Results: meeting of the minds between mayors of San Francisco and Krakow on expanding San-Francisco Krakow Sister City Partnership, collaboration agreement between Council of Polish Engineers of North America and Silesian University of Technology and invaluable connections leading to new opportunities.

The goal of the Poland-Silicon Valley Technology Symposium (PSVTS) was to facilitate technology, manufacturing, and trade exchange between U.S. and Polish entities. The five day event held in Silicon Valley, California from Dec 3-7, 2010 got off to a fast start on Friday, Dec 3rd with San Francisco-Krakow Sister Cities Luncheon at the San Francisco City Hall and an informal dinner of the Council of Polish Engineers of North America in Palo Alto.

From left: Caria Tomczykowska, Krakow Deputy Mayor Kazimierz Bujakowski, Caroline Krawiec Brownstone, Magdalena Wojtowicz, John Henry Fullen, San Francisco City Hall

PSVTS attracted influential participants from Poland: Secretary of State Olgierd Dziekonski, Ministers of Economy Mariusz Bogdan and Lucyna Jaremczuk, Deputy Mayor of Krakow Kazimierz Bujakowski, CEO of Polish Agency for Enterprise Bozena Lubinska-Kasprzak, PSE Operator SA Director Magdalena Wasiluk-Hassa, rectors from top universities in Krakow, Warsaw, Gliwice, Wroclaw, Gdansk and Rzeszow, 16 Engineering Ph.D candidates from Silesian University of Technology, delegates from city of Katowice, city of Krakow, Krakow Technology Park, Aviation Valley Association and Polish Business and Innovation Centres. Also, represented were Google’s, Intel’s, Motorola’s and DisplayLink’s R&D centers and homegrown companies: Lubawa, Miranda, LItex Group, LGBS Software and SiGarden.

A letter from the President of the Republic of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski read on Saturday, Dec 4th by the Secretary of State Olgierd Dziekonski officially opened the symposium. President Komorowski expressed gratitude to Polish engineers and scientists in North America for their willingness to share their assets: knowledge, experience and professionalism. “Creation and cooperation,” he said “are also fundamental values and children of freedom and democracy.” He urged scientific communities on both sides of the Atlantic to build two-way bridges.

Formal Welcome Banquet and the Annual Gala Dinner of Polish-American Engineers Club of Silicon Valley were held jointly on Saturday, Dec 4th at the Sheraton Hotel in Palo Alto. Keynote speaker, Dr. Roger L. McCarthy, using the backdrop of IPV6 Internet technology, defined the challenges, opportunities and competitive advantages for Poland in contrast to Western Europe, Eastern Europe, BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and the United States. Dr. McCarthy is a former Commissioner of National Medal of Science to President Bush, member of National Academy of Engineering, director of a large-scale urban redevelopment project in China and advisor to MIT, Stanford and University of Michigan.

The second highlight of the evening was the signing of a collaboration agreement between Council of Polish Engineers of North America and Silesian University of Technology. The agreement was signed by Prof. Andrzej Nowak of Civil Engineering from University of Nebraska and Dr. Jerzy Rutkowski, rector of Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, Poland.

From left: Council of Polish Engineers of North America:  Prof. Andrzej Nowak, Tomasz Wesolowski, Miroslaw Niedzinski, Minister Dziekonski, Marek Zywno, Leszek Szalek, Prof. Andrzej Targowski, Kazimierz Jagiello, Krzysztof Kluczewski

Stanford Business Cocktail and Business Banquet at the Stanford University Faculty Club were held on Monday, Dec 6th with Poland’s Minister of Economy Dariusz Bogdan as the keynote speaker. Minister Bodgan explained the reasons for Poland’s recent economic success and why investors should be bullish on Poland. The event also highlighted the achievements of San Francisco Krakow Sister Cities and this week’s agreements between Krakow Deputy Mayor Kazimierz Bujakowski and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

From left: Krakow Deputy Mayor Kazimierz Bujakowski, Natalia Nowicka, Magdalena Wojtowicz, Stanford University Faculty Club, Dec 6, 2010

Los Angeles Polish Consul General, Joanna Kozinska-Frybes presented Gloria Artis Awards to San Francisco Honorary Consuls, Thaddeus Taube and Christopher Kerosky. The Honorary Consuls have been instrumental in spearheading business and cultural ties between San Francisco and Krakow with the Taube Foundation’s support of Poland Jewish Heritage Tours and Jewish Cultural Festival in Krakow among many other significant projects. Mr. Taube, born in Poland is a Stanford alumnus, long time trustee of the Hoover Institution and a fixture in California and international business, academia and philanthropy. He has been an enormous asset in promoting Polish affairs worldwide.

From left: Secretary of State Olgierd Dziekonski, Consul Christopher Kerosky, Consul Joanna Kozinska-Frybes, Consul Thaddeus Taube and Caria Tomczykowska, Stanford University Faculty Club, Dec 6, 2010.

The symposium addressed a number of emerging issues for Polish and Californian economies: water supply security and flood protection, clean energy monetization, smart grid technology and economics, alternative energy exploration, intellectual property protection, execution of technology transfer, industry-academia links and team management over long-distance.  Right off the bat participants were introduced to Silicon Valley best practices by Stanford Center for Professional Development and Project Based Learning Laboratory: fail early, fail often, communicate, connect, collaborate, retain talent, think global. With engaging panels such as “Opportunities and Successful High-Tech Investments in Poland”, “Start-up Boot Camp-Expanding to the World Market” and “Monetizing Clean Energy: From the Lab to the Grid”, participants got the nuts of bolts of technology application. Missing was training in Venture Capital and European Union (EU) funding.

