Mishka Zubov
09-16-2007, 02:17 PM
Emblem of Good Will
A Polish Declaration of Admiration and Friendship for the United States of America
Perhaps there has never been a more extraordinary gift given by one nation to another than the 111 volumes presented to the United States by Poland on the 150th anniversary of American independence. These volumes consist of a declaration of admiration (figs. 3 & 4) signed by an estimated 5,500,000 Polish citizens, representing more than one- sixth of the total population of Poland in 1926.source: Library of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/rr/european/egw/polishex.html
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/3329/fig01ik5.jpg
1.Title page from volume 1 designed by Edmund John. Watercolor, gouache, ink, and graphite on paper. 20 x 28 in.So Poles already sucked up to Americans 81 years ago, not just recently. :-)
But seriously, read the nice description at the above source and look at the photographs - some of the pages from those volumes are amazing and qualify as art - as they had been prepared by known artists of the period.
http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/9822/fig14qe6.jpg
14. Wladyslaw Skoczylas. [View of Kazimierz Dolny, Lublin province], 1926. Watercolor with a graphite underdrawing on paper. 20 x 28 in. Recognized as a master graphic artist, Skoczylas is renowned for his brightly colored works inspired by Polish folk art, particularly from the highlands.Some are ordinary, like this picture below.
http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/3869/fig27nz9.jpg
26. & 27. Photos of teachers and pupils at the public school at Czarnowo, Torun district (vol. 108).A story evoked by this picture
The teacher on this picture reminds me a photo of another lady, Madam Kamila G., who used to teach at that time in a very similar school, three kilometers away - in a hamlet of Toporzysko, Torun district. They even look similar.
This region had relatively high percentage of Germans and some Dutch population - settlers along flood-plains of Vistula river, or colonists as they used to be called. Some of the kids on that picture are likely of German origin. Boys being boys - they used to fight, Poles agains Germans. One of them was Lutek B., a nephew of Madam Kamila.
Here is where the story gets sad: Shortly after the WW2 broke up Madam Kamila was arrested by her former student in Nazi uniform and sent as a political prisoner to Ravensbrück concentration camp, Germany. Her only crime - she was a part of intelligentsia, a social class considered undesirable by Nazis. She wore there a red triangle with the letter P - signifying a political prisoner. She has survived five and half years of physical labour - to which she was not used to - mainly because of the help from her stronger inmates who liked her for her high spirit. She use to tell a lot of stories about misery, resistance and humanity - but this is not a place for sharing those. I'll just say this - she was a little unbreakable soldier.
She has also survived a death march toward Mecklenburg. She returned back to the same district and took a teaching position in a nearby village, two kilometers away, where she taught until she peacefully died in 1972. She is burried - guess what - at the cemetary in Czarnowo, the same village where that picture was taken.
http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/7387/mapaczarnowo1ww6.jpg
A cutout of a map from late 70s, showing Czarnowo and Toporzysko between towns of Toruń and Bydgoszcz.And what about Lutek? He was 19 years old when the war broke. When he returned home from a short and unsuccessful September '39 campaign his boyhood transgressions were still remembered. He was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. His family had not received any news from him until 1942. That was a concentration camp notification about his death of typhoid in that year.
I came across this reference in the Library of Congress pages several days ago, just by chance. Obviously, I was moved by that photograph, so I decided to share this little story with you. Madam Kamila and Lutek were my very close family. I was married in Czarnowo church - shown below.
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/2236/3095908yv1.gif
St. Martin gothic church in Czarnowo, near ToruńCzarnowo is situated 26 km West of Torun (route 80). Initially it was a property of Płock bishops, gifted in 1222 by bishop Gedeon to a Prussian bishop Christian, who in turn gave it to Teutonic Knights. In the second half of 16th century the terrains around Czarnowo have been settled by Mennonites, who started cultivation of Vistula inundation areas.
There is St. Martin gothic church built in 13th century, rebuilt in 1498 by Jan Heitman, a burgess from Toruń, and once again in 17th century. The brick church has one nave, a baroque 18th c. altar, a granite font - probably dating from middle ages, a choir gallery from 18th c., a gothic bas-reliefs from 15th c.. A free-standing wooden, square bell tower was built in 18th c. It houses two bells from 1609 and 1755. There is a cemetery near the church, established in 1873.source: http://www.turystyka.torun.pl/index.php?strona=309&back=1#czarnowo
source: http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czarnowo_%28województwo_kujawsko-pomorskie%29 (http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czarnowo_%28wojew%C3%B3dztwo_kujawsko-pomorskie%29)
http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/4621/foto237rb8.jpg
A steam engine house with a train station in a village of Czarnowo, near Toruń. Photo taken in 70s.source: http://www.kolej.pl/maron/czarnowo/czarnowo.htm
A train between Toruń and Czarnowo was practically the only means of transportation over there until early 60th. It used to take more than an hour to cover the distance of 26 kilometers. One train a day - till early 60th, when the railway was finally demolished.
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/849/rozklad1926fk4.gif
A timetable of trains on the railway Toruń-North - Czarnowo, for the winter period in the years 1926 - 1927.A gravel road to Toruń, was full of potholes and a challenge to cars and the funny looking wagon-like buses. A travel to Bydgoszcz used to be even more challenging. The railway no longer exists and the road Torun-Bydgoszcz is quite busy nowadays, with domestic and international connections.
