Welcome to the Polish American Journal

March

• Marzec

1634. Polish King Władysław IV beats the Russians in the Smolensk War, a two-year conflict fought between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia.

1864. Russian Czar Alexander II upheld reforms in Poland that gave landholders ownership of their lands.

1333. Death of Władysław I the Elbow-high.

1960. Death of Stanisław Taczak, Polish general, commander-in-chief of the Greater Poland Uprising (b. 1874).

1864. Abolition of serfdom in Poland.

1943. Germany’s first transport of Jews from Westerbork, Netherlands, to Sobibor concentration camp in German-occupied Poland.

2007. Pope Benedict names Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz as archbishop of Warsaw.

1996. Death of Cardinal John Krol, Archbishop of Philadelphia, first Polish American Cardinal.

1918. Signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

ST. CASIMIR

1484. Death of St. Casimir, Patron of Poland. Casimir (Kazimierz), the son of Lithuania’s Grand Duke Casimir, died in Grodno at age 25. In 1602 he was declared a saint and protector of Lithuania. (b. Oct 3, 1458, Krakow).

1904. First issue of the Dziennik Polski, Detroit.

1386. Coronation of Władysław II Jagiełło.

1846. Kraków Uprising ends.

1940. Joseph Stalin — among others — signs an order for the massacre of Polish military officers, intellectuals, and priests who had been taken prisoner during the invasion. They are buried in mass graves in the Katyń Forest, just outside Smolensk, Russia. Allies United States and Great Britain do not act on news of the massacre for fear of upsetting Stalin.

1813. Birth of Kazimierz Gzowski, Polish engineer and bridge builder who emigrated to Canada.

1940. Birth of Connecticut DJ, polka musician and promoter Dick Pillar.

1783. King Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski granted rights to Jews of Kovno, Lithuania.

1933. Poland reinforces its garrison at the Westerplatte munitions depot outside the port city of Danzig (Gdańsk) with a battalion of Polish Marines. This began a ten-day occupation of the port by the Poles. Polish Marshal Józef Piłsudski wanted to reassert Polish prestige in the Free City, make German Chancellor Adolf Hitler willing to hold talks with Poland, and to weaken the reigning German National People’s Party in Danzig.

1454. Poland’s King Casimir proclaimed the attachment of Prussia to Polish rule. This began a 13-year war over Prussia (1454-1466).

1745. Birth, in Mazowia, Poland, of Casimir Pułaski, American Revolutionary War hero, general, and father of the American Cavalry.

966. Mieszko I, Duke of Poland, accepts Christianity.

1761. Birth of Jan Potocki, Polish ethnologist, historian, linguist, and author (d. 1815).

1822. Birth of Ignacy Łukasiewicz, Polish inventor and businessman, invented the Kerosene lamp (d. 1882).

1852. Birth of Hieronim Derdowski, Polish immigrant who played an important part in his community in Winona, Minnesota. He edited the weekly newspaper, Wiarus, where he advocated for sustaining Polish culture and traditions and carried stories about Polish communities in the United States and Europe. He was a Kaszubian, from the Baltic coast of Poland, and maintained the Kaszubian dialect, traditions and folkways.

1734. Russians capture Gdańsk.

1497. Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543), makes first recorded astronomical observation.

1920. Bolsheviks opened a major offensive on the Polish front.

1913. Birth in Paris of American fashion designer Paris as Oleg Cassini Loiewski. Raised in Italy, he came to the United States in 1936.

ST. GREGORY

Na świętego Grzegorza, idzie zima do morza.

On St. Gregory, the winter goes down to the sea.

1569. Sigismund II Augustus broke away from Lithuania and attached Volinija and Palenki to Poland.

1388. Pope Urban VI authorized Poznan’s Bishop Dobrogost to establish a Vilnius archdiocese.

1943. Germans close the Krakow ghetto.

1202. Death of Mieszko III the Old.

1995. Death of Franciszek Gajowniczek, Auschwitz prisoner saved from death by Fr. Maximilian Kolbe, who later became a saint.

1882. Birth of Waclaw Sierpinski, mathematician, known for contributions to set theory research. He published over 700 papers and 50 books. Three well-known fractals are named after him (the Sierpinski triangle, the Sierpinski carpet and the Sierpinski curve), as are Sierpinski numbers and the associated Sierpinski problem.

1869. Birth of Stanislaw Wojciechowski, politician and scientist. In 1922 he was elected the second President of the Republic of Poland following the assassination of Gabriel Narutowicz. He was ousted by the May Coup d’État of 1926.