Symposium participants had a rare chance to visit the headquarters of Google, Facebook, Intel, Stanford Linear Accelerator Laboratory and Electric Power Research Institute in addition to many popular San Francisco sites. The city tour was organized by Caria Tomczykowska, President of The Polish Arts and Culture Foundation and Director of Operations of California Tour Consultants.

Will the meeting result in success? Participants felt positive that the old stereotypes of risk-averse, bureaucratic Poland will be soon replaced with a picture of a robustly growing economy, currently 7th largest in Europe. Will partners realize that Poland’s recent economic sustainability is not a fluke but a strategic path to growth and innovation? Yes, if they take a look at Poland’s massive investment in infrastructure, pro-business initiatives and this week’s bilateral agreements in Washington. Is the Silicon Valley model of cross-pollination ready to take root in Polish Technology? Most certainly, if Polish universities continue to foster industry links and industrialists, foreign and homegrown, continue long-term multidisciplinary approach to investment and development.

Mariusz Tomaka, CEO of DisplayLink, believes that time is right for Polish enterprise and proposes a new direction.  He has invited Polish engineers in North America to return to Poland to help reduce the engineer shortage and to capitalize on Poland’s competitive advantage: central geography, proximity to 500 million consumers, educated workforce, world-class universities, hi-tech sectors, tax incentives and political stability. The New Poland resembles the Engineering Ph.D candidates from Gliwice: confident, bright, ambitious, culturally competent, globally connected and mobile.

From left: Prof. Andrzej Nowak, Engineering Ph.D candidates from Silesia Technology University in Gliwice and Chris Kluczewski

“Key to success is partnering with the best, “ says Jerzy Orkiszewski, President of US-Poland Trade Council.  “The US is still the engine in technology, innovation and business.” An example of such strategy is the Polish Aviation Valley’s partnership with US aerospace giants:  Sikorsky, Pratt and Whitney and United Technology Corporation. Subsequently, US partners made a long-term investment in the valley’s infrastructure, education and knowledge transfer. Once the poorest region of Poland, the cluster now boasts of 23,000 high tech jobs, over 100 companies and homegrown startups integrated into a global aerospace supply chain. “We now need smart government policies to allow the growth to continue,” say Andrzej Rybka, Executive Director of Aviation Valley and Dr. Krzysztof Kaszuba, Rector of Rzeszow School of Business.

Knowledge transfer between Polish and American counterparts is not a new phenomenon. It dates back to 1608 when Captain John Smith of Virginia Company of London brought a group of Polish manufacturers to salvage the ailing colony in Jamestown.  Polish expertise in ship, glass, military and lumber industries helped the early settlers produce first “Made in America” goods to be exported to England and make profits for the London Company. For the next 400 years, skill exchange between the two nations was instrumental to mutual success. Polish military strategists Thaddeus Kosciusko and Casmir Pulaski played a pivotal role in the American Revolution. During Poland’s Partition (1795–1918) waves of Polish immigrants contributed to the boom in US railways, sawmills, coalmines, steel mills, iron foundries, textile factories, oil and sugar refineries. Following Woodrow Wilson’s Proclamation to reconstruct newly independent Poland, many Poles returned home after WWI with American experience and connections.

This week’s meeting at the Hoover Institution is a tribute of the long-standing historical bond between Poland and Stanford University. It was at Stanford in 1892 that Herbert Hoover, then a geology student, became indebted to Ignacy Paderewski, a world-renowned pianist and future Prime Minister of Poland, for a free benefit concert. Hoover repaid his debt with massive relief aid to hunger-stricken Poland following WWI, Soviet invasion (1920) and WWII. Today, Hoover Institution is a permanent home to the largest collections about twenty-century Poland outside of Poland, including the archives of Polish government in exile, Jan Karski papers, Siberian deportations and Solidarity underground literature.  Coincidently, the Hoover Institution is currently hosting an exhibit: “Katyn: Politics, Massacre, Morality that chronicles the Soviet security service mass murder of Poland’s elites in the spring of 1940. Visitors pondered the challenges and decisions of those before them.

“Could Poland end its dependence on Russian gas?”-the question of geopolitical and economic security was addressed in Shale Gas Meeting. “With deep drilling technology still in development, we are five years away of confirming the feasibility of shale gas excavation in Poland,” cautioned Maciej Powroznik, Deputy Strategy Director of Grupa Lotos S.A., oil and energy company in Gdansk. Large natural gas deposits in shale rock near the Baltic coast have generated much hope and excitement amid environmental concerns.  US energy giants won the drilling contracts and have already begun exploration.

As Russia nears completion of the Blue Stream and South Stream gas pipelines that will bypass Poland via Black Sea, experts stressed the importance of alternative sources of energy: Liquid Natural Gas, nuclear power, coal gasification and shale gas. The US Global Shale Gas Initiative aiming to identify viable shale gas deposits and ecologically sound drilling solutions is an important strategic bridge in Polish and US business relations, as reaffirmed this week in Washington by President Obama and President Komorowski.

Energy efficiency may provide partial solution, as discussed by panels moderated by Marek Samotyj, Technical Executive for Energy Utilization at Electric Power Research Institute and Prof. James Sweeney, Director of Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency at Stanford University. The symposium just scratched the surface of this enormous challenge.  Many participants wish to return for Global Technology Symposium at Stanford in March 2011. This week’s bilateral agreements on scientific cooperation in Washington increased the likelihood of large turnout in March.

