Welcome to the Polish American Journal

July • Lipiec

1847. Founding of Parisville, Polish settlement in Michigan.

1569. The Lublin Union was signed and direct rule over Lithuania was passed to Poland. Lithuania maintained certain ministers, laws, money and an army. The territories of Volinija, Kiev and Podolija were transferred to Polish rule.

1926. Opening of the Ben Franklin Bridge (then known as Delaware River Bridge) built by Ralph Modjeski.

MATKA BOSKA JAGODNA

Blessed Virgin of the Berries. The first fruits and wild berries are ripened by this day.

1796. Death of botanist Krzysztof Kluk, who classified Poland’s flora.

1800. Birth of painter Piotr Michalowski.

1879. Birth of Alfred Korzybski, who developed the theory of General Semantics, which states that human beings are limited in what they know by (1) the structure of their nervous system and (2) the structure of their languages. Korzybski published many books in the United States and lived in Lakeville, Conn. until his death in 1950.

1619. Account of strike by Polish settlers in Jamestown, Virg. entered into records of the Virginia Company. The Poles, pitch, tar and glassmakers, held the win strike for equal rights. It is considered to be the first labor strike in the New World.

1844. Birth of Rev. John Pitass in Upper Slask, Poland. First pastor of St. Stanislaus parish, the Mother Church of Buffalo Polonia.

INDEPENDENCE DAY. (U.S.)

1931. A gift from Ignacy Paderewski, a statue of Woodrow Wilson is unveiled in Poznan, Poland in appreciation for his efforts on Poland’s behalf.

1934. Death of Madame Sklodowska Curie, 66, in France, Nobel Prize winner chemist who discovered radium and polonium.

1943. Death in a plane crash of Władysław Sikorski, Prime Minister of Poland's World War II Government in Exile, Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces, and a vigorous advocate of the Polish cause on the diplomatic scene. The exact circumstances of his death remain in dispute, which has given rise to ongoing conspiracy theories.

1877. Birth of Wanda A. Landowska, Warsaw Poland, harpsichordist (Musique Ancienne).

1945. Polish American World War II ace Col. Francis Gabreski scores his 28th downed enemy plane.

1881. Birth of Cardinal August Hlond, Primate of Poland.

1922. Death of BLESSED MARIA TERESIA LEDOCHOWSKA (b. April 29 1863), Roman Catholic nun and African missionary.

1923. Birth of Wojciech Jaruszelski, Polish army officer, political leader who declared martial law in Poland in an attempt to crush the Solidarity union.

1572. Death of King Zygmunt August, last of Poland’s Jagiellonian dynasty.

1925. Birth of Dr. Alina Szczesniak, who emigrated to the United States and became the world’s leading authority on food texture. She was a food scientist and researcher for General Foods Corporation for 34 years.

1924. Birth of Congressman John Dingell († 7 Feb. 2019).

1824. Birth of Włodzimierz Bonawentura Krzyżanowski († 1887), Union officer. Born in Rożnowo, Grand Duchy of Poznań, Krzyżanowski was a Polish American engineer, politician, and brigadier general in the Union Army. ¶ A Polish noble, he took part in the 1848 uprising against Prussia and left Poland after its suppression. During the American Civil War he enlisted in the United States' Union Army, recruited a company of Polish immigrants, and became colonel of the 58th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, listed in the official Army Register as the "Polish Legion." ¶ He was a first cousin to Frédéric Chopin, whose mother Justyna Krzyżanowska's brother was Włodzimierz Krzyżanowski's father. ¶ After the war, Krzyżanowski was given governing duties in Alabama. He later served as the appointed governor of Georgia. Supposedly he also served as the first American administrator of Alaska Territory. It is said that the supposed posting was a reward for his services as personal representative of Secretary William H. Seward during the negotiations for the purchase of Alaska. He served in the U.S. Treasury Department and later in the customs service in Panama and New York. ¶ Krzyżanowski died in New York City. On 13 October 1937, the 50th anniversary of his death, his remains were transferred with military honors from Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, to Arlington National Cemetery. President Franklin D. Roosevelt broadcast a nationwide tribute via radio, and Poland's President, Ignacy Mościcki, transmitted his from Warsaw.

1989. U.S. President George Bush begins two-day visit Poland meeting with Lech Walesa and other Solidarity leaders.

1823. Birth of Polish portrait painter Henryk Rodakowski.

1803. Napoleon Bonaparte creates the Grand Duchy of Warsaw.

1835. Birth of composer and violinist Henry Wieniawski.

1943. Peak of massacres of Poles in Volhynia, part of an ethnic cleansing operation carried out in Nazi German-occupied Poland by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA)’s North Command in the regions of Volhynia (Reichskommissariat Ukraine) and their South Command in Eastern Galicia (General Government) beginning in March 1943 and lasting until the end of 1944. In July and August 1943, most of the victims were women and children. The actions of the UPA resulted in 35,000-60,000 Polish deaths in Volhynia and 25,000-40,000 in Eastern Galicia.

1942. In the longest bombing raid of World War II, 1,750 British Lancaster bombers attacked the German-occupied port of Gdańsk. The Polish submarine Orzel escaped from internment and went on to fight the Germans against long odds.

1938. Death of Mother Coletta Hilbert, founder of the Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph.

2000. Death of Jan Karski, former Polish diplomat who in 1942 tried to warn Great Britain and the United States of Nazi atrocities in occupied Poland. His words fell on deaf ears.

1985. Death of Johnny Banaszak, Buffalo TV personality who for nearly three decades played “Promo the Robot” on the children’s show Rocketship 7. With Jimmy Grzankowski, their “Johnny and Jimmy” duo were a musical mainstay at WKBW television. He was also a member of the award-winning New Yorkers polka band.