1964. Birth of Gore Verbinski, American film director and writer, best known for directing the first three “Pirates of the Caribbean” films and “The Ring.” In addition to movies, he has also directed numerous music videos.

ST. PATRICK

“Love is never defeated, and I could add, the history of Ireland proves it.”—Pope John Paul II

1956. Death of Irene Joliet-Curie, Polish-French scientist, daughter of Pierre and Madame Curie, and Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipient. (b. 1897)

1921. Adoption of Poland’s March Constitution.

1895. Riots erupt when Rev. Tomasz Flaczek, first pastor of St. John Cantius, is appointed to St. Adalbert’s Church, Buffalo, N.Y. His controversial tenure led to the establishment of the Holy Mother of the Rosary Polish Catholic Church by parishioners upset with perceived authoritarian rule by the bishop.

1921. Signing of the Peace of Riga concludes the Polish-Soviet War.

ST. JOSEPH

1238. Death of Henryk I the Bearded.

1673. Death of Fr. Augustyn Kordecki (b. 1603), led the defense of Częstochowa against Swedish invaders.

1842. First Polish immigrant society formed in New York City, Towarzystwo Polakόw w Ameryce, Association of Poles in America.

1900. Birth of Paul Kletzki, Polish violinist, composer, conductor.

1547. Matthew Stryjkovski (d. c1592), the 1st author of a printed history of Lithuania, born in Strykov, Poland.

1609. Birth of Jan II Kazimierz, cardinal, and King of Poland (1648-68).

1939. Nazi Germany demands Gdańsk (Danzig) from Poland.

1822. Death of Józef Wybicki, author of the Polish National Anthem.

1980. Antoni Baylak, 70, sets himself on fire at the old town Square in Krakow to protest silence about the Katyń Massacre.

1659. The Warsaw parliament issues metal currency, shillings, for Lithuania and Poland.

1839. Town of Chictowauga (now Cheektowaga) in Erie County, New York, is formed from the southern portion of the town of Amherst. It would eventually become a haven for Polish Americans in Western New York.

1891. Death of Fr. Leopold Moczygemba in Detroit, Franciscan who founded the first Polish Church in the United States in Panna Maria, Texas. Also founder of Ss. Cyril & Methodius Seminary at the Orchard Lake Schools in Orchard Lake, Michigan.

National Day for the Remembrance of Poles Rescuing Jews under Nazi German Occupation.

1922. The Polish parliament endorsed the transfer of the Vilnius area to Lithuania.

1794. Tadeusz Kościuszko, recently returned from the United States, assumes the title of Supreme Commander of the Polish Insurrection of 1794 in defense of the Constitution of May 3. His oath is sworn in the Krakow marketplace.

FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION

(If March 25 falls in Holy Week or Easter Week, the feast is moved to the Monday after the 2nd Sunday of Easter).

1942. Germans began sending Jews to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

1981. The Solidarity movement in Poland stages a warning strike, in which at least 12 million Poles walk off their jobs for four hours.

2004. Death of Edward Piszek, Polish American industrialist and philanthropist, and founder of Mrs. Paul’s Kitchens, the frozen-food business.

1928. Birth in Warsaw of Zbigniew Brzezinski, National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter. Brzezinski was and internationally respected as a political scientist, statesman, and international foreign policy analyst.

1880. Death of Henryk Wieniawski, 44, Polish violist and composer.

1939. Britain and France agreed to support Poland if Germany threatens to invade.

1963. Death of prolific Polish writer Pola Gojawiczynska (b. April 1, 1896, Warsaw). Gojawiczynska was one of the most popular women writers of the Polish literature of interwar period. Her works included psychological themes and social themes connected with proletarian and small-town environment of Warsaw and Silesia.

1892. Birth of mathematician Stefan Banach (d. Aug. 31, 1945). Banach founded the branch of modern mathematics called functional analysis. A self-taught mathematics prodigy, he was the founder of the Lwów School of Mathematics.

1888. Birth of Mieczysław Haiman († 15 Jan. 1949), leading historian of the Polish American community. Haiman arrived in America in 1913 and settled in Buffalo. In 1935, He became the curator of the Polish Museum of America in Chicago which was founded by the Polish Roman Catholic Union of America. The Polish American Historical Association bestows the Mieczysław Haiman Award annually to a scholar who has done exemplary work in the area of Polish American studies.