PSVTS was an important step in forward thinking. Many more multidisciplinary and thought-provoking conferences are expected to follow. Participants feel deep gratitude to hosts Prof. Piotr Moncarz, Marek Zywno and Leszek Szalek for their enormous effort and leadership in making this historical event possible. Prof. Moncarz, is a Consulting Professor at Stanford University and Chair of US-Polish Trade Council. Marek Zywno and Leszek Szalek are President and Vice-President of Polish-American Engineers Club of Silicon Valley, respectively.

Earlier this year, Prof. Piotr Moncarz was named Gold Engineer of 2010 by NOT (Naczelna Organizacja Techniczna)/PTA (Polish Technology Association). NOT/PTA founded in 1835 in Paris, represents approximately 300,000 engineers in Poland and 200,000 Polish engineers around the world. The award was presented to Prof. Moncarz in September at the First World Conference of Polish Engineers in Warsaw, Poland. Congratulations to Prof. Moncarz on his distinction and to Polish engineers for their vision.

PSVTS sponsors and co-organizers: US-Polish Trade Council, San Francisco Krakow Sister City Association, Polish American Engineers Club of Silicon Valley, The Taube Foundation, Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Poland, Trade and Investment Section of Polish Embassy in Washington, DC, Polish Consulate General in Los Angeles, Stanford University, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, K&L Gates, Exponent, DisplayLink and Electric Power Research Institute.

Polish universities represented: AGH University of Science and Technology, Silesian University of Technology, Wroclaw University of Technology, Gdansk University of Technology, Rzeszow School of Business, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Warsaw University of Technology, Military Institute of Engineer Technology.

KLA-Tencor welcomes Poland-Silicon Valley Technology Symposium.

Polish National Alliance (PNA) president Frank Spula and members of District 16 convened in Seattle on Saturday, October 2 to celebrate 120 years of the largest PNA lodge in the Pacific Northwest and to honor Lodge 156 president James Hicker for his outstanding 40 years of service. (see slideshow)

Photo: Gail Wodzin, Gail Ann Photography Standing from left: Richard Kobzi, Frank Spula, Greg  Chilecki,  Anthony Nowak-Przygodzki. Sitting: James Hicker, Lodge 156 President

Greeted by the Polish and American Anthems, the Pledge of Allegiance, Vivat Musica Choir and Mlodzi Polanie Dance Group, Frank Spula gave an upbeat keynote speech at the Polish Home in Seattle last Saturday. “We have protected Polish immigrant families since 1880 and have weathered the recent economic downturn better than most financial institutions, “ said the president of the largest Polish fraternal insurance and investment association in the United States. “We are over 200,000 members strong with policy holders in every state of the Union. As a non-for-profit organization, we continue to return gains to our members and to numerous Polish heritage and educational organizations throughout the United States and in Poland.” Jim Gora, the PNA Chief Financial Officer, confirmed that in 2009 PNA paid out $ 1.3 million in dividends and over $250 thousand in scholarships alone. With $437 million in assets, $30 million surplus and $830 million in force life insurance last year, PNA is positioned well to lead the Polish American communities into the next generation.  “As other ethnic groups organize and move up the economic ladder, we need organizations like the Polish National Alliance now more than ever,” urged Frank Spula. “Now that Poland is free, the goal still remains the same: unity and betterment of our ethnic group, political representation and close cultural and economic ties to Poland.”

Photo: Gail Wodzin, Ann Gail Photography Jean Hicker and PNA President Frank Spula

Lodge 156 with 200 adults and 35 children is an example of a well-run PNA chapter that has served Washington state proudly for 120 years. The lodge supports local Polish cultural organizations like the Polish Home Foundation, Polish Film Festival, Polish Studies at the University of Washington, local college scholarships and Polish music and dance groups. Part of District 16 which includes states of Washington, California, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, Oregon and Idaho, Lodge 156 actively participates in regional conferences and national conventions.

On Saturday, Mr. James Hicker was awarded by PNA President, Frank Spula,  a  prestigious Silver Medal for his outstanding 40 years of leadership of Lodge 156. Jean Hicker was also honored with a long-deserved achievement award for her dedicated service to the organization. Martha Golubiec, local Polish community leader, ended the event with a special recognition of the Polish National Alliance as one of the founding associations of the Polish Home in Seattle, and a check to PNA for Poland’s flood victims on behalf of the Polish Home Auxiliary Ladies. To become a member and/or learn more about the Polish National Alliance please, visit http://www.pna-znp.org/

Photo: Gail Wodzin, Gail Ann Photography From left: Paul Griffin, Gail Wodzin and Janusz Sniadek

This is the assessment of Paul Griffin, an active member of Amalgamated Trade Union (ATU), who attended the Solidarity conference and the anniversary events last August in Gdansk. Mr. Griffin and Seattle-Gdynia Sister City Association member Gail Wodzin personally delivered a congratulatory letter from ATU president, Ron Heintzman, to the man at the helm of the universally admired symbol of liberty, freedom and hope.

“It was quite an honor to meet Janusz Śniadek in person, given the demands on his time prior to the official celebrations,” said Paul Griffin. Gail Wodzin fondly remembers the tea they sipped with the Solidarity chairman in his Gdansk office.

Once a powerful revolutionary movement and a major political party that led to the collapse of Soviet communism and the transformation of Europe, today Solidarity is once again simply an independent self-governing trade union.  Its current membership is 12% of Poland’s workforce, down from its historical peak of 80%.

