POLISH AMERICAN JOURNAL • SEPTEMBER 2010 www.polamjournal.com 1 SEPTEMBER 2010 • VOL. 99, NO. 9 $2.00 PERIODICAL POSTAGE PAID AT BOSTON, NEW YORK BOSTON, AT PAID PERIODICAL POSTAGE POLISH AMERICAN OFFICES AND ADDITIONAL ENTRY JOURNALESTABLISHED 1911 www.polamjournal.com TAKING A STAND FOR “STAN THE MAN” DEDICATED TO THE PROMOTION AND CONTINUANCE OF POLISH AMERICAN CULTURE PAGE 17 “RADIO PRIEST” MARKS TENTH ANNIVERSARY • ST. LOUIS VS. ST. STANISLAUS KOSTKA • PMA’S “HIDDEN TREASURES” HELP! MY KIDS DON’T SPEAK ENGLISH • DROBOT ELECTED PRCUA PRESIDENT • LOOKING TO ORCHARD LAKE A CRASH COURSE IN POLISH HERALDRY • A CROSS CULTURAL OPPORTUNITY • AUTUMN PLUM COOKERY NEWSMARK Battle Lines Drawn Rostenkowski Dead at 82 CHICAGO — Dan Ros- PART OF NAZI CAMP GOES UP IN FLAMES. A wooden tenkowski, an old-style Chi- barracks at the former German Nazi concentration camp cago ward boss who became Majdanek in present-day eastern Poland was nearly com- one of the nation’s most pow- pletely destroyed by fire. The building was full of shoes of erful legislators during the the victims of the forced labor camp. Reagan era before a fall to The State Museum that takes care of the site esti- corruption, died at 82 from mates the damage at 1 million zlotys, or some $330,000. cancer at his Wisconsin sum- It took firefighters three hours to extinguish the flames mer home. that consumed two thirds of the construction, according His command of the tax- to RMF FM radio. writing House Ways and Initial reports say a short circuit was the most prob- Means Committee made him able cause of the fire. a key player in Washington, but at home he was most cele- At least 79,000 people, including 59,000 Jews, died brated for using that influence during nearly three years of the camp’s operation. The to steer billions of dollars in Rostenkowski camp, formally known as Konzentrationslager Lublin, federal aid to Chicago. was originally created for prisoners of war. Rostenkowski thrived just months after being in- during an era in Washington dicted on federal charges of BRAVERY AGAINST ODDS REMEMBERED. The 66th an- when hardball politics was accepting kickbacks and di- niversary of the Warsaw Uprising against the Nazis was tempered by compromise. verting taxpayer dollars for observed in various ways as sirens were heard all over During his 36-year tenure personal use. He was later the city, candles were lit, wreaths and flowers were laid in Congress he relished his pardoned by President Clin- at the monument in Pilsudski Square, a “Let us Remem- role as a dealmaker with the ton. The first President Bush ber that in 1944” concert and changing of the guard cer- likes of Democratic Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill and issued a statement calling Ro- emony was held in front of the Warsaw Uprising Monu- stenkowski “a forceful leader ment. President Bronislaw Komorowski laid a wreath at Republican Presidents Ron- ald Reagan and George H.W. who was also exceptionally the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and participated in fair. Everyone in the Con- ceremonies at the Gloria Victis monument. Bush. But he lost his House seat gress respected him.” A five-minute 3D film premiered at the Warsaw Ris- ing Museum which shows in realistic detail the ruins and rubble of Warsaw after it was destroyed in 1944. The film Polish American Pilot and presents aerial views of ruined houses, collapsed bridges and took a group of over thirty historians two years to Crew Found 66 Years Later POLISH HUSSARS PREPARE FOR WARFARE at the largest put together. You can view the Polish-language trailer on by Geraldine historical battle re-enactment of its kind, which took place in Balut-Coleman the internet at www.miastoruin.pl. Warsaw, Poland, July 4, 2010, during the 400th Anniversary The Warsaw Uprising began on August 1, 1944 and WASHINGTON, D.C. — of the pivotal Battle of Kłuszyn. Story on page 4, courtesy of The remains of seven Air- ended after sixty-three days of heavy fighting. It was Rik Sulima-Suligowski Fox, founder Suligowski’s Regiment of the largest armed operation of resistance movements in men, missing in action during Sobieski’s Command, who participated in the event. World War II, were buried Nazi-occupied Europe. Almost 18,000 fighters lost their with full military honors, on lives, 25,000 were wounded, civilian losses exceeded July 15, 1010, at Arlington 180,000 and over eighty percent of the capital was left in Another Cross War in Poland National Cemetery. ruins. The insurgents were poorly armed and vastly out- by Robert Strybel and mournful faces, although The Airmen were Captain numbered. WARSAW–Another cross a few days ago they were de- Joseph M. Olbinski, Chicago; Their valiant fight symbolizes the struggle for inde- war erupted in Warsaw this faming our President Lech First Lieutenant Joseph J. pendence against impossible and cruel