Dr. Maja Trochimczyk at the World Book Fair. Photo by Dr. Jerzy Barankiewicz.
Maja Trochimczyk presents "Celebrating Modjeska" at the Internationl Book Fair in Warsaw.
I recently joined the ZPPNO (actually this spring), so it was a pleasure to meet Regina Wasiak-Taylor, the president of the ZPPNO, as well as some of the organization's notable members, both during the book fair and the subsequent reading. In getting ready for my travel to Poland, I was not aware of the fact that the duty of participating writers is to advertise their presence on social media and in emails to their family and friends, and readers, if there are any, prior to the event. Apparently, some writers were quite successful in bringing the audience, especially those with major publication contracts in Poland. As a scholarly English-language writer, just starting to be published as a poet in Poland, I do not have a large following. But I had an opportunity to chat with some guests to the book stand, including Dr. Jerzy Barankiewicz of San Diego, as well as discuss the books with passersby and other poets present.
All books available at the stand ZPPNO were to be sold for 15 Polish zloty, or less than 5$ so it is actually quite good that I sold only two. Enough for coffee and a sandwich afterwards. Thanks ZPPNO for the invitation and the opportunity! By next year, I'll have more Polish-language books. . .
Decorated with a beautiful and colorful banner, the stand of the Union of Polish Writers Abroad could not have been present at Warsaw's Book fairs in the 50 years from the WWII to the fall of PRL in 1989. It consisted of those that the regime considered "Traitors" of the "socialist" nation. The ZPPNO is one of the many organizations established after WWII in London by refugees and exiles who could not return back home - as members of Polish Armed Forces, or the Home Army, as "elements of hostile class" of the pre-war intelligentsia with roots in nobility or affluent bourgeoisie.
One of the floats from the Parade of the Mermaid in front of the Palace of Culture, June 8, 2024.
The peasant-worker-paradise, the Polish People's Republic, was ruled from Moscow and the symbol of that dominance was the Palace of Culture and Science, built in the early 1950s over a large block of ruined downtown Warsaw, as a stamp of Soviet Stalinist dominion. A couple of days after the Book Fair, the grounds became the storage for floats used for a Parade of Mermaids - representing various regions of Warsaw with whimsical design of the city's old Logo - a mermaid with a sword raised up to defend the city (see the photo above).
In the afternoon of Sunday, May 26, 2024, the poets and writers from ZPPNO in London moved to the Booksellers Club, Klub Ksiegarza, in Warsaw's historic (and rebuilt after its total destruction during WWII) Old Town Square for a lively reading and reception. The reading hosted by Regina Wasiak-Taylor and Zbigniew Zbikowski of the Writers' Union, presented poetry and other writings by emigre writers from the U.K (Renata Cygan, Grazyna Maxwell, Elzbieta Smolenska, Krystyna Stevenson), Canada (Waldemar Kontowicz), Australia (Bogumila Zongollowicz) and the U.S. (M.T.) coupled with texts by representatives of the local branch of the Polish Writers' Union, Zwiazek Literatow. (Anna Nasilowska listed on the poster above could not attend.) Hosted by Jan Rodzen, the director of the Booksellers Club, the event gathered about 40 listeners enjoying the brief self-introductions and readings of the assembled poets and writers. The work of the host writers and of the foreign guests was quite impressive and the reception lovely, so it was an enjoyable afternoon.
≡ CIOCIA TONIA ≡~ dla Ciotecznej Babki, Antoniny GlińskiejTylko ta grusza wśród buraków, zboża.Dojrzale gruszki – wszystko, co zostałoz domu, obejścia, sadu. Tam urodziła dzieci,doiła krowy, piekła chleb.Tylko ta grusza – samotne mementostoi smutne w sierpniowym polu.Wszystko zburzyli, zaorali – kościól, wioskę,zagrodę sąsiadów, gdzie niegdyś rżały konie.Wszystko zaorali – jej ogród zielny, i sad,i kwietnik, gdzie słońce całowalo śliczny kosmosz delikatną koronką liści – marzenie, nie kwiat.Dawno, tak dawno temu podziwiałatę wątłą urodę, ten czar.Nic już nie boli, tylko trochę dziwi –całe życie zniknęło – tylko jedno drzewojeszcze jest. Nie ma śladu po rodzinnejwiosce. Na nowych mapach brak nazw.Najgorsze: gdy przybiegli sąsiedziwołając z daleka: twój mąż nie żyje,zastrzelili go na środku drogi.Nie czas na żal, chowa łzy do kieszeni.Rozkaz przyszedł natychmiast –Syberia. Dzień na zbieranie rzeczy.Długa jazda pociągiem w nieznane,do obcego miasta nad wielką, zimną rzeką,nie taką z sennych marzeń. Mówili:spakuj się mądrze, najcieplejsze ubrania, buty,poduszki, tyle jedzenia, ile udźwigniesz. Sól.Tam gdzie jedziesz, nie ma nic–prócz zamarzniętego oddechu,koszmaru zimna.Tylko ta gruszana pustym ściernisku –
tylko ta perław złotym sadzie snów –
≡ CIOCIA TONIA ≡
~ for Great Aunt, Antonina Glińska neé Wasiuk
Only a pear tree
between fields of sugar beets and corn.
