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August • Sierpień

1944. The Warsaw Rising (powstanie warszawskie) beings, a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army (Armia Krajowa) to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The rebellion was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union’s Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces.However, the Soviet advance stopped short, enabling the Germans to regroup and demolish the city while defeating the Polish resistance, which fought for 63 days with little outside support. The Rising was the largest single military effort taken by any European resistance movement during World War II.

1943. Eleven Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth murdered by Nazis in Nowogrodek.

1930. Birth, in Chicago, of Walter “Li’l Wally” Jagiello. He revolutionized the polka music industry with the introduction of the slower “Chicago style” tempo mixed with his Polish folk melodies.

1943. Treblinka Uprising. Some 600 prisoners at the Nazi Treblinka concentration camp stage an uprising and fled into the woods. Only 40 survived. In 1999, Ian MacMillan authored “Village of a Million Spirits: A Novel of the Treblinka Uprising.”

1945. Potsdam Conference (July 17-August 2, 1945) concludes. Held near Berlin, it was the last of the World War II meetings held by the “Big Three” heads of state: American President Harry S. Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (and his successor, Clement Attlee) and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin. The talks established a Council of Foreign Ministers and a central Allied Control Council for administration of Germany.

1899. Birth, in Warsaw, of Apolonia Chalupiec, silent screen star later known as Pola Negri. († 1987).

1899. Birth, in Warsaw, of poet and novelist Stanislaw Balinski.

1958. Birth of rock drummer Jerry Augustyniak (10,000 Maniacs) in Buffalo, N.Y.

1941. Birth of Martha (Kostyra) Stewart, American retail businesswoman, writer, and television personality. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, focusing on home and hospitality, she gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing publishing, broadcasting, merchandising and e-commerce.

1901. Birth of Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski, Primate of Poland from 1948-1981, a staunch defender of faith during Poland’s year’s under Communist control.

1997. Phil Niekro inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame.

1747. Founding of the first public library in Europe in Warsaw.

1924. Death of Joseph Conrad (nee Józef Konrad Korzeniowski), 66, British and Polish author.

1884. Louis Gruenberg born near Brest Litovsk, Poland. His family moved to the United States when he was a few months old. A pianist and prolific composer, especially of operas, he was an early champion of Schoenberg and other contemporary composers. Gruenberg was also a highly respected Oscar-nominated film composer in Hollywood in the 1940s

1942. Janusz Korczak and the children he cared for were taken away by the Nazis from an orphanage in the Warsaw Ghetto. He chose to stay with the children in his care as they went together into the gas chambers at Treblinka. In 2002 a memorial in Warsaw was dedicated to Korczak and the children.

1762. Partition of Poland first of three territorial divisions (1772, 1793, 1795) perpetrated by Russia, Prussia, and Austria, by which Poland's size was progressively reduced until, after the final partition, the state of Poland ceased to exist.

1977. Record set in Michigan for world’s largest kielbasa, 1.5 miles long and 3000 lbs.

ST. DOMINIC

Gdy ciepło na Dominika, ostra zima nas dotyka.

St. Dominic warm, fierce winter storms.

1944. A Halifax JP-276A took off on its final flight from the Italian city of Brindisi around 8:00 p.m., to drop weapons, ammunition, and medical supplies for resistance fighters involved in the Warsaw Uprising against the Nazis. The plane was shot down by Poland’s Nazis occupiers and crashed near the town of Dabrowa Tarnowska, in southern Poland. Remnants were recovered in 2006 and the remains of the crew, five Canadians and two Britons, were formally buried in 2007.

1306. King Wenceslas III of Poland and Bohemia murdered.

1915. The Austro-German Army takes Warsaw, in present-day Poland, on the Eastern Front. This ends a century of Russian control of the city. After taking Warsaw, the Austro-Germans move on to capture Ivangorod, Kovno, Brest-Litovsk, Bialystok, Grodno, and Vilna. By the end of September, Russian troops are driven out of Poland and Galicia, back to the original lines from which they had begun the war in 1914. For the time being, the battered Russian Army has effectively been eliminated as an offensive threat on the Eastern Front, freeing the Germans to focus more effort on the Western Front.

FEAST OF THE TRANSFIGURATION.