odds. August, when the authorities Kaczyński,” was a frequent Auld, Floral Park, N.Y.; First attempted to remove a tall comment. “Now the media Lieutenant Robert M. Ander- TRAGEDY BEFALLS CANADA’S POLISH AMBASSA- son, Millen, Ga.; Technical wooden cross from outside have published file pictures Capt. Joseph M. Olbinski DOR. The Polish Embassy in Ottawa confirmed that the the Presidential Palace. It had of a warm, kind and smiling Sergeant Clarence E. Frantz, two children of Zenon Kosiniak-Kamysz, Poland’s Ambas- been placed there in April by president, but when he was Tyrone, Pa.; Private First crew’s disastrous flight are sador to Canada and his wife, Katarzyna, were killed in an boy scouts to honor the vic- alive they preferred less flat- Class Richard M. Dawson, not known and may never be automobile and truck accident in Łagow, Poland. tims of the April plane crash tering photos that showed a Haynesville, Virg.; Private known, according to Lt. Col. Polish sources report that the fatal accident occurred in Smolensk, Russia. Presi- frowning face or disheveled Robert L. Crane, Sacramento, Christopher Aycock, USA, of on August 9, 2010 at approximately 5:00 a.m. Michael, 19, dent Lech Kaczyński, his coat,” mourners noted. Calif.; and Private Fred G. Fort Sheridan in Highwood, Fagan, Piedmont, Ala.. and Maria, 15, along with their 20-year-old Polish Cana- First Lady and 94 others, in- A TV documentary en- Ill. In 1948, Olbinski and his On May 23, 1944, Cap- dian cousin, Sylvia Maka, were entering an intersection. cluding many senior political, titled “Solidarni” (the solidar- crew were officially declared military and religious leaders ity-minded ones) convinced tain Joseph M. Olbinski and “missing in action.” It was The Renault Megane, in which they were driving, appar- his crew, members of the ently did not stop at the designated stop sign and col- as well as war veterans, per- people across Poland that not until 2003, that a Bur- ished in Poland’s worst such they were not alone and that United States Army Air Force lided with a semi-trailer truck. The auto burst into flames mese citizen brought a dog peacetime disaster. not everybody supported the (USAAF) of the 4th Troop and only the truck driver survived. One of the females tag to a Catholic priest. The Hundreds of thousands anti-Kaczyński Warsaw elites Carrier Squadron, departed tag had Joseph Olbinski’s was pulled from the wreckage, but despite all means of Poles from all over the led by Prime Minister Donald from Dinjan, India to airdrop name, serial number and “C” available, she died. DNA tests will be used to positively country and Polonia as well Tusk’s Civic Platform (Plat- supplies for allied troops near on it. The fallen airmen were identify the victims. flocked to the site and waited forma Obywatelska) party, Myitkyina in the Himalaya identified by their dog tags, The three young family members were on a family va- in night-long queues to file the leftist-liberal daily “Gaze- Mountains of northern Burma and other forensic identifica- cation and were scheduled to meet up the Ambassador past and pay their respects ta Wyborcza” and all-news (today known as Myanmar). tion tools were used to help in and his wife at the end of the week. Michael was study- to the Presidential couple. channel TVN24. In many Captain Olbinski piloted a identifying the remains. ing at the University of Ottawa; Maria was a student at Many of the mourners said ways, that documentary and Douglas C-47A cargo air- Olbinski was born March Colonel By Secondary School in Ottawa; and Sylvia at- they regretted believing the the memorial cross became craft, affectionately called 28, 1916, baptized at St. Ve- tended York University in Toronto. country’s mainstream left- the nucleus of a new grass- the “Skytrain,” to support the ronica Parish in Chicago’s Merrill Marauders which, in Memorial Masses are scheduled throughout Canada, leaning liberal media which roots political movement Avondale neighborhood, turn, conducted long range Poland and Chicago. The funeral will take place in Poland. had heaped scorn and ridicule which favored traditional reli- worked for the Chicago Tran- on the late president. “Now gious and patriotic values and attacks from behind Japanese sit Authority (CTA), and in Łagow is located in the Lubuskie region of western lines. The circumstances sur- Poland. (G.C.) these same hypocritical jour- opposed the hard-nosed, pro- the spring of 1941 enlisted in nalists have put on black ties See “Cross,” page 8 rounding Olbinski and his See “Olbinski,” page 4 2 www.polamjournal.com POLISH AMERICAN JOURNAL • SEPTEMBER 2010 POLISH AMERICAN JOURNAL BOOKSTORE • SELLING BOOKS AND POLISH HERITAGE ITEMS SINCE 1988 BOOKS & HOLIDAY GIFT STORE USE FORM ON PAGE 4 FOR ALL ITEMS ON PAGES 2 and 3 • If you have questions, PLEASE CALL! If ordering OPLATEK ONLY, please note lower shipping cost on form.