A Polish Declaration of Admiration and Friendship for the United States of America
Perhaps there has never been a more extraordinary gift given by one nation to another than the 111 volumes presented to the United States by Poland on the 150th anniversary of American independence. These volumes consist of a declaration of admiration (figs. 3 & 4) signed by an estimated 5,500,000 Polish citizens, representing more than one- sixth of the total population of Poland in 1926.source: Library of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/rr/european/egw/polishex.html
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/3329/fig01ik5.jpg
1.Title page from volume 1 designed by Edmund John. Watercolor, gouache, ink, and graphite on paper. 20 x 28 in.So Poles already sucked up to Americans 81 years ago, not just recently. :-)
But seriously, read the nice description at the above source and look at the photographs - some of the pages from those volumes are amazing and qualify as art - as they had been prepared by known artists of the period.
http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/9822/fig14qe6.jpg
14. Wladyslaw Skoczylas. [View of Kazimierz Dolny, Lublin province], 1926. Watercolor with a graphite underdrawing on paper. 20 x 28 in. Recognized as a master graphic artist, Skoczylas is renowned for his brightly colored works inspired by Polish folk art, particularly from the highlands.Some are ordinary, like this picture below.
http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/3869/fig27nz9.jpg
26. & 27. Photos of teachers and pupils at the public school at Czarnowo, Torun district (vol. 108).A story evoked by this picture
The teacher on this picture reminds me a photo of another lady, Madam Kamila G., who used to teach at that time in a very similar school, three kilometers away - in a hamlet of Toporzysko, Torun district. They even look similar.
This region had relatively high percentage of Germans and some Dutch population - settlers along flood-plains of Vistula river, or colonists as they used to be called. Some of the kids on that picture are likely of German origin. Boys being boys - they used to fight, Poles agains Germans. One of them was Lutek B., a nephew of Madam Kamila.
Here is where the story gets sad: Shortly after the WW2 broke up Madam Kamila was arrested by her former student in Nazi uniform and sent as a political prisoner to Ravensbrück concentration camp, Germany. Her only crime - she was a part of intelligentsia, a social class considered undesirable by Nazis. She wore there a red triangle with the letter P - signifying a political prisoner. She has survived five and half years of physical labour - to which she was not used to - mainly because of the help from her stronger inmates who liked her for her high spirit. She use to tell a lot of stories about misery, resistance and humanity - but this is not a place for sharing those. I'll just say this - she was a little unbreakable soldier.
She has also survived a death march toward Mecklenburg. She returned back to the same district and took a teaching position in a nearby village, two kilometers away, where she taught until she peacefully died in 1972. She is burried - guess what - at the cemetary in Czarnowo, the same village where that picture was taken.
http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/7387/mapaczarnowo1ww6.jpg
A cutout of a map from late 70s, showing Czarnowo and Toporzysko between towns of Toruń and Bydgoszcz.And what about Lutek? He was 19 years old when the war broke. When he returned home from a short and unsuccessful September '39 campaign his boyhood transgressions were still remembered. He was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. His family had not received any news from him until 1942. That was a concentration camp notification about his death of typhoid in that year.
I came across this reference in the Library of Congress pages several days ago, just by chance. Obviously, I was moved by that photograph, so I decided to share this little story with you. Madam Kamila and Lutek were my very close family. I was married in Czarnowo church - shown below.
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/2236/3095908yv1.gif
St. Martin gothic church in Czarnowo, near ToruńCzarnowo is situated 26 km West of Torun (route 80). Initially it was a property of Płock bishops, gifted in 1222 by bishop Gedeon to a Prussian bishop Christian, who in turn gave it to Teutonic Knights. In the second half of 16th century the terrains around Czarnowo have been settled by Mennonites, who started cultivation of Vistula inundation areas.
There is St. Martin gothic church built in 13th century, rebuilt in 1498 by Jan Heitman, a burgess from Toruń, and once again in 17th century. The brick church has one nave, a baroque 18th c. altar, a granite font - probably dating from middle ages, a choir gallery from 18th c., a gothic bas-reliefs from 15th c.. A free-standing wooden, square bell tower was built in 18th c. It houses two bells from 1609 and 1755. There is a cemetery near the church, established in 1873.source: http://www.turystyka.torun.pl/index.php?strona=309&back=1#czarnowo
source: http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czarnowo_%28województwo_kujawsko-pomorskie%29 (http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czarnowo_%28wojew%C3%B3dztwo_kujawsko-pomorskie%29)
http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/4621/foto237rb8.jpg
A steam engine house with a train station in a village of Czarnowo, near Toruń. Photo taken in 70s.source: http://www.kolej.pl/maron/czarnowo/czarnowo.htm
A train between Toruń and Czarnowo was practically the only means of transportation over there until early 60th. It used to take more than an hour to cover the distance of 26 kilometers. One train a day - till early 60th, when the railway was finally demolished.
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/849/rozklad1926fk4.gif
A timetable of trains on the railway Toruń-North - Czarnowo, for the winter period in the years 1926 - 1927.A gravel road to Toruń, was full of potholes and a challenge to cars and the funny looking wagon-like buses. A travel to Bydgoszcz used to be even more challenging. The railway no longer exists and the road Torun-Bydgoszcz is quite busy nowadays, with domestic and international connections.