OCTOBER 13, 2018

POLISH AMERICAN CONGRESS
WISCONSIN DIVISION
& POLISH HERITAGE ALLIANCE

present a documentary
by Anna Ferens

REPUBLIC OF POLAND. RELOADED

Polish title:
Rzeczpospolita. Reaktywacja

Location: Polish Center of Wisconsin
6941 S. 68th Street, Milwaukee, WI 53132
MAP…… https://goo.gl/maps/o6BSbusBPSN2

Irena Fraczek

November 11, 1918 is
Poland’s ‘Fourth of July’

This year is particularly special since it marks the 100th Anniversary of the proclamation of Poland’s independence. That day is also important in America and elsewhere because it marks the end of the First World War on the western front in Europe. Today November 11 is observed in the United States as Veterans’ Day.

The Wisconsin Polish American Congress in cooperation with the Polish Center of Wisconsin is proud to sponsor a series of three presentations that deal with Poland’s rebirth.

These presentations begin at 7:00 p.m. in the
Veterans Room of the Polish Center of Wisconsin
and are free and open to the public

Recalling the Centennial of the End of World War I
and the Rebirth of Independent Poland
Dr. Donald Pienkos, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, (UW-Milwaukee)
Thursday, October 11th, 7 p.m.

Poland’s Central Place in Five Critical Twentieth Century Events
Dr. Donald Pienkos, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, (UW-Milwaukee)
Thursday, October 11th, 7 p.m.

100 Years of United States-Poland Relations
Dr. Neal Pease, Professor of History (UW-Milwaukee)
Thursday, October 25th, 7 p.m.

Polish/Kashube Emigration
and Immigration to Milwaukee
“One Story with Three Strains”

Speakers during the lecture that took place on September 6, 2018 included:
Prof. Anne Gurnack, Professor Emerita (Political Science), University of Wisconsin Parkside;
Abbé George Baird, Administrator St. Stanislaus Church of Milwaukee;
Sebastian Tyrakowski, Deputy Director of the Emigration Museum in Gdynia Poland.

Moderator: Dr. Angela Pienkos, Educator, Past President of the Polish American Historical Association and Past Executive Director of the Polish Center of Wisconsin.

LECTURE NOTES
by David Rydzewski

The Kashubian people are a Polish ethnic group with its own language, customs and traditions. Since 2005, the distinctive dialect they speak is officially recognized as the regional language.

The Kashubes that settled on Milwaukee’s Jones Island, came from the Hel Peninsula area of Poland. The Hel Peninsula is a long narrow strip of land that separates the Bay of Puck from the open Baltic Sea, They came to the area of Milwaukee that allowed them to do what they knew best, fishing. The Kashube emigration started in the 1870’s. Many of the first Kashube emigrants originated in southern Kashubia (furthest away from the Baltic coast) and settled in Canada. They later found the land in Canada not well suited for farming, and many of them resettled in Stevens Point, Wisconsin or Winona, Minnesota.

The Kashubes from the Hel Peninsula came a little later and settled on Milwaukee’s Jones Island. Jones Island was then a relatively small place outside of Milwaukee proper, so it had few or no city services. But to the Kashubes it was their new home. The first child born on the island was named Felix Struck, and curiously he was the last person to live on Jones Island, before the city of Milwaukee bought all of the land on the island for its water treatment plant and harbor docks.

By the 1890’s Jones Island was a thriving fishing village of about two thousand people. Two thirds of them were Kashubes, with Norwegians and Germans making up the rest of its population. Lacking many city services, its residents started a school on the island, with teachers making the trek each day from shore to the school that went up to the third grade.

When Jones Island was first being settled, properties were built, sometimes without clear title to land. For a while that worked, but later land claims were contested between islanders and the Illinois Steel Company. Over 80 lawsuits went to trial, trying to determine lawful owners. Islanders found mixed results in those court decisions. Today there is a small park on Jones Island that commemorates the Kashube settlers, and each August, many Kashube descendants of those early settlers come together for a picnic.

St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr Church was built in 1866. It was Wisconsin’s first urban Polish Church, and it became the center of the Jones Island Kashube’s religious and cultural life. Enormous financial sacrifices were made by the Kashubes in support of the church. Today the names of those some of those Kashube pioneers can be found cast into the four brass bells in the St. Stan’s steeples. Those names include Kanski, Palmbeck, Flander, Konkel, and many more.

