The first day of Polish Heritage Month brought great news to Polish American Congress – Wisconsin Division of (PAC-WI) with Milwaukee Society of the Polish National Alliance naming this year Dr. Mark Pienkos as Polish American of the Year.

In conjunction with this recognition, the Milwaukee City Council presented him with congratulatory resolution and Milwaukee’s Mayor,Tom Barrett, proclaimed October 1, 2017 to be Dr. Mark Pienkos Day.

The award ceremony took place during the Annual Pulaski Day Banquet commemorating the death of General Casimir Pulaski (Generał Kazimierz Pułaski) and the 1929 resolution of U.S. Congress designating October 11th as General Pulaski Memorial Day.

The title of Polish American of the Year is traditionally awarded to Americans of Polish descent for their outstanding community service and Mark’s contributions to various communities fit the bill perfectly.

Known as “Dr.P.” to his students and coworkers, he devoted the entire forty four years of his career in education to helping “kids of all ages” succeed. From teacher, counselor and principal at elementary and high school level, to superintendent for the Washington-Caldwell School District and Traver School in Lake Geneva, he also taught courses for teachers in Aurora University and Lake-Sumter Community College.

Given his penchant for politics, Mark also held several elective positions in communities of his residence and various democratic parties (see the biography on his website).

But most notably for Polish American interests, Mark is also an active member of the Polish American Congress (PAC). After presiding over Wisconsin Division of this organization for several years, he now serves as its Vice President, as well as a representative to the National Council of PAC Directors and the PAC National Vice President for Public Relations. He and his family have been also the long time members of Polish National Alliance (PNA).

Mark is also known for his love of sports that came to fruition in the book “1917-2017: One Hundred Years of White Sox Baseball” published in 2017 (see our earlier post and news on his website). The team was a great positive influence in his early years in Chicago’s South Side. Now Mark uses the book to “pay it forward” with some of the proceeds going to Stella and Edward Pienkos Educational Fund providing scholarships to graduating high school students.

The fund was established in memory of Mark’s parents. The hardships of immigrants’ life robbed them of a chance to get high school diplomas, but they both worked hard to get solid education for Mark and his two brothers (Donald Pienkos – now professor emeritus at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Edward Pienkos – a surgeon). And now Mark helps others to achieve the very same goals.

What a long, winding road it has been since Mark’s grandfather Walenty Pienkos arrived to New York City on September 16, 1912 from a small village near Rzeszów – then in Austrian partition of Poland (see the video to the right).

And yet, how very successful…

Congratulations to Mark Pienkos and his entire family
(Gratulacje dla Marka Pienkosia i jego całej rodziny)

Irena Frączek reports

On September 17, 2017, the Kościuszko Park in Milwaukee was again a place of gathering for Poles expressing their admiration for the Polish-American hero, Tadeusz Kościuszko. The event was organized to honor the 200th Anniversary of his death – commemorated worldwide under the patronage of UNESCO – and to celebrate the Year of Kościuszko as declared by the Senate of the Republic of Poland.

An important message reverberating throughout the Sunday’s event was the need to teach our children the history of their ancestral homeland and its heroes. The task is already a part of the teaching program in the St. John Paul II Polish Saturday School (KPSS), one of the event’s organizers. But the “Day with General Kościuszko” was embraced as a great venue for the children of Milwaukee’s Polonia to learn more about the hero recognized in both the country of their ancestors and the country where they live.

The event began with a mass celebrated by Father Edward Traczyk in the beautiful church of Polish SS. Cyril and Methodius. Erected by Milwaukee’s Polish residents and dating back to 1892, the church still makes all services available in Polish language. It also hosts the St. John Paul II Polish Saturday School (KPSS), whose accomplishments have won it the Clement Zablocki Civic Achievement Award granted in 2016 by the Polish American Congress – WI Division.

The ceremony in the Kościuszko Park commenced after a spirited procession arrived from the SS. Cyril and Methodius church waving the Polish and American flags and carrying the wrath to be placed at the Kościuszko Monument. David Rydzewski (president of the Polish American Congress – WI Division) and Bożena Przybysz (KPSS coordinator) delivered the opening remarks.
Fr. Edward Traczyk spoke next reinforcing his earlier message of the importance of teaching history to the children and reminiscing about the estimated 60,000 people attending the first dedication of Kościuszko Monument in 1905 (second dedication took place in 1951 when the statue was moved across the park to its current location).

The monument’s history moved front and center again in the words of Claude Krawczyk, a chair of the Kościuszko Monument Restoration Committee, attending the event with two other committee members: Judy Ramazzini and Susan Mikos. It is thanks to the committee and hundreds of benefactors that after renovation and rededication on the Independence Day in 2013, the monument now adorns the park in its unvarnished glory.

The wrath honoring the “Hero of both Hemispheres” was laid at the monument’s base after the participants sang the American and Polish anthems. Katarzyna Zawiślak (KPSS) led the singing and later directed also her young students playing a traditional tune Płynie Wisła, płynie, po polskiej krainie (Flows the Vistula River, flows across the Polish lands)) on hand bells. The choice of song could not be more opportune since along with Tadeusz Kościuszko, the Vistula River is one of several honorees proclaimed as 2017 patrons by the Polish Parliament.