1955. As a senator, John F. Kennedy visits Poland and makes a pilgrimage to Częstochowa.

1944. Nazis begin deportation of 70,000 Jews from Lodz, Poland, to Auschwitz.

1935. Danzig, Germany (today's Gdańsk) 60% of voters agreed to Nazism (NSDAP).

1927. Maia Wojciechowska (d. 2002) born in Warsaw. She moved to the United States in 1942 and became an acclaimed author of children’s books. Her work included the memoir “Till the Break of Day: Memories, 1939-1942.”

1944. Poles play import role in Battle of Falaise.

1915. Birth of Fr. Cornelian Dende, O.F.M. Conv. famed director of the Fr. Justin Rosary Hour.

1264. Statute of Kalisz creates a “Jewish Nation” in Poland

1942. Death in Nazi gas chambers at Auschwitz of St. Teresa Benedicta (Edith Stein), a Roman Catholic nun born of Jewish parents. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II May 1, 1987, and canonized October 11, 1998.

1582. Russia ended its 25-year war with Poland. Russia and Poland concluded the Peace of Jam-Zapolski, under which Russia lost access to the Baltic and surrendered Livonia and Estonia to Poland.

1920. Allies recognize Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania.

1880. Founding of the Polish National Alliance fraternal life-insurance society.

1881. Birth of Leon Krzycki, leader of early labor movements in the United States.

1932. Birth of the “Golden Voice of Polkas,” Marion Lush (Luszcz), in Chicago. His parents returned to Poland after his birth, but came back to Chicago prior to the outbreak of World War II.

1942. Nazi Germany's SS began exterminating 3,500 Jews in Zelov Lodz, Poland. The operation ended Sept. 30.

1989. Poland’s Solidarity-dominated Senate adopted a resolution expressing sorrow for the nation’s participation in the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia.

1916. Russian army takes Stanislawow, Poland (now Ivanov Frankovsk in present-day Ukraine) from the Germans.

1882. Birth of Władysław Anders, General of the Polish Army during World War II. He was commander of the Polish Forces in the Soviet Union and commanded the Second Corps in Italy. His greatest achievement was the successful leadership of the Polish forces that took Monte Cassino, Italy.

1912. Birth of Polish American actress Jean Parker (nee Luise Stephanie Zelinska). With Katharine Hepburn, Joan Bennett, and Frances Dee, Parker starred in George Cukor’s Little Women, which boosted the careers of its four young actresses.

1950. Birth of self-taught computer genius and Apple Computer founder Steve Wozniak.

1866. Birth of Gabriel Sovulewski, who helped develop Yosemite National Park, where he is buried.

1945. 35 Jews sacrifice their lives to blow up a Nazi rubber plant in Silesia.

1838. Birth of Fr. Dominic Kolasinski, who builder of Polish churches in Detroit.

1873. Birth of Józef Haller, General of Polish units of France during World War I. (d. 1960).

1916. Birth of Polish American historian Edward Pinkowski, who discovered Pułaski’s alleged remains in the Pułaski Monument in Savannah, Georgia. He is the author of hundreds of papers and articles on Polish American achivements.

ST. MAXIMILIAN KOLBE

Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan priest, died in Auschwitz in 1941. He sacrificed his life so another inmate may live. He was beatified in 1971 and canonized in 1982.

2004. Czeslaw Milosz (93), Polish poet and Nobel laureate (1980), dies in Krakow. He was known for his intellectual and emotional works about some of the worst cruelties of the 20th century.

1385. In Lithuania Jogaila (Władysław II Jagiełło) and his brothers signed a treaty with Poland at Krievos Castle (Union of Krewo). Here he agreed to convert to Christianity and to seek the conversion of all of Lithuania and that then Lithuania and Poland would unite. The treaty also included an agreement to free all captive Catholics and to help Poland regain all the land it had lost to the German Knights.

1980. A strike begins at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, provoked by the firing of Anna Walentynowicz. Early demands are economic but also include the return of Anna Walentynowicz and Lech Walesa to work, and a memorial to the fallen striker in December 1980. Gdynia shipyard strikes on the 15th along with communication workers.

FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION

... also known as Matki Boskiej Zielnej, Feast of the Lady of the Herbs. This day is marked in Poland by a massive pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Częstochowa .

Do Maryi Wniebowstąpienia,

miej w stodole połowę mienia.

On the Ascension of Mary have in your barn half of your property (harvest).