Today St. Stan’s is considered by many to be the mother church for other area Polish parishes. In 2016, St Stan’s celebrated its 150th anniversary. Abbé George Baird, serving at St. Stans, told of its growing faith community and its major restoration’s efforts. A video and photos that were shown testify to the successful efforts made to renew this beautiful church. St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr church is one of the few parishes in the Milwaukee archdiocese that holds masses in Latin.

Details of the work at the Emigration Museum in Gdynia, Poland were given by its Deputy Director Sebastian Tyrakowski (accompanied by Dr. Rafał Kaczyński, Research Officer). The Emigration Museum of Gdynia was opened in 2015. It tells the story of the emigration of three and a half million Polish people to new lives in foreign lands.

The site of the museum in Gdynia is what had once been a 1933 built terminal for ocean liners. Destroyed during the Second World War, its rebuild started in 2012. To help frame the strong emotion that attaches to this center of Polish emigration, the building is filled with Polish patriotic symbols.

The first major push for Polish emigration started after the failed November Uprising (1830-1831) that began with the Cadet’s Revolt of 1830. The museum tells the story of this uprising and the resulting migration of people from rural areas to cities and abroad. To help personalize these events, one family’s experience is told in detail. The trauma a family goes through in leaving its home, family and traditional way of life behind is portrayed. One of those stories covers a family leaving its cottage in Galicia, embarking on a crowded ship to New York’s Ellis Island, and later moving on to Chicago.

Causes of this emigration, from the personal, political, economic, and threat of war, are told. Included is the story of “Brazilian Fever,” where tens of thousands of Poles left for Brazil, in search of free land and opportunities, only to discover jungle, tropical diseases, and a world they did not expect. Many of those who tried Brazil, later went on to the U.S. and Canada.

The Museum contains core and temporary exhibits. It also serves as home for cultural, educational and historic projects, and provides a venue for musical events, plays, lectures, conferences, and workshops. Finally, it hosts a section on oral history and publishes its own scientific journal. Emigration Museum of Gdynia, stands as a lasting link and symbol of Poland’s connection to World Polonia.

Upcoming events for September 2018:

Thursday, September 6, 2018 6:30 P.M. in Polish Center of Wisconsin, Veterans Room

Polish/Kaszube Emigration and Immigration to Milwaukee
“One Story with Three Strains”

You are cordially invited to attend this lecture to be held in the Veterans Room of the Polish Center of Wisconsin. This event is free and open to the public.

Special attention will be paid to the Jones Island Kaszube settlement of fishermen who arrived from the Hel Peninsula in the Gdansk region of Poland beginning in the 1870’s. We will also celebrate the 150th anniversary of St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr Church, one of the oldest Polish urban churches in the United States. And lastly, the audience will be treated to a special discussion by the Deputy Director of the recently opened Emigration Museum in Gdynia, Poland, who will focus on its goals, programs and future projects.

Moderator: Dr. Angela Pienkos, Educator, Past President of the Polish American Historical Association, and Past Executive Director of the Polish Center of Wisconsin.

Our Distinguished Panel of Speakers Includes:
Prof. Anne Gurnack, Professor Emerita (Political Science), University of Wisconsin Parkside;
Abbe George Baird, Administrator St. Stanislaus Church of Milwaukee;
Sebastian Tyrakowski, Deputy Director of the Emigration Museum in Gdynia Poland.

Two articles worth reading before the discussion:
“Jones Island Fishing Village, 1898” by Jeff Beutner (2016)
“The story behind Kaszube’s Park: Milwaukee’s smallest, strangest piece of public land“
by Tyler Maas (2017)

September 7-9 at Loyola University Chicago

75th Anniversary of Polish American Historical Association (PAHA)

The program, registration materials and other information about the 3-day conference celebrating PAHA’s history and achievements are available on the PAHA website, PAHA NewsBlog and the letter from PAHA President, prof. Dr. Anna Mazurkiewicz. We remember her from “The Story of Polish and East European Exiles in the United States After World War II” she told the members of PAC-Wisconsin Division and other guests of Polish Center of Wisconsin in November 2017.