Besides the animated group of school children wearing the folk costumes or red T-shirts (with the school logo and coat of arms of the Republic of Poland in the back), four characters in Kościuszko outfits gave the event a very special flavor. Stealing the rest of the show, the “Four Kościuszkos” delivered speeches recounting in Kościuszko’s voice the three main phases of his life.

Brothers Fabian and Kevin Marchewka (both from the Catholic Polish Saturday School of St. John Paul II) gave voice to the young Kościuszko describing his childhood, school years and favorite subjects. Stan Graiewski’s (Polish American Congress – WI Division) speech focused on the Kościuszko’s engagements in the American Revolutionary War and ended with a salute to the attentive audience.

The third speech – written by prof. Don Pienkos (Polish American Congress – WI Division) and delivered by Neil Dziadulewicz (Syrena Dancers) – turned the spotlight on Kościuszko’s deeds after the American War of Independence and particularly on his efforts to restore the free Poland. The conclusion of that speech could not summarize his life work any better, while simultaneously giving the gist of its meaning to the contemporary society and to all of us attending the ceremony:

“There are many, many memorials and monuments to what I stood for – freedom, independence and social justice – for all people.

Like the beautiful monument right here in Milwaukee.

Thank you for this!

But perhaps the two best testimonials are the living ones. One is the America’s Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The other is the Poland of today – a democratic, free and independent Poland, a Poland for all Poles whatever their station in life, a Poland that is a trusted friend and ally of the United States.

Thank you all for today, too!”

UPCOMING KOŚCIUSZKO EVENTS IN SEPTEMBER

…

September 17, 2017 12:00 pm

A DAY WITH THE
GENERAL KOŚCIUSZKO

Gathering at his Monument in Milwaukee’s Kościuszko Park

To honor General Kościuszko on the 200th anniversary of his death, join members of St. John Paul II Polish Saturday School, the Polish American Congress, and Polanki to hear the story of Kościuszko told in his own words (in Polish and English)

The event will begin following the procession from St. Maximillian Kolbe Church to the Kościuszko Monument starting after the end of 10:30 am Mass in Polish.

Anticipated time of the event in Kościuszko Park is 1 hour.

Please bring your own chair if you want to sit during the program

…

September 25, 2017 4:00 pm

WHY IS KOSCIUSZKO CALLED
‘THE HERO OF TWO CONTINENTS?’

Lecture by Dr. James Pula
Professor of History at Purdue University

The free lecture with refreshments will be hosted in the Polish Center of Wisconsin.

The event is sponsored by the Milwaukee Society of the Polish National Alliance and supported by Polanki (the Polish Women’s Cultural Club of Milwaukee), the Wisconsin State Division of the Polish American Congress, the UW-Milwaukee Polish Studies Committee and the Polish Heritage Alliance.

…

Irena Frączek reports……………

Birthday Wishes from Poland to the United States

on the Sesquicentennial of American Independence

It was an unusual birthday gift that arrived from Poland to the White House on October 14, 1926. Delivered a few months after the 150th anniversary of American independence was celebrated on July 4th of that year, it was a collection of nearly 30,000 pages with 5.5 million signatures gathered among 30 millions of citizens of the Second Polish Republic and about 3 millions of Poles living abroad. The pages were bound into 111 volumes of which the first one was entitled “The Polish Declarations of Admiration and Friendship for the United States.”

Coming from the nation savoring the eighth year of sovereignty regained after 123 years of partitions, it was a token of high esteem for the 150 years old American democracy as well as gratitude for supporting the Polish cause at the conclusion of World War I. The authors of the dedication page have also expressed the heartfelt thanks for saving thousands of Polish children from starvation at the war’s end and American pilots joining the Kościuszko’s Squadron during the Polish-Soviet War (1919-1921).

Poles have always had a soft place for America in their hearts and in 1926, this reverence led “The Fourth of July Committee” formed in Poland to undertake a massive task of circulating thousands of blank cards to sign that reached even the most remote parts of the country. Among millions of signees were government officials (including the President of Poland, Ignacy Mościcki), school children, artists, soldiers, bankers, students, sportspeople, clergy, scientists and members of numerous organizations, societies and clubs.

After nearly 90 years of being housed in the Library of Congress in Washington DC, this impressive manifestation of Polish-American friendship became a story again after the project of digitizing all of its 111 volumes has been completed in 2017 in cooperation with the Polish Library of Washington and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland. All pages of this memorable manuscript are now available online and check it out, many of them are beautifully embellished with drawings, photographs, dried flowers and artwork created by the best Polish graphic artists of the time (click here to view selected pages with descriptions).

Besides reminding us about the historic gesture that many of us have forgotten or never heard about, this is also a great resource for genealogical research. So who knows, you might even find on those pages signatures of your own ancestors or relatives….