Welcome to the Polish American Journal

January

• Stycze

ń

New Year’s Day

Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku!

Happy New Year!

A public holiday in Poland. For Catholics a holy day of obligation celebrating the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. This is a day of family dinners, following the previous day’s high-powered festivities at house parties, balls, discos, pubs and outdoor celebrations in city squares.

1467. Birth of Zygmunt I Stary, Renaissance king of Poland.

1919. Birth of Polish American actress Carol Landis.

1795. The Third Partition of the Lithuanian Polish Republic was made between Russia and Austria.

1944. Soviet troops cross the former Polish border.

1925. Birth of Johnny Lujack, All-American and Heisman Trophy winner at Notre Dame.

1173. Death of Bolesław IV the Curly.

Feast of Three Kings

On this day, K+M+B (the initials of Kaspar, Melchior, and Baltazar, the three kings who visited the Holy Infant) are inscribed above main entry of one’s home. Often this is done by one’s priest.

Three Kings day was also the traditional day to take down the Christmas Tree.

Known in Poland as Święto Trzech Króli, Epiphany is a holy day of obligation as well as a free day in the country. This marks the start of the pre-Lenten Karnawał (Mardi Gras) season. In recent years, colorful parades known as Three Kings cavalcades have been held in Polish cities with the Wisemen astride horses and camels, followed by merry-makers dressed as angels, devils, medieval warriors, dragons, etc.

From this date until February 2, pastoral visits (kolęda) to the homes of parishioners are held to update parish records, discuss any family problems and bless the family and home.

1785. Death of Polish-born Haym Salomon (Lissa, 1740), Revolutionary War patriot, financier, in Philadelphia.

1882. Death of Jan Józef Ignacy Łukasiewicz (b. 1822), pharmacist and petroleum industry pioneer who in 1856 built the world’s first oil refinery.

His achievements included the discovery of how to distill kerosene from seep oil, the invention of the modern kerosene lamp (1853), the introduction of the first modern street lamp in Europe (1853), and the construction of the world’s first modern oil well. Łukasiewicz became a wealthy man and one of the most prominent philanthropists in Central Europe’s Galicia. Because of his support for the region’s economic development, a popular saying attributed all paved roads to his fortune.

1996. Death of John A. Gronouski, former ambassador to Poland and Postmaster General.

1918. President Wilson announces his “Fourteen Points,” the 13th calling for a free Poland.

1681. The Treaty of Radzin ends a five-year war between the Turks and the allied countries of Russia and Poland.

1797. Jan Henryk Dabrowski organizes his legion in Italy, and thus honored by having his name included in the Polish National Anthem.

1944. Nazis establish Krakow-Plaszow Concentration Camp.

1920. The League of Nations was established as the Treaty of Versailles went into effect. The Free City of Danzig (Gdańsk) was constituted by the treaty.

1912. The Association of Priests for Polish Affairs formed in Buffalo, N.Y., its purpose being to afford Diocesan and Religious Order priests an opportunity to share culture and traditions among our Polish Parishes in the Diocese of Buffalo.

1953. Death of opera singer Marcella Sembrich-Kochanowska (b. 1853).

1386. Władysław Jagiello crowned King of Poland.

1945. The Red Army opened an offensive in South Poland, crashing 25 miles through the German lines.

1982. The Mass for the Nation by Rev. Jerzy Popiełuszko at the Church of St. Stanislaus Kostka.

1883. Fire in Circus Ferroni in Berditschoft, Poland, kills 430.

1917. The Provisional Parliament established in Poland.

1581. The city of Riga joined the Polish-Lithuanian union.

2009. Death of former U.S. Ambassador to Poland, Nicholas Rey (b. 1939) in Washington, D.C.

1920. The United States approved a $150 million loan to Poland, Austria and Armenia to aid in their war with the Russian communists.

1797. In St. Petersburg Russia, Prussia and Austria signed and act that terminated the Lithuanian-Polish state.

1582. Signing of the Peace of Jam Zapolski concludes Commonwealth participation in the Livonian War, as Russia cedes Livonia and Estonia to Poland, losing access to Baltic.

1890. Birth of swing and jazz drummer Gene Krupa.

1949. Death of Polish American historian and founder of the Polish Museum of America in Chicago, Mieczysław Haiman.

1919. Ignacy Jan Paderewski, 58, pianist, composer, becomes first premier of the newly created Republic of Poland.

1775. Nine women burned as witches for causing bad harvests in Kalisz, Poland. According to officials, they are “charged with having bewitched and rendered unfruitful the land belonging to a gentleman in this district.”

1732. Stanislaw II August Poniatowski, last king of Poland (1764-95), born.

1656. Prussian Duke Frederick Wilhelm withdraws ties with Lithuania and Poland and acknowledges vassal status with Sweden.

1734. Coronation of August III the Saxon.

1649. Coronation of John II Casimir Vasa.

1945. The totally devastated city of Warsaw is cleared of German resistance by forces of the 1st Belorussian Front. A Polish unit fighting with the Red Army is involved in the final attacks.

1401. In Lithuania, Vytautas and the country’s dukes submitted documents to Poland that Vytautas would rule Lithuania as a vassal to Poland and return the country to Poland upon his death.