“Solidarność hosted a two-day conference of union representatives from around the globe. Panels of speakers, including the EU President Jerzy Buzek, delivered messages about the state of their unions and political affairs, translated simultaneously into English, French and Polish,” Paul Griffin reported to his fellow ATU members upon return from Poland.

Further excerpts from Mr. Griffin’s report:

“What is our goal?-was the question of the conference. Most agreed that the goal of Solidarność, as the goal of any trade union in the world, is organizing and educating the workforce. The representatives from AFL-CIO, the largest US federation of unions, acknowledged that the struggle continues.  Despite the favorable social contracts in America, the U.S. trade unions must fight everyday to maintain decent wages, benefits and improvements for their members and the public as a whole.

Kosciuszko TV video:

The biggest surprise was Lech Wałęsa’s refusal to participate in any of the formal Solidarność events.” However, Mr. Wałęsa attended informal meetings and received delegates in his office, including a group of students and business representatives from Washington state.

During the monumental events of the 1980s in Gdansk and the rest of Poland, “Wałęsa provided the leadership to get Solidarność off the ground.  He was the right man in the right place at the right time. His strength and morality provided the iron will through the Lenin shipyard strikes in August 1980, the martial law from December 1981 to July 1983, and the Round Table Talks between the Polish communist government and the Solidarity-led opposition. The talks resulted in the historic partially-free elections in June 1989. Solidarność won the elections and Lech Wałęsa successfully ran for the newly re-established office of President of Poland in 1990.” These events brought the collapse of communism in Poland and the rest of Europe.

Paul Griffin believes that Lech Wałęsa demonstrated a political genius by stepping aside from the official Solidarity events. “As a self-sustaining, stable organization, “Solidarność now has institutional memory and inertia to carry on without Lech Wałęsa. Polish people have managed change quite well,” Mr. Griffin reported to ATU members.

“In 2009, Poland was the only member of the European Union with a positive Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ahead of Germany, Greece and Spain. The unemployment last year in Gdynia was 3.1%. New homes, commercial real estate, roads and rail are being built and expanded. The standard of living and expectations for the future are rising,” according to Mr. Griffin.

Paul Griffin is a retired Seattle Transit Employee, active in Amalgamated Transit Union, Seattle-Gdynia Sister City Association and Polish Home Association in Seattle. He is the current Principal of the Polish School in Seattle.

From a small town in Western Washington and the City of Roses in Oregon to the metropolis of British Columbia, thousands come to celebrate Polish heritage in the Pacific Northwest.

Over 15,000 people attended last year’s Polish Festival in Portland, Oregon.  This year on September 25-26, Marek Stepien, the festival coordinator, expects a turnout of over 20,000 for the 15th anniversary of the largest Polish Festival in Western United States.  To add to local entertainment (Agnieszka Laska Dancers, Kazmierowicz family country music Fireside Six band, Sobotka dancers and others), performers will come from Seattle (Vivat Musica Choir and Mlodzi Polanie), Vancouver, B.C. (Polonez Dance Group), Kelowna, Canada (White Eagles) and Stalowa Wola, Poland (Lasowiacy). Over 300 volunteers are already scrambling. Cabbage rolls, bigos and poppy seed cake preparation parties are underway.  Chefs have ordered 15,000 pierogis and imported 6,000 bottles of Polish beers and wines. Polka dance contestants began practicing.  Special exhibits on the city of Torun, Poland, the birthplace of astronomer Nicholas Copernicus, and Street Dance with Polka Beats and Chervona Band on the grounds of the Polish Library and St. Stanislaus Church are planned. The sponsors include Kaiser Permanente Health Research, Grandpa’s Polish Café, Koffeehouse Kraków, Shilo Inns Suite Hotels, McMenamins Pubs and Breweries, Palms Motels and many others.

This weekend, September 11-12, a traditional Polish Harvest Festival, Dozynki, in Vancouver, B.C. will open up with a soccer tournament of Polish soccer teams from Canada and Seattle. Polish, Gypsy, Flamingo and Polynesian performers will blend Polish with local culture. The Zgoda Polish Friendship Society expects the youth concerts, belly dancers, theater performances and disco DJ Citko to draw a large crowd of young Poles, Canadians and Americans from across the border.

New generations celebrate Polish Festivals

Even in a small town in Western Washington that boasts a population of 657 (census 2000), Polish culture lives. Pe Ell, once known as the “Polish town” where Polish settlers came to work in the sawmills and logging camps, was already celebrating the May 3rd Constitution in 1891. Today Pe Ell residents put on Polish dinners with entertainment at Pe Ell School, promote history books about Pe Ell’s Polish Pioneers and Polish Heritage, arrange book tours and book signings by their proud son, Leo Kowalski. On August 7-8, Pe Ell celebrated its third Polish Daze.

The Polish community in Seattle organizes three large Polish Festivals per year:  All-You-Can-Eat Pierogi Fest in the spring and two holiday Polish Home Bazaars before Easter and Christmas.

For information about the Polish Festivals in the Pacific Northwest, please, visit www.portlandpolonia.orgor www.polishnewsseattle.org.

Leading scholar on Eastern Europe, poet, painter and an art collector, Prof. Kazimierz Poznanski searches to balance laissez-faire economics with moral sensibility in his work and in real life.

Kazimierz Poznanski, Professor of Economics at the University of Washington since 1987, received his doctorate in Economics from the University of Warsaw and made the analysis of post-communist transition to capitalism in Eastern Europe with a particular emphasis on Poland his life’s work.  Trained in economic liberalism that advocates private property rights and laissez-faire economics with minimal interference of government, he relies on the works of the so-called evolutionary school of Friedrich Hayek and Joseph Schumpeter to bring moral consideration to economic questions.