1904. Birth of writer Isaac Bashevis Singer in Radzymin, Poland.

Bishop Paul P. Rhode appointed the sixth Bishop of Green Bay, Wisconsin, by Pope Benedict XV. During his tenure, he established 10 parishes and 19 parochial schools, and organized the diocesan Catholic Charities and a department of education.

1894. Birth of Tadeusz Sendzimir, engineer and inventor with 120 patents in mining and metalwork. His name has been given to revolutionary methods of processing steel and metals used in every industrialized nation of the world.

1410. Polish victory over the Teutonic Knights at Grunwald. Lithuanian-Polish forces defeated the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Tannenberg, Prussia, thereby halting the Knights’ eastward expansion along the Baltic and hastening their decline. Vytautas and Jogaila with hired mercenaries from Belarus along with Tartars and Czechs defeated the Teutonic Knights between Grunvald (Zalgiriai) and Tannenberg southeast of Malburg. Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen and many of his nobles were killed. The war officially ended with the Treaty of Thorn in which the Knights gave up Zemaitija to Vytautas.

1871. Birth of famed Polish explorer and geographer Henry Arctowski.

SAINT KUNEGUNDA

BLESSED CZESLAW

Czeslaw was a Dominican companion (and possible relative or brother) of Saint Hyacinth and a disciple of Saint Dominic himself. He was the spiritual director of a duchess, Saint Hedwig of Poland. Blessed Czeslaw is patron saint of Wroclaw, who is believed to have defended the city from the incursion of the Mongols in 1241. (d. 1242)

1873. Jan Matejko establishes a school of fine arts in Krakow.

SAINT JADWIGA D’ANJOU († 1399)

1629. Birth of Poland’s warrior king, Jan Sobieski.

ST. SIMON OF LIPNICA

Bernadine Franciscan of Lipnica (1482), 15th Century Polish church reformer, canonized June 3, 2007.

1915. Birth of polka radio pioneer Eddie Gronet.

1980. Lt. Col. Matt Urban, America’s most decorated soldier, receives Medal of Honor.

SAINT MARGARET OF ANTIOCH OF PISIDIA, one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.

Święta Małgorzata zapowiada środek lata.

St. Margaret's Day - half the year away.

1936. Birth of former Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski.

1996. Renata Mauer of Poland won first gold medal of the Olympic Games, for shooting.

1901. Dedication of St. Josaphat Basilica, Milwaukee, Wisc.

1942. Nazis began their transport of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to the German death camp at Treblinka.

1982. Official end of martial law in Poland, which lasted for 586 days.

1878. Birth of Janusz Korczak, the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit (d. August 7, 1942), a Polish-Jewish educator, children’s author, and pediatrician known as Pan Doktor (“Mr. Doctor”) or Stary Doktor (“Old Doctor”). After spending many years working as director of an orphanage in Warsaw, he refused freedom and stayed with his orphans when the institution was sent from the Ghetto to the Treblinka extermination camp, during the German operation Grossaktion Warsaw of 1942.

1515. Emperor Maximillian and Vladislav of Bohemia forged an alliance between the Habsburg [Austria] and Jagiello [Polish-Lithuanian] dynasties in Vienna.

1942. Nazis open a 2nd Treblinka Camp opened for the extermination of Jews, as the evacuation of the Warsaw ghetto began. Also imprisoned here are several thousand Romani.

1885. Ojczyna (Fatherland) founded in Buffalo. Semi-weekly newspaper. Ceased publication in 1887.

ST. JACOB THE GREATER

Patron of laborers. By Polish custom, half of all eggs laid today are given to the poor.

Po Świetym Jakubie w swoim garnku każdy dłubie

After the Feast of St. Jakub, in their own pots everyone digs.

Jaki Jakób do południa taka zima aż do Grudnia

As Jacob does in the morning, so does the winter in December

Jaki Jakób po południu taka zima też do Grudnia

As Jacob does in the afternoon, so does the winter after December as well.

Na Jakuby chmury, będą śniegu fury.

Clouds on St. Jacob, wagonloads of snow.

1932. Signing of the Soviet-Polish Non-Aggression Pact.

ST. ANN

Mother of the Virgin Mary. Her feast is the traditional harbinger of fall.

Od Świętej Hanki, zimne wieczory i ranki.

From St. Ann’s, cool evenings and morn.

1400. Restoration of Jagiellonian University.

1812. Birth of prolific Polish novelist Józef Ignacy Krasinski.

1915. Roman Catholic Diocese surrenders possession of Holy Mother of the Rosary to the Polish National Catholic Church, Buffalo, N.Y.

ST. MARTHA

Patron saint of servants and cooks

Około dnia świętej Marty, ze żniwami już nie żarty.

Around Saint Marta's day, the harvests leave no time for play.

Około świętej Marty płać za żniwo, dawaj kwarty.

Święta Marta wodzi głód do czarta.

Around St. Martha, pay for the harvest, give me quarters.

Saint Marta brings famine to the devil.

1908. Bishop Paul P. Rhode consecrated, first Polish American bishop in Chicago. He served as vicar general of the Archdiocese from 1909 to 1915.

1966. United States Postal Service issues stamp in honor of Poland’s millennium.

1619. At meeting of legislative assembly at the Jamestown, Virginia settlement, Poles are granted a political voice after withholding services as pitch, tar and glassmakers. Their action is considered the first strike in the United States.

1928. Halina Konopaczka wins Poland’s first Olympic gold in discus.