate School another virtuous Pole, Stephen Mizwa, followed his example of Journalism. Others who have received scholarships or and established the Kosciuszko Foundation whose primary grants from the Kosciuszko Foundation over the years include mission is education and promoting Polish culture. 2 T H E K O S CIU S Z K O F O U N D A T IO N P etition on German Dear Mr. Storozynski: After further discussions of the concerns raised by you and Concentration Camps others, Times editors have decided to add an entry to the newsroom’s stylebook specifically cautioning journalists to avoid misleading phrases like “Polish concentration camp.” As we have already pointed out, editors immediately took steps to correct the erroneous references to Dachau in an online caption over the weekend. We also published a correction about the phrase “Polish concentration camp” in an obituary last fall. We understand the great sensitivity of this topic and regret that any such lapses have occurred. But we would like to WHEREAS the media uses the historically reiterate that such instances, however unfortunate, are simply erroneous terms “Polish concentration camp” mistakes, and it is wrong to suggest that they reflect any malice and “Polish death camp” to describe Auschwitz or deliberate distortion. and other Nazi extermination camps built by the Still, to demonstrate our shared concern over this issue, we will Germans during World War II, which confuses add a note on this point to the stylebook and take extra care to impressionable and undereducated readers, try to avoid any further errors. leading them to believe that the Holocaust was executed by Poland, rather than Nazi Germany, Sincerely, Eileen M. Murphy WHEREAS these phrases are Holocaust Vice President, revisionism that desecrate the memories of Corporate Communications six million Jews from 27 countries who were The New York Times Company murdered by Nazi Germany, WHEREAS Poland was the first country As the years rolled on and the challenges facing Poland changed with invaded by Germany, and the only country the times, the Foundation’s work has evolved to meet those challenges. whose citizens suffered the death penalty for Mizwa started the Foundation after Poland’s rebirth, but his mission rescuing Jews, yet never surrendered during six took on new meaning during the years of Nazism, Communism and years of German occupation, even though one- the Cold War. Today, Poland is once again free and part of NATO sixth of its population was killed in the war, and the European Union. Many Kosciuszko Foundation alumni have approximately half of which was Christian, taken part in that transformation. These days, young Poles and Polish-Americans are uniquely poised WHEREAS educated journalists must know to change the world, not just through humanities and the arts, but these facts and not cross the libel threshold through the sciences, technology and business as well. But it takes of malice by using phrases such as “Polish money to finance their dreams through education. With scholarships, concentration camps.” they can become the leaders of tomorrow. For the 21st century, the Kosciuszko Foundation wants to build on the examples set by BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED Kosciuszko and Mizwa, but we need your help to do it. that the undersigned request that The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Associated Press, and TIME magazine include entries in HOW YOU CAN SHOW YOUR their stylebooks requiring news stories to be POLISH PRIDE AND FULFILL historically accurate, using the official name of all “German concentration camps in Nazi-occupied POLONIA’s MISSION Poland,” as UNESCO did in 2007 when it The Kosciuszko Foundation can only continue its activities named the camp in Auschwitz, “The Auschwitz- supporting Polish culture and awarding scholarships if we Birkenau German Nazi Concentration and receive support from people like you. To donate to the Extermination Camp (1940-1945).” Kosciuszko Foundation in the United States in New York, call 212 734 2130, or visit us on the web at http://www.thekf.org 3 POLISH SENatE HOSTS KOSCIUSZKO FOUNDatION EXHIBIT IN WARSaw “ The Kosciuszko Foundation promotes numerous activities, especially in the field of culture and education, promoting closer ties between Poland and the United States.” Solidarity activist and Speaker of the Senate Bogdan Borusewicz 4 T H E K O S CIU S Z K O F O U N D A T IO N Żywy Pomnik „Bywały momenty światła i cieni, ale teraz cienie się pogłębiają.” Tadeusza A “Living Konkurs The Chopin “There have been lights and shadows, but the shadows have begun to deepen.” Kościuszki Memorial” Początki, Chopinowski - 1949 Competition – 1949 Pomysł Mizwy zaczynał się sprawdzać i odnosić sukcesy. to Tadeusz Pierwszy Konkurs Chopinowski The Kosciuszko proces edukacji Na początek 21 polskich emigrantów zgromadziło fundusze Fundacji Kościuszkowskiej został Foundation Chopin FUNDACJA na opłacenie studiów 9 polskim studentom na Uniwersytecie Kosciuszko zorganizowany w1949 roku Piano Competition was Mizwa zostaje Mizwa becomes i kształtowanie Harvarda, Yale i Columbia, a także na sfinansowanie pobytu The idea paid off and Polish immigrants in 21 states w ramach obchodów setnej established in 1949, in amerykańskiego profesora na Uniwersytecie Jagiellońskim. Uroczyste przyjęcie ku czci Ignacego Jana Paderewskiego Testimonial Dinner for Ignace Jan Paderewski under raised money to bring nine students from Poland rocznicy śmierci Fryderyka honor of the hundredth prezesem President się wizji zorganizowane przez Fundację Kościuszkowską w Hotelu the auspieces of The Kosciuszko Foundation, Hotel KOśCIUSZKOWSKA Zachęcony takim obrotem spraw Mizwa zrezygnował Chopina. Inauguracja konkursu anniversary of the death to study at universities such as Harvard, Yale and Commodore w Nowym Jorku, 16. maja 1928 r. Commodore, New York City, May 16, 1928 ze studiów doktoranckich na Harvardzie i porzucił pracę After serving as the visionary, backbone and How it all began: Columbia, and to send an American professor to odbyła się w Fundacji, a jej of Frederic Chopin.