Former consultant to the World Bank, US Congress and the United Nations, and an official advisor to the Polish government (1994-96), Prof. Poznanski’s work has been published extensively, including by the leading academic presses: Cambridge University Press and University of California-Berkeley. In 2001 he engaged Poland in a heated national debate with his bestsellers: “The Grand Scheme: Failure of Polish Reforms” and “Insanity of Reforms: The Sale Out of Poland”.

He argued in his books that big-bang “Shock Therapy” of the 1990s that focused on quick privatization of state companies resulted in the transfer of Polish wealth to Western banks and foreign investors at a fraction of the world’s market value. Inexperience or overzealousness to integrate with Western Europe was identified as main reasons for this historically unprecedented type of sell-out.  An unusual model of capitalism called by Prof. Poznanski “imported or incomplete capitalism” has emerged with both high unemployment and poor wages.

In his view, a more gradual approach with strong safeguards against foreign ownership allowing the formation of domestic capitalist class would serve Poland better than the “Shock Therapy”. He suggests that the model that China adopted-building capitalism after socialism with postponed privatization and partial foreign ownership-has proven more successful. While Poland landed in a post-1989 recession, China has produced a steady growth properly called the greatest economic miracle, overshadowing Japan’s post WWII miracle.

Unlike the neoclassical liberal followers of Adam Smith or more contemporary Milton Friedman, who expect an “invisible hand” to eventually balance the inequalities of competitive markets, Prof. Poznanski believes in a strong role of states in assisting economy as well as ensuring morally-acceptable distribution of income. He points to Austria and Denmark, among the most successful of Western European economies, as examples of such approach. “Incidentally,” he says “both countries were almost unaffected by the recent world downturn”.

Billionaire speculator George Soros who had made a fortune in the financial markets during the transition of Eastern Europe now also agrees that moderate reforms are more effective: ” I now fear that the untrammeled intensification of laissez-faire capitalism and the spread of market values into all areas of life is endangering our open and democratic society…Too much competition and too little cooperation can cause intolerable inequities and instability.” (Soros 1997) ¹

Prof. Poznanski’s writing communicates a deep concern for Poland. He says that it is his duty to speak the truth, as he sees it. With keen awareness, he points to the missed opportunities and hopes to bring out a deeper sense of understanding. To complete the transformation to capitalism, he insists, Poland needs to develop a well-functioning capital market internally and a strong domestic capitalist class. Whether one agrees with his analysis or not, “his books should be a required reading for the political elite in Poland,” says Jan Olszewski, former Prime Minister of Poland (1991-92).

In retrospect, a decade after the publication of the “Grand Scheme” and “Insanity of Reforms,” Poland has performed better than anyone expected. While the recent global recession slowed down the Western economies nearly to a halt, the Polish economy grew at the highest rates in Europe.  Poland’s newly emerged small and medium enterprise proved the economic engine of the region. This, however, still did not lower Poland’s high unemployment rate or reduce poverty in many parts of the country.

Either in spite or because of the hardships of the 1980s and 1990s, Poles have shown tremendous resilience, pragmatism and business acumen. After 1989, there was a dramatic increase in the demand for post-graduate business education. Student enrollment in business and management curricula increased over the last decade more than seven times and in executive part-time business and management programs, 17.5 times. In a very short time, Poles re-oriented themselves and their economy to Western business and managerial practices. ²

While lecturing in Poland, Prof. Poznanski likes to visit Kazimierz Dolny, one of the most beautiful small towns on the banks of Vistula River. Once a thriving Jewish enclave, today only a stark ghetto memorial reminds of the past. It is this town that gives Prof. Poznanski an inspiration for his “Almost Beautiful” poetry and paintings. The pieces titled: Kazimierz, Easter, exhume powerful vibrant colors springing life back to a town recovered from a shocking history. Color and words, he believes, are a gentle therapy that connects with nature and the human spirit.

Prof. Poznanski is an avid modernist painter and an art collector of Polish and Chinese paintings. A student of Teng Hiok Chiu, a Chinese avant-garde, post-Impressionist painter schooled in London in the 1920’s, he paints colorful abstract landscapes and natural subjects blending Western and Chinese styles in a harmonious Taoist tradition.  Whether reminiscent of Cezanne, Matisse, Montparnasse cubism or classic modernism of the Pacific Northwest, his paintings leave the viewer with profound tranquility and joy of life.  He has exhibited in Seattle and in Toronto and received glowing reviews on both coasts.

Purple Slopes by K. Poznanski

Prof. Poznanski’s quotes:

On Leadership: “Influence is granted by trust not force. Britain and the United States gained dominance by providing successful institutions and models for life.”

On what Poles need to be happy: “Poles need great leaders like John Paul II or Leszek Kołakowski, who exemplified deep intellect, moral convictions and sensitivity to human suffering.”

On Polish-American Chamber of Commerce in the Pacific Northwest:  “Sign me up wherever I can add value.”

To learn more about Prof. Kazimierz Poznanski, please visit the Polish-American Chamber of Commerce website: https://paccpnw.org/kazimierz-poznanski

^{1, 2} Poland’s Transformation: A Work in Progress, M.J. Chodakiewicz, J.Radzilowski, D.Tolczyk (2003)

Art collector, engineer, entrepreneur, community leader and a friend -Tom Podl inspired Poles to discover their roots and redefine their Polish identity through art, film and activism.