Ripe pears — that’s all left from the house,
barn and orchard. The farm where she raised
her sons, milked her cows, and baked her bread.
Only a pear tree. Alone memento
standing forlorn in an August field.
They ploughed it over— the village church and bus stops,
the neighbors’ corrals, where their horses used to neigh.
They ploughed it over — her garden of herbs
and cosmos, its fragile lace of leaves kissed
by sunlight, a dream of a flower —
she used to so love its effervescent beauty
in the past.
It is not painful now, just surprising,
her whole life gone, and only one tree left.
No trace of her ancestral village on the maps.
It was the worst to see her neighbors
running with news, her husband shot
in the middle of the dusty village road.
No time for grief, she saved her tears for later.
The orders came at once, a day to pack,
a long train ride to an unfamiliar city,
near a river she never longed to see.
They said, pack wisely —
take the warmest
clothes, boots, pillows.
Bring as much food
as you can carry.
Where you are going,
there is nothing,
except for freezing breath
and bitter cold.
Only a pear tree
in an empty field of stubble.
Only a pearl tree
in her golden field of dreams.
Warsaw's Old Town Square - Rynek Starego Miasta
≡ PIEŚŃ O KLUCZU ≡
~ dla Tomasza Kuby Kozłowskiego i jego Mamy
To jest klucz.To jest żelazny klucz.To jest duży, żelazny klucz.To stary, duży, żelazny klucz.Klucz, który moja Mama nosiła w torebce.To stary, duży, kuty klucz mojej Mamy.Nosiła go codziennie w torebce.To jest pole.To jest płaskie pole.To płaskie, puste pole.To płaskie, puste pole na Ukrainie.Tu była kiedyś Polska. Płaskie, puste polegdzie kiedyś stał dom mojej Mamy, otoczonywysokim drewnianym płotem z wysoką drewnianą bramą,z solidnym, dużym zamkiem z kutego żelaza.Powiedzieli jej: pakuj się!Powiedzieli jej: won stąd!Powiedzieli jej: wynoś się!To nasza ziemia.Nie ma już domu.Nie ma już płotu.Nie ma już bramy.To jest klucz.
≡ A SONG FOR A KEY ≡
~ for Tomasz Kuba Kozlowski and his Mother
This is a key.
This is an iron key.
This is a large, iron key.
This is an old, large, iron key.
A key my mother carried in her purse.
This is an old, large, wrought-iron key my mother
carried in her purse every single day.
This is a field.
This is a flat field.
This is a flat, empty field.
This is a flat, empty field in the Ukraine
that used to be Poland. A flat, empty field
where my mother’s house once stood, surrounded
by a tall wooden fence with a tall wooden gate,
and a solid, large, wrought-iron lock.
They told her: pack!
They told her: go!
They told her: out!
You do not belong.
This is our land.
There is not house.
There is no fence.
There is no gate.
This is the key.
Nearly two weeks later, on Friday June 7, 2024, the 9th World Congress of Polish Studies was held at the Palace of Culture's Collegium Civitas. The site deserves an introduction. Instead of rebuilding much needed homes and apartment blocks in the center of war-devastated Warsaw, the Soviet overlords constructed a stamp of their power, in the architectural style imported directly from Moscow, with monumental stone walls, huge cement sculptures of historical figures (Mickiewicz and Copernicus at the entrance) and workers, marble floors, heavy crystal chandeliers, wood paneling, and the like. Monumental and foreboding, the Palace of Culture reminded the residents of who really ruled in the Polish People's Republic.