W Wniebowziecie Panny Maryji słońce jasne

Będzie wino grodnie kwaśne.

On the Assumption of the Blessed Mary,

the sun is bright, and the grapes will be suitably sour.

1920. “Cud na Wisła” (“Miracle on the Vistula”). Polish victory over the Red Army on the Wisla River.

1966. Death of Jan Kiepura, 64, Polish tenor, in Rye, N.Y.

1945. Communist-imposed Polish government signs treaty with the USSR to cede eastern territories, including Galicia.

2002. Pope John Paul II returned to Poland for a 3-day visit.

1919. First Silesian Uprising begins. Powstania śląskie were a series of three armed uprisings of the Poles and Polish Silesians of Upper Silesia, from 1919 to 1921, against German rule; the resistance hoped to break away from Germany in order to join the Second Polish Republic, which had been established in the wake of World War I. In the latter-day history of Poland after World War II, the insurrections were celebrated as centrepieces of national pride.

1959. Death of musician Wanda Landowski, who brought modern fame to the harpsichord.

1941. Crowd of 135,132 attend a U.S boxing match to watched Tony (Zalewski) Zale knock out Billy Prior.

ST. HYACINTH

Sw. Jacek, priest, 1257. He is often depicted carrying the Blessed Sacrament from a church about the be pillaged by the Tartars. He is the patron saint of pierogi, and the phrase, “Swiety Jacek z pierogami!,” (“St. Hyacinth and his pierogi!”) is an old expression of surprise, roughly equivalent to the American “good grief!” or “holy smokes!”

2005. Norwegian officials said 3 unarmed Polish researchers stranded on a remote Arctic island were rescued by helicopter as polar bears were closing in on them. The escape took place on an island in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, about 650 miles from the North Pole.

1941. Signing of the Sikorski-Mayski Agreement, a World War II military alliance between Poland and the Soviet Union.

1649. Signing of the Treaty of Zboriv. Polish forces of about 25,000 led by king John II Casimir of Poland clashed against a combined force of Ukrainian Cossacks and Crimean Tatars, which numbered about 80,000. The treaty was ratified by the Diet, which was in session between November 1649 and January 1650, but hostilities resumed when Catholic bishops refused to recognise the provisions of the treaty (i.e. admission to the Senate of Orthodox metropolitan of Kiev, Sylvestr Kosiv).

1374. Privilege of Koszyce, leading to the ascension of Queen Jadwiga to the throne.

1882. Samuel Goldwyn, American movie mogul who helped start MGM (Metro Goldwyn Mayer), was born as Schmuel Gelbfisz in Warsaw, Poland.

1943. Final convoy of Jews from Salonika, Greece, arrived at Auschwitz.

1655. Signing of the Union of Kedainiai, which put Lithuania under Swedish protection, the purpose of which was to end Lithuania’s union with Poland, and set up two separate principalities in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. One of these was to be ruled by the Radziwiłł (Radvila) family, while the rest of the duchy was to remain a Swedish protectorate..

1939. Polish submarine Orzeł escapes Estonian capital of Tallinn. Russia retaliates by annexing Estonia

2002. An ailing and aging John Paul II bid a tearful farewell to his homeland as he concluded a four-day visit to the Krakow region of Poland.

1920. Second Silesian Uprising begins.

1506. Death of Alexander Jagiellon.

1587. Zygmunt Waza elected King of Poland.

1989. Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski nominates Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki to post of Prime Minister, the first non-communist in Polish power in 42 years.

1794. Greater Poland Uprising begins.

1881. Nikolay Yakovlevich Myaskovsky, composer, was born in Poland of Russian military parentage.

1940. Polish pilots fight in the Battle of Britain.

1847. Birth of Boleslaw Prus (Glowacki), journalist and novelist, who fought in Poland’s 1863 Uprising.

1980. Czeslaw Milosz receives Nobel Prize for Literature.

1907. Birth of Henry Archacki († Aug. 13, 1988), notable Polish graphic artist, journalist, researcher, historian, and council member of several different Polish-American groups within the mid-20th century. His illustrated works have been preserved and displayed within many museum and library exhibits. The three largest collections are within the Polish American Museum located in Port Washington, New York, at the University at Buffalo.