Earlier this year, Tom Podl met me for lunch at the Ivar’s Salmon House on Lake Union in Seattle. For the next three hours, I was captivated by his knowledge and enthusiasm for the Polish artists belonging to École de Paris, nineteenth and twentieth century history of Poland and the Polish émigré communities in Chicago and Seattle. Now I could understand how this passionate man amassed the largest Polish art collection in America (over 200 works), took it on the road to 12 prestigious museums in the United States, Poland and Switzerland, motivated others to invest in Polish art, and helped to launch the Seattle Polish Film Festival that has been one of the most important events promoting Polish culture in the Pacific Northwest for the last 18 years.

A recipient of numerous awards and medals, Tom has been relentless in his support of Polish culture and interests. For years he opened his art filled home in the suburb of Seattle to Polish art enthusiasts and distinguished visitors from Poland. In the 1980s, he provided financial assistance to the Solidarity movement in Poland. During 1991-1993, he served as the president of the Polish Museum of America in Chicago. In 2002, Tom gave a memorable lecture at the University of Washington in Seattle titled:  “Colors of Identity: Discovering Polish Heritage through Art”, inaugurating a series of lectures titled “50 Years of Polish at the UW: Celebrating Polish-American Heritage”, organized to commemorate half a century long history of Polish at the University of Washington.  Later on, Tom co-chaired, and to this day is involved, in the activities of the UW Polish Studies Endowment Committee, which was funded following the success of the lecture series.

Stanisław Eleszkiewicz, Husband and Wife Quarreling, date unknown

Henryk Rauchinger, Courtship, 1898

Born Podlasińki to Polish parents in 1938, Tom grew up in South Side Chicago. His grandparents arrived from the partitioned Poland to Illinois in the early 1900’s. Grandfather Franciszek, after his service in the tsarist army, first made his way across the Pacific Ocean from Russia to America in search of work as a logger in the forests near Seattle. Three years later, he returned to Poland on the Trans-Siberian Railroad and brought the rest of the family to Chicago, this time via Hamburg and Ellis Island. Mostly “melted into” the Polish community, the families made a living in steel mills and real estate management.

Tom’s childhood was a happy one despite pervasive prejudice towards Poles. His dad changed the family’s surname from Podlasiński to Podl to improve his white-collar job prospects in downtown Chicago.  Growing up with Polish and Catholic traditions, Tom gained an appreciation for hard work, faith, education, community and homeland. He graduated with a BS in electrical engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology in 1963 and with wife Audrey and children Carrie and Tod, relocated to Minneapolis for his first job in computer engineering. In 1974, he relocated again to pursue sales management in Seattle.

It is in Seattle that Tom established Intralife (1976), a medical device company that made him financially successful and gave him the means to discover and collect the art of his ancestors.  Guided by friends and experts, he focused on the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Polish-born artists who graduated from the art schools in Krakow, Warsaw, Lvov and Vilnius and immigrated to Paris to create a Polish colony of the School of Paris. In the span of 20 years, Tom amassed, documented and exhibited the most respected Polish art collection outside of Poland. This could only happen with the collaboration of many ardent supporters:  his second wife Cathy, a dedicated circle of friends in Seattle, the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York, Zbigniew Legutko-art dealer from Lippert Gallery in New York, Wojciech Fibak-legendary collector of the Polish Parisian modernism; Marek Mielniczuk-director of Gallerie Marek in Paris; Krzysztof Kamyszew-director of The Society for Arts in Chicago, Prof. Władysława Jaworska-renowned Pont-Aven art critic, Andrzej Ciechanowiecki-director of Heim Gallery in London, Artur Tanikowski-editor of “Art and Business” in Warsaw,  and many others.

“Tom, searching for his roots, evolved from an amateur with hardly any idea of what Polish art was into an enthusiast whose knowledge frequently surpassed that of the experts.” says Ryszard Kott, Microsoft software designer who provided Tom with digital expertise for a first of its kind CD and internet site before the “Colors of Identity” tour in Poland in 2001-2003. The exhibitions took place in eight cities, including the National Museum in Kraków and the Zachęta Museum in Warsaw.

Ryszard and his wife Maria Kott are now avid Polish art collectors in their own right. With nearly 40 artworks of their favorite Jan Lebenstein, among others, the couple explained: “Our relationship with Tom made it plain to us that being a serious art collector is not so difficult. Here, in this country of immigrants, such spiritual heritage is particularly helpful for subsequent generations in building relationships and being proud of Polish roots.” (reprinted from Czeslaw Czaplinski’s “Polish Art Collections in America” with Kotts’ permission).

The wonderful gatherings at the Podls’ home have ended.  Tom and Cathy in search of nature and land, as many of their Pont-Aven artists, moved out to the countryside.  The new home is now filled with grandchildren.

Many communities in the US still yearn to see Tom Podl Collection, which is currently deposited at the Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola. Dr. Sandra Olson, director of the University of Buffalo Art Gallery, said, “There is very strong local support for this exhibition in the Buffalo community but it is unclear where the artworks would go after our exhibition.” Prof. Marek Kwiatkowski, retired director of the Royal Łazienki Museum in Warsaw, said, “The logical place for Tom’s collection is the Museum of Art in Łódź. The museum, specializing in avant-garde art representative of twentieth century movements such as expressionism, cubism, abstractionism and so on, has recently received many valuable donations from American artists.”