The imprint of the name Josef Stalin Palace of Culture and Science was visible on the stone walls of the entrance for years after the removal of actual letters after the end of the Stalinist era. (The Silesian city of Katowice also changed its name back from Stalinogrod). Shaped like an oriental temple or a monumental stamp with the tower serving as its handle, and the various buildings at its feet as the "stamp" of power, the Palace was designed to be the tallest building in Warsaw - taller construction was simply not allowed. Therefore, it dominated the landscape as a symbol of foreign oppression. Fittingly, the Palace was surrounded by Plac Defilad - the Parade Square where May 1 Parades and military parades were supposed to be held. I have been particularly interested in this building for years, maybe because my childhood was spent in a small wooden house with a garden, in a subdivision constructed for engineers and workers of the Palace of Culture and later designated as Osiedle Przyjazn for faculty and students of Warsaw Polytechnic University where my father worked... My parents lived there from 1956 to 1970.
Finally, more than 30 years after the fall of the Polish People's Republic in 1989 (known as the fall of communism, but actually it was the end of the "socialist system" - full communism was never reached!) the empty space around the palace is being filled out with new construction. There are taller office towers nearby, and the meaning of the Palace of Culture as a sign of "Soviet dominance" is long gone. The Palace now houses Collegium Civitas, a new college, along with two theaters, cinemas and a museum or two... The site also presents frequent events such as the International Book Fair I attended or the June Home Fair of home furnishing and designs...
This "palace" looks a bit like a sci-fi fortress...
By now, the Palace of Culture became one of the city's landmarks, along with the Mermaid.... Its image may be even found on colorful socks! Made in China, of course... Personally, I have fond memories of the Palace since this is where I took my intensive English course during a break from university - 5 days a week, four hours a day of classes, and plentiful homework for 10 months. The course was all the more memorable that the students heard current BBC World Service news about the Martial Law, strikes and arrests during the 1980-81 winter. Our brave instructor got up daily at 5 am to record the news for us so we could learn what was going on while studying English. Remarkably, in a 20-student class, nobody denounced him, that's a true miracle of Solidarity! We were all grateful to receive a daily dose of current news in this difficult time... Now Collegium Civitas occupies those floors...
The 9th World Congress of Polish Studies organized by Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America took place from June 7 to 9, 2024, with my paper based on a chapter from my book, Celebrating Modjeska in California, scheduled at session no. 53 on Sunday, 9 June 2024, the very last session in the program. "My" session featured also a study of Jewish cabaret musicians and music - and its transition from Poland/Polish to Israel/Yiddish or Hebrew (by Prof. Marcos Silber, University of Haifa in Israel), and a reception study of Kalina Jedrusik as a sex symbol maligned in prudish, socialist Poland with false rumors and ad-personam attacks (Prof. Jozef Figa, Southern New Hampshire University). The session brought together topics of diverse "Artists, Actors and Singers" - and ended with a discussion that highlighted shared threads between the three presentations.
My paper was entitled "Polish Emigres in California: Leonidas Dudarew-Ossetynski, the Modjeska Players, and the Modjeska Club" and was an overview of Ossetynski's theatrical career including his education in Vilnius, engagement in the Polish Theater of Artists in New York (1942-45) after coming to the U.S., the creation of the Modjeska Players with Lidia Prochnicka in 1954 and the new group's mission to promote "real theater" in the era of film and TV, especially the tours of the U.S. and Canada with the Polish program From Fredro to the Uprising (1955-58), as well as the various theatrical achievements of Ossetynski in the Modjeska Club (1973-1978): the first pre-premiere presentation of Mrozek's Emigrants, a workshop with Jerzy Grotowski, performances by Eskulap and Esperanto Theaters. The last section of the presentation was dedicated to the achievements of Ossetynski Actors Lab (tours of Poland in 1977, 1986, and introduction of Witkacy to the U.S. in 1980-83, including The Madman and the Nun and Matka that won 10 prizes in 1983 and converted many theatre specialist into Witkacy aficionados. At the end, I mentioned briefly my efforts to restore Dudarew-Ossetynski's good name: Poland's Cavalier Cross of the Order of Merit (2013), and restoration of his title of Founder and Honorary President of the Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club, which took place at the General Meeting of the Club on 24 February 2024.
Cover of inaugural program of The Modjeska Players of 1954, presenting Goldoni's The Mistress of the Inn starring Lidia Prochnicka with Ossetynski, as a fundraiser for Szukalski's planned Modjeska Monument. The Modjeska Players' logo was designed by Szukalski as well.
Cover of Oct. 1957 "White Eagle/ Bialy Orzel" with the Modjeska Players caricature promoting Polish literature, she holds the book with the title of their program, the Pegasus travels across North America...LDO Collection 177, Polish Museum of America in Chicago.