1584. Death of Humanist poet Jan Kochanowski.

1939. Birth of Carl “Yaz” Yastrzemski, Boston Red Sox hitting star. He won the Triple Crown in 1967, hitting .326 with 44 home runs and 121 RBIs. He won the batting title three times and played in 18 All-Star games. Besides his offensive success, he was considered the best defensive left-fielder of his time.

1988. Some striking workers in Poland ended a walkout that had begun a week earlier, but 125 miners barricaded themselves in an underground shaft, vowing to stay until they’d won their demands.

1939. Signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in Moscow, officially the Treaty of Non-aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also known as the Nazi–Soviet Pact.

ST. BARTHOLOMEW

Na Bartłomieja apostoła bocian do drogi dzieci woła

on St Bartholomew's storks prepare for a journey

1989. Coalition government in Poland under the first non-communist prime minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki takes power.

1994. Death of polka music legend Frank Wojnarowski, age 82, in Bridgeport, Conn. nursing home.

1939. Signing of the Polish-British Common Defense Pact, the agreement of mutual military assistance between the nations in the event either was attacked by some “European country.”

1905. Birth of St. Maria Faustyna Kowalska of the Blessed Sacrament, OLM in Głogowiec, Poland († 5 October 1938, Kraków), Polish Roman Catholic nun and mystic. Her apparitions of Jesus Christ inspired the Roman Catholic devotion to the Divine Mercy and earned her the title of “Apostle of Divine Mercy.” She was canonized 30 April 2000.

1915. Birth of International Polka Music Hall of Fame member and Buffalo, N.Y. Polish radio pioneer Stan “Stas” Jasinski in Hamtramck, Mich. († Aug. 12, 2005).

1919. Birth of Matt Louis Urban († 1995), in Buffalo, N.Y., the most decorated combat soldier of World War II. He was awarded a total of 29 decorations, virtually every combat medal possible, including seven Purple Hearts and the Medal of Honor.

1958. Birth of polka musician Robin Pegg (The Sounds, Dynatones, Trel-Tones, Bellares), Uniontown, Pa.

OUR LADY OF CZĘSTOCHOWA

1906. Albert Bruce Sabin, U.S. virologist, born in Poland. In 1955, he developed an oral vaccine against polio.

1939. Nazi Germany demands Danzig and Polish corridor.

1610. Polish King Władysław (Władysław IV Waza) was crowned king of Russia. He was deposed in November 1612, and finally resigned his claim June 14, 1634.

2005. Stanislaw Dziwisz (66), Pope John Paul II’s longtime aide, was installed as archbishop of Krakow.

1422. Treaty of Melno ends Gollub War against Teutonic Knights

1764. Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski named King of Poland.

1996. Agnieszka Kotlarska, fashion model, was knifed and killed by a thief outside her home. She was the first Polish winner of the Miss International beauty pageant in 1991.

1596. Christopher Pawlowski leads expedition to India.

1852. Fr. Leopold Moczygemba arrives at the port of New Orleans on the Sea Eagle with four other missionaries recruited by Bishop John Odin of the Galveston, Texas Diocese. Four years later in Panna Maria, Texas, Moczygemba and a community of Silesian Poles establish St. Mary’s, the first Polish church in America.

1939. Peking Plan begins, an operation in which three destroyers of the Polish Navy, the Burza (“Storm”), Błyskawica (“Lightning”), and Grom (“Thunder”), were evacuated to the United Kingdom in late August and early September 1939 prior to the outbreak of war. They were ordered to travel to British ports and assist the British Royal Navy in the event of a war with Nazi Germany. The plan was successful and allowed the ships to avoid certain destruction or capture in the German invasion.

1655. Swedish king Karel X Gustaaf occupied Warsaw.

BLESSED BRONISLAWA (1259)

1481. Two Latvian monarchs were executed for conspiracy to murder Polish King Kazimierz IV.

1288. Death of King Leszek Czarny (Leszek II)

1939. Gleiwitz Incident begins. Nazi forces posing as Poles staged an attack (executed September 1, 1939), against the German radio station Sender Gleiwitz in Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia, Germany (since 1945: Gliwice, Poland) Its goal was to set a a pretext for invading Poland.

1247. Death of Konrad I of Masovia.

1476. Poland is covered by grasshoppers, which ravage crops and cause widespread famine.

1980. Polish trade union Solidarity, led by electrician Lech Walesa and others, founded in Baltic sea port of Gdańsk, Poland.