Not only artists but also collectors have been donating their collections. In 1947 Stefan Mierzwa bequeathed his collection to the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York,  in 1977 Aleksander Mełeń-Korczyński to the Piłsudski Institute in New York and in 2005 Jan Nowak-Jeziorański to the Ossoliński National Institute in Wrocław. When asked in whose hands he intends to leave his collection, Tom Podl pulled out a photo of his newest granddaughter and replied, “That remains to be determined…”

Tom hopes that, “the Polish paintings will inspire us to honor the experiences of our ancestors who struggled to create a higher path for us.” Many of us simply find pleasure in learning that our predecessors created works on par with the Western European masters. Amid the late twentieth century political changes in Central Europe, the Polish colony in Seattle, as the Polish colony a century earlier in Paris, fostered social conditions that sprung a beautiful legacy in Tom Podl Collection.

“We are a very learned Polish community here in Seattle,” Tom said proudly with an invitation to the next UW Polish Studies Endowment Committee meeting.” Before we parted, he handed me a book saying. “I hope you’ll enjoy this”. It was a spectacular 300-page catalog titled “Colors of Identity-Polish Art from the American Collection of Tom Podl” by Anna Król and Artur Tanikowski published by National Museum in Krakow in 2001.

Tom Podl’s Awards:
2008 Angel of Polish Film Festival award from the Society For Arts
2007 Cavalier Cross of the Order of Merit from the President of the Republic of Poland
2007 Gloria Artis Gold Medal from the Polish Ambassador to the USA Janusz Reiter
2004 Haiman Award from the Polish American Historical Association

Tom Podl Collection was exhibited in the following cities:
Stalowa Wola 2009, Chicago 2006, 1993, Warszawa 2003, Rapperswil 2003, Kraków 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, Poznań 2003, 2002, Łódź 2003, Szczecin 2002, Legnica 2002, Sopot  2003, Wrocław 2001,  Seattle 1993.

“Colors of Identity” was voted the best museum exhibition in 2001 in Poland. The National Museum in Kraków and Tom Podl Collection won the coveted Sybill Award. Ms. Anna Król, the exhibition curator and the Deputy Director of the National Museum in Kraków, accepted the award in the Grand Ballroom of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, on May 18, 2002.

Polish artists in Tom Podl Collection: Bolesław Biegas (Biegalski),  Anna Bilińska-Bohdanowicz, Włodzimierz Błocki,  Olga Boznańska, Bolesław Buyko (Bujko), Józef Chełmoński, Jan Cybis, Józef Czapski,  Stanisław Eleszkiewicz, Julian Fałat, Jerzy Fedkowicz, Stefan Filipkiewicz, Eugeniusz Geppert, Gustaw Gwozdecki, Vlastimil (Wlastimil) Hofman (Hofmann or Hoffman), Leon Kapliński, Aleksander Kotsis, Jan Lebenstein, Józef Tadeusz (Tadé) Makowski, Jacek Malczewski, Rafał Malczewski, Józef Mehoffer, Piotr Michałowski, Józef Pankiewicz, Henryk Rauchinger, Jan Rubczak, Hanna Rudzka-Cybis (Cybisowa), Kazimierz Sichulski, Władysław Ślewiński, Jan Stanisławski, Stanisław Szukalski (psuedonym Stach z Warty), Wojciech Weiss, Witold Wojtkiewicz, Franciszek Żmurko, Aleksander Żyw

Polish artists with Jewish roots in Tom Podl Collection: Aleksander (Sasza, Szaje) Blonder (André Blondel), Eugeniusz Eibisch (Eugene Ebiche) , Henryk (Henri) Epstein , Erno Erb , Leopold Gottlieb , Alicja (Alice)Halicka , Henryk (Henri)Hayden , Rajmund Moise Kanelba (Kanelbaum) , Mojżesz (Moise)Kisling , Roman Kramsztyk , Zygmunt Landau , Zygmunt Józef Menkes , Simon Mondzain (Szamaj Mondszajn) , Mela Muter , Joachim Weingart , Eugeniusz(Eugéne) Zak

For more information about the artists, the artworks and the collector please visit:www.tompodlcollection.com.

Gdynia Business Week 2009 participants with Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament

As the city of Seattle recognizes Gdynia Business Week as the “Best Single Project” in 2010, a team of international partners gears up for a second Business Olympics in Gdynia. (see Gdynia Business Week 2010)

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and Councilmember Sally Clark have recently presented Debra Markert, president of Seattle-Gdynia Sister City Association (SGSCA), the “Best Single Project” award for Gdynia Business Week 2009 and for its outstanding contributions in promoting understanding, friendship and goodwill with Gdynia, Poland. SGSCA will also receive the “Innovation: Youth & Education” award for the same project on July 31, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at 2010 Sister Cities International Annual Conference, sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, US Department of State, US Department of Energy, Brookhaven National Laboratory and Americans for the Arts.

Gdynia Business Week (GBW) is an intensive leadership and innovation course in English for high school students, educators, business and civic leaders from Gdynia and beyond. The first GBW, organized in August 2009, was a huge success. Participants said it was a spark in Gdynia’s economic engine. Boeing CEE president hopes the program spreads across Poland. The city of Gdynia wants to offer it to Georgia, Ukraine and Russia. As Marek Belka, head of National Bank of Poland, told Seattleites earlier this year, competitive education and multidisciplinary structures are essential for small and medium enterprise growth in Poland. Even more importantly, GBW encourages positive attitudes towards business, as noted by Jerzy Buzek, president of the European Parliament, in his opening remarks during GBW last summer: “the highest level of culture needs money, and money comes from business…ethical business.”