Scholars from a "Migrant Theater" study group based at the University of Wroclaw were very interested in this previously unknown information about Ossetynski and Helena Modjeska reception in the U.S. This paper was for them a veritable discovery of theatrical groups and projects that they never heard of.
They received a copy of the book after the event in order to review the content and add Ossetynski's achievements to their databases of what they call "migrant theater" and what we in the U.S. call "emigre theater" - the word "migrant" having derogatory connotations of transients living in tents without access to water and basic amenities, certainly without any means to engage in the creation of theater.
Ours was one of five sessions dedicated to theater, music and performing arts during the 9th World Congress of Polish Studies - two sessions were exclusively focused on theater (10 scholars), two on music (five scholars) and our panel had one paper on theater (mine) and two on popular music. Overall, the PIASA World Congress included 176 papers/presentations in 53 sessions and 2 keynote addresses, plus an awards ceremony (if my accounting is correct). Of these papers/presentations, 7 were on music, 11 on theater, 17 about Ukrainian-Belorussian topics, and 33 about Polish-Jewish topics. The majority of sessions were dedicated to Polish and Polonian history and sociology, esp. immigration studies (51 presentations), literature and the arts (42 presentations including theater and music listed separately above), and politics and economy (31 presentations). It was a cross-section of current interests of scholars specializing in Polish studies, primarily in the U.S. and Poland, with some participants from Australia, Spain, France, Mexico, and the U.K. A very informative and educational experience. . .
Session Chair Dr. Dorota Kolodziejczyk of Wroclaw U, presenters Prof. Marcos Silber of the U. of Haifa in Israel, Dr. Maja Trochimczyk, and Dr. Jozef Figa of Southern New Hampshire University after the last session of PIASA's World Congress.
The session on classical music focused on little known emigre composers, brothers Wiktor Labunski and Feliks Roderyk Labunski (Prof. Slawomir Dobrzanski), a New Yorker Karol Rathaus (pianist Aleksandra Halat), and a Californian Polish-Swiss-Canadian-American Roman Ryterband (pianist Anna Kijanowska). These presentations were all the more enjoyable that they included music excerpts. . .
Prof. Dobrzanski shared some YouTube recordings of the Labunski brothers, here are samples:
1. Rustic Dance by Wiktor Labunski: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQpXSqeOhz0
2. "Fast and Spirited" from Patterns by Wiktor Labunski: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmZtyYGshjk
3. Three excerpts from Seven Miniatures by Feliks Labunski: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njNwNcWjEqM
4. Feliks Roderyk Labunski;s Threnody (Homage to Paderewski): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JhtbLXl02c
5. Feliks Roderyk Labunski's Miniatury: IV Toccatina: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfii_L--8PM
Dr. Aleksandra Halat shared recordings of her Karol Rathaus Ensemble dedicated to recording and promoting the composer's music, I found the following links on YouTube:
1. Karol Rathaus, Trio op. 53: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmZtyYGshjk
2. Karol Rathaus, Trio Serenade op. 69: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M1xYVZ2d4U
3. Karol Rathaus Ensemble at Queens College (two hours): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSCGbiFTLk0
Ann Kijanowska sent me the following links to her YouTube recordings:
1. Szymanowski Mazurki-DUX https://www.youtube.com/watch?
2. Woś- Sonata- CD LUSH Romeo Records https://www.youtube.com/
3. Polish Mazurkas- DUX https://www.youtube.com/
4. Ryterband- The Journey DUX https://www.youtube.com/
Maja Trochimczyk, Anna Kijanowska, Slawomir Dobrzanski, and Aleksandra Halat after the session, with a motto of Roman Ryterband on the screen.
I was pleased to connect with colleagues from my ten years of service on the board of the Polish American Historical Association (2010-2020), especially Dr. Ewa Barczyk, who published Footprints of Polonia: Polish Historical Sites Across North America (2022) and during her discussion of this book graciously gave credit for my role as California editor. She referred especially to the monument of Pola Negri in Los Angeles at the Polish church on Adams Blvd. That was a nice reminder of the many hats I have worn over the 30 years of living as an emigre in North America...
During an intermission in Peter Grimes opera by Benjamin Britten, with L to R: Prof. Dorota Praszalowicz of Jagiellonian University, Dr. Ewa Barczyk, Prof. Neal Pease and Maja Trochimczyk, June 7, 2024, National Opera in Warsaw.
Very impressive building, National Opera in Warsaw, in te wing on the right -National Theater.