CELEBRATING POLISH CONSTITUTION POLISHDAY — AMERICANPAGE 20 JOURNAL • JUNE 2017 www.polamjournal.com 1 PERIODICAL POSTAGE PAID AT BOSTON, NEW YORK NEW BOSTON, AT PAID PERIODICAL POSTAGE POLISH AMERICAN OFFICES AND ADDITIONAL ENTRY DEDICATED TO THE PROMOTION AND CONTINUANCE OF POLISH AMERICAN CULTURE AN INTERVIEW WITH JOURNAL POLISH CONSUL GENERAL MACIEJ GOLUBIEWSKI ESTABLISHED 1911 JUNE 2017 • VOL. 106, NO. 6 • $2.00 www.polamjournal.com PAGE 4 RUSSIA REMAINS A THREAT • U.S. SOLDIER’S REMAINS FOUND IN POLAND • THE RETURN OF DANNY SZETELA HARTFORD ARCHDIOCESE CLOSURE/MERGER PLAN AFFECTS EIGHT POLISH PARISHES • POLSKA HALA’S 100TH GREEN BERET SLUGOCKI HONORED • NEW FILM FEATURES MAZOWSZE • UNCOVERING NAME CHANGES Newsmark Valor and Service Acknowledged Ogrydziak Brothers PRIME MINISTER: WE CANNOT ACCEPT MIGRANTS (Radio Poland). Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło said Graduate from Poland cannot take on any migrants, despite an EU dead- line to start admitting asylum seekers by June. West Point She told a May 16, 2017 press conference in Warsaw Excerpted from the that “there was no agreement” of EU Member States to Associated Press compulsory quotas related to accepting migrants. WEST POINT, N.Y. – Brothers Szydło (inset, left) added that thanks Noah, Sumner and Cole Ogrydziak to Poland’s tough attitude towards ref- entered West Point’s grueling world ugees, “a critical attitude towards the of 6:30 a.m. reveille, 60-pound mechanism of migrant relocation is be- packs and rigorous course loads on coming increasingly widespread in the the same day four years ago. The European Union.” three cadets got to fling their caps “Poland cannot accept refugees,” together at graduation last month, she added. marking a rare fraternal trifecta at The European Union said that Po- this storied academy. land and Hungary have until this month to start accepting The band of brothers from Ned- refugees or face sanctions. erland, Texas, graduated with the “I call on Poland and Hungary who have not relocated a U.S. Military Academy’s Class of single person ... to start doing so right now,” EU Migration 2017 on May 27. The first duty sta- Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told reporters. tions for the future Army officers are In September 2015, EU leaders agreed that each country still being worked out, but it’s clear would accept a number of asylum seekers over two years to to the brothers that their years of be- alleviate the pressure on Greece and Italy, which have seen ing just a short march from one an- the arrival of tens of thousands of asylum seekers from the other are numbered. Middle East. Poland, which had been assigned 6,200 refu- Kosciuszko Foundation President Marek Skulimowski presents the organizaton’s “Pio- “It’s kind of surreal to think gees, has not taken in any of them. that, ‘Hey, all three of us actu- According to the European Commission, only Austria, neer” award to Wincenty Knapczyk, a combat veteran of Monte Cassino, and com- Poland and Hungary have not accepted people from mi- mander of the Polish Army Veterans Association of America. The award, and others, See “Ogrydziak,” page 2 grant camps in Italy and Greece, while Malta and Finland were presented at the Foundation’s 2017 Ball in New York. Story on page 10. are the only countries to have fulfilled their obligations. Coal, Trains, and My Polish TWO POLES DEAD AFTER TERROR ATTACK. A cou- Grandfather in Bloomington: Katyn Victims Remembered PHOTO: RICHARD POREMSKI ple from Poland in the Manchester attack were killed as they waited to collect their daughters from the concert, the Why our Immigrant country’s foreign minister has said. Angelika and Marcin Klis died when a suicide bomber Ancestors Should detonated a device as crowds were leaving the arena where Ariana Grande had just finished her concert. be in History Books Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said the couple’s two girls were safe after the explosion that left 22 by Steve Szabados dead and 64 injured. Another Polish citizen was wounded in the attack and PART I. My Polish grandfather was part of the has undergone surgery in a hospital. He is a father, but no wave of emigration that left Europe with the hope further details about his identity have been released. of finding work and a better life. His name is not Many Polish familes live in the Manchester area, with in the history books, but I believe his life and some 20,000 Polish-language speakers in the region. the lives of his fellow immigrants were building blocks in the growth of their new country. DIRECTOR HOLLAND HONORED IN WASHINGTON. My grandfather, Steve Zuchowski, was born Polish film director Agnieszka Holland was honored with in 1893 in the Russian Partition of Poland. His the Visionary Award by the Washington Jewish Film Fes- ancestors were nobles, but the family lost their