1385. A Lithuanian delegation under Skirgaila arrived in Krakow to ask for the hand of Jadwiga on behalf of Jagiello.

1943. Jews in Warsaw Ghetto began an uprising against the Nazis.

1945. Krakow liberated almost without a shot and, compared to Warsaw, without too much damage to the town and people.

1945. The Red Army captures Łódź, Krakow, and Tarnow.

1967. Death of Casimir Funk in Albany, N.Y., Polish-born biochemist who discovered vitamins.

2000. Poland expels nine Russian diplomats under allegations of spying.

1320. Władysław I Lokietek (Ladislaus the Short) crowned King of Poland.

1268. Pope Clement IV gave permission to Poland’s King Premislus II to take over Lithuania and establish Catholicism.

Grandmother’s Day (Dzień Babci), an occasion for youngsters to honor and give gifts to their grannies who play an important role in many Polish families as free babysitters who read stories, fix delicacies and in general dote on and pamper their grandkids.

1407. Lithuanian Duke Vytautas leads Polish and German forces for a 2nd time against the Duchy of Moscow.

Grandfather’s Day (Dzień Dziadka), a time when kids visit and give small gifts to their grandfathers who often teach their grandsons simple carpentry, take them fishing and expose them to other typically male pursuits.

1982. U.S. President Ronald Reagan formally linked progress in arms control to Soviet repression in Poland.

1863. The January Uprising in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Russian Empire. It began this day in 1863, and lasted until the last insurgents were captured in 1865.

2007. Ryszard Kapuscinski (b.1932), Belarus-born Polish writer and journalist, dies following heart surgery. He gained international acclaim for his books chronicling wars, coups and revolutions in Africa, the Middle East and other parts of the world. His books included “The Emperor” (1978), a chronicle of the decline of Haile Selassie’s regime in Ethiopia. In 1981 he published “Shah of Shahs,” a book about the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled Iran’s Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. His last book “Travels With Herodotus” was published shortly after his death. In 2012 Artur Domoslawski’s “Ryszard Kapuscinski: A Life” (2010), was translated to English by Antonia Lloyd Jones.

1940. Pianist Jan Ignace Paderewski became premier of Polish government-in-exile.

1793. Second Partition of Poland. Polish patriots attempted to devise a new constitution which was recognized by Austria and Prussia, but not Russia, which invaded. Prussia in turn invaded and the two agreed to a partition that left only the central portion of Poland independent.

1931. The League of Nations rebukes Poland for the mistreatment of a German minority in Upper Silesia.

1734. In Krakow, the 2nd last king of Lithuania and Poland, August III, crowned.

1507. Coronation of Sigismund I the Old.

1940. Nazis established a Jewish ghetto in Łódź.

1913. Birth of pianist and composer Witold Lutoslawski.

1949. Poland joined the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance.

1934. Germany signs a 10-year non-aggression pact with Poland, breaking the French alliance system. Germany violates with pact on Sept. 1, 1939 when it invades Poland.

1736. Stanislaw Lesheinski gave up the Polish-Lithuanian throne.

1945. The Soviet army arrived at Nazi camps Auschwitz and Birkenau, and found the concentration camp and crematorium. It is now believed that 1 million Jews were murdered here, up to 75,000 Polish Christians, 21,000 Gypsies, and 15,000 Soviet POWs.

1861. Birth of engineer Ralph Modjeski.

1986. Death of Poznan-born Lilli Palmer (Lillie Marie Peiser), 71, actress, in Los Angeles.

1842. Birth of Fr. Józef Dabrowski, educator and founder of Orchard Lake Schools. (d. 1903).

1919. Birth of Bishop Alfred Abramowicz, auxiliary Bishop of Chicago and national director of Liga Katolicka (Catholic League).

2006. Katowice Trade Hall roof collapse from excessive snow.

1886. Artur Rubinstein, pianist, was born in Łódź, Poland.

1588. King Sigismund Vaza upheld the 3rd Lithuanian Statute that until 1795 stood as the fundamental code of law. In practice it was active until 1840.

1573. Signing of the Warsaw Confederation, an important development in the history of Poland and Lithuania, is considered the formal beginning of religious freedom in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

1846. Birth of Karol Olszewski, scientist who liquified gases. (d. 1915)

1945. Nazi SS guards shot down an estimated 4,000 Jewish prisoners on the Baltic coast at Palmnicken, Kaliningrad. The town was later renamed by the Russians to Yantarny. Some 7,000 prisoners had been marched 25 miles from Koenigsberg to a vacant lock factory at Palmnicken where they were mowed down with machine guns. The prisoners had been vacated from a network of 30 camps that made up Stutthoff concentration camp in Occupied Poland. 90% of the Jews were women from Lithuania and Hungary.

1667. Lithuania, Poland and Russia signed a 13.5-year treaty at Andrusov, near Smolensk. Russia received Smolensk and Kiev.

1717. Surrounded by the Russian army the Lithuanian-Polish parliament reduced its army by half and acknowledged Russian protection.

1018. The Peace of Bautzen (German: Frieden von Bautzen; Polish: Pokój w Budziszynie) was a peace treaty signed by Emperor Henry II and Great Duke Bolesław I the Brave of Poland on 30 January 1018. The peace, achieved at the Ortenburg castle in Bautzen, ended 15 years of warfare between the two rulers, as well as ending negotiations Henry had begun in 1003 with the heathen Liutizians.

1981. Lech Walesa announced an accord in Poland, giving labor Saturdays off.

1887. Death of Wlodimierz Bonawentura Krzyzanowski (b. July 8, 1824), Civil War general.In Washington, D.C., Krzyżanowski enlisted as a private two days after President Abraham Lincoln called for volunteers in early 1861. He recruited a company of Polish immigrants, which became one of the first companies of Union soldiers. Krzyżanowski then moved his company to New York City and enlisted more immigrants and soon became colonel of the 58th New York Infantry regiment, listed in the official Army Register as the “Polish Legion.”