tival. The distinction recognizes “creativity and insight noble status when the subdivision of their lands in presenting the full diversity of the Jewish experience into small farms through the moving image.” forced fam- Steve Zuchowski Holland collected the award at a ceremony on May 27, ily members was one of the over to work in the after a screening of her 1985 Oscar-nominated film “Angry 1.5 million Poles to Harvest.” fields. The rules Ambassador Piotr Wilczek at the base of the National Katyn Memorial The program of the festival also included “The Sand- of nobility in emigrate from the in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, addressing the large gathering of Polonia glass” by the Polish director Wojciech Has (1925-2000). Poland prohib- Russian Partition ited nobles from with its local and visiting organizations, Polish Army veterans, friends of to America. Poland, and politicians on the city, state, and federal levels. POPE FRANCIS: LONG LIVE POLAND! Pope Francis working in the fields or being paid to manage for someone else. addressed Polish pilgrims to follow “the path of under- by Richard Poremski tarized political police. This geno- standing and “compassion” during a general audience at However, the subdivision of the noble lands over cide was also carried out at other many generations caused many noble families to the Vatican, May 3, 2017. BALTIMORE, Md. —Over 150 locations during the early years of work in their small fields similar to the peasants During his regular general audience, the Pope referred people assembled at the National World War II. who worked on farms in the surrounding area. to that day’s Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Poland Katyn Memorial in the center of The Remembrance Ceremony in- Polish inheritance rules were changed to al- and the anniversary of the 3rd May Constitution in the Harbor East on April 30, 2017 to cluded color guards, Roman Catho- low the passing of the small farms only to the country. memorialize the 22,000 Polish lic Church, Polish National Catholic oldest son. Steve was the youngest of five chil- “Long live Poland!” the Pope said, adding “applause for Army officers slain in the greater Church, and Jewish clergy in prayer dren, and only his oldest brother Stanislaw the Queen of Poland.” crime of Katyn. The victims includ- and commentary; the Embassy of would inherit the farm. After his parents had died “In your daily choices, follow the path of mutual under- ed reserve officers, leading citizens, Poland; guest speakers, politicians, and Steve had turned eighteen, it was time for standing and compassion. Make important decisions while and intelligentsia, all murdered in military officers, politicians, the lay- him to leave home. The farms in the area were seeking truth, common good and peace. Be open and sensi- the infamous April 1940 Katyn For- ing of wreaths, and “Taps” played small, and most farm owners could not afford to tive to the needs of your brothers,” said Pope Francis. est Massacre at the bloodied hands See “Immigrant Ancestors,” page 15 of the Soviet Union’s NKVD – mili- See “Katyn Memorial,” page 3 2 www.polamjournal.com POLISH AMERICAN JOURNAL • JUNE 2017 Almanac Russia Remains a Threat POLISH The head of the U.S. military in Europe said Rus- partner to protagonist as it seeks to undermine the West- Follow us on Facebook, AMERICAN and on the web, too, at: sia poses an existential threat to the West’s military and ern-led international order and reassert itself as a global www.polamjournal.com political influence around the world, prompting NATO power,” Scaparrotti said, according to the Department JOURNAL to assume a more militant mission. of Defense. Dedicated to the Promotion Q In his testimony to lawmakers, Army Gen. Curtis M. The general cited Russia’s involvement in conflicts June Czerwiec and Continuance of Scaparrotti, who serves as both chief of U.S. European in Ukraine and Georgia, as well as a deteriorating secu- “When sunbeams forth Command (EUCOM) and NATO’s Supreme Allied rity situation in areas of Europe, North Africa and the Polish American Culture from Cancer pour, Commander Europe, told the Senate Appropriations Middle East due to conflict and jihadist activity, as con- ESTABLISHED 1911 And sings the nightingale no more, Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Af- tributing to NATO’s shift in focus from “security co- IGNATIUS HAJDUK • Founder 1911-1920 In Czarny Las, Sobotka fires JOHN DENDE • Publisher 1920-1944 fairs and Related Agencies that Moscow was respon- operation and engagement to deterrence and defense.” HENRY J. DENDE • Publisher 1944-1983 Were lighted, as the time requires.” sible for frustrating Western security goals in Europe Last year, the 28-member Western military alliance, — from the Prelude to “St. John’s USPS 437-220 / ISSN 0032-2792 Eve,” by Jan Kochanowski.