Gdynia Business Week was brought to Gdynia by SGSCA, with the support of US Embassy Poland, Boeing CEE and Microsoft Poland. It was inspired by Washington Business Week (WBW), a program that reaches over 3000 Pacific Northwest students annually. WBW, founded by Washington State’s Chamber of Commerce, now in its 35th year, is managed by a non-profit Foundation for Private Enterprise Education and sponsored by over 500 contributors: local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), trade associations and corporate giants like Boeing, Microsoft, Costco, PACCAR, Weyerhaeuser, Wal-Mart and others.

In July 2009, approximately 100 students from 22 Gdynia’s high schools came together to participate in an event that, many said, transformed their lives. Divided into teams of small companies that included a Polish teacher, an American student and an American business advisor, students competed in marketing, production and finance challenges. Computer-simulated games and “Hunk of Junk” commercial presentations made business fun and creative.

“The program makes our people think in an American open way of doing business.” said Piotr Grodzki, GBW supporter and president of Speednet, a booming IT in Gdynia.

Mike Waske, former SGSCA president, who kicked off the program with a thunderous welcome, “Good Morning, Gdynia!” believes that the greatest value for the young entrepreneurs is the confidence they gain from interacting with experienced professionals. Last year’s panel of role models was impressive: EU Parliament President Jerzy Buzek, Gdynia Mayor Wojciech Szczurek, former US Ambassador to Poland Victor Ashe, Michal Jaworski from Microsoft and others.

“It was exhilarating to watch my team, at first the most introverted, gradually transform into a winner,” said Adam Strutynski, project manager for Seattle’s transit company who volunteered last year as a business advisor. “The whole process was an eye opener. I was surprised how eager the kids were to ask questions about my real life experiences. I’ve learned as much from them as they learned from me.”

The week of teambuilding, networking and critical thinking exercises concluded in a frenzy of stockbrokers’ presentations and a real trade show. Stephen Hyer, executive director of the Foundation for Private Enterprise Education said “the program gets results whether in Seattle or in Gdynia.” Accepting failure as part of the process prepares students for the next stage in their life, whether it is college or vocational school. Hyer recollected a young Gdynian’s comment: “It was the most amazing week of my life. Inside myself I found creativity I did not know I had.”

“Students said that they no longer felt self-conscious about speaking English,” remembered Janice Jaworski, a GBW manager. “And the Polish teachers initially skeptical, at the end grasped how the experiential teaching can be implemented in their classrooms.”

Gdynia Business Week drawing from WBW innovates its own path to success. It aims to engage local public, business and NGO leaders to develop their future workforce. Joanna Leman, manager of foreign relations for Gdynia mayor’s office, sees broad possibilities of investment in human potential in East European countries with less developed economies. With the help of GBW, its sister cities and other expanding networks, Gdynia could bring all the stakeholders together in a cross-border curriculum and market co-creation. “A partnership with our neighbors would prepare our youth for a truly multicultural and multinational world,” she envisioned, “and it would promote greater economic stability and cooperation in the region.”

Henryka Bochniarz, president of Boeing for Central and Eastern Europe, will be this year’s keynote speaker at the GBW taking place in August. While some American business advisors from last year plan to return, new Gdynia leaders are stepping up to mentor, judge, present and sponsor the curriculum as well.

Photo: Gail Ann Seattle-Gdynia Sister City Association members: Allen Jaworski, Janice Jaworski, Debra Markert, Mike Waske with Seattle’s “Best Single Project” award

The benefit of the program does not end at graduation.  Students become part of an extensive GBW alumni network that can further boost them to success. Some will qualify for internships in the US at the Congressman Jim McDermott’s office or the King County Superior Court. Others will win scholarships for Advanced Business Week or vocational pathways like Healthcare, Aerospace, Marine, Process Technology and Construction conducted on college campuses across Washington State. Who knows how many will decide to pursue higher education in the United States or return as Fulbright professors in the future? Many may start their own cross-border ventures. Joanna Leman expects internships to be also available in Poland in the nearest future.

Zbigniew Bochniarz, a senior lecturer at the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Affairs who has moved to Seattle in 2007 to broaden the university’s international outreach, is an example of Poland’s contribution to global knowledge.  He said “Interactive and international business training like GBW is a bottom-up approach to meeting the needs of would-be entrepreneurs. It creates vitality and social conditions that support progress. ” Also, a member of the Microeconomics of Competitiveness program at Harvard Business School, he’s been campaigning exhaustively in Poland to offer programs like GBW nationally.

Although in its second year, GBW builds on 30 years of cooperation between Seattle and Tri-City (Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot).  During the 1980s, the Solidarity Association in Seattle relentlessly supported the pro-democracy movement in Poland. The group aired TV shows “Let Poland be Poland” and “Friends of Solidarity,” smuggled funds, lobbied politicians and provided refuge to dissidents. In the early 1990s, Mike Waske, then a local AFL-CIO trade union leader, sponsored by the US Agency for International Development, directed labor law and election training in Poland.  In 1992, Polish Seattleites Tom Podl and Michal Friedrich launched the Seattle Polish Film Festival (SPFF).  The annual event has been a game changer in promoting Polish culture in Seattle for the last 18 years.

In 1993, SGSCA was formed to formally support SPFF. The relationship between the sister cities blossomed through ongoing film events, cultural and athletic exchanges, US scholarships and home-stays for Gdynia students, fundraisers for Gdynia’s hospitals, orphanages, schools and museums and knowledge-transfers for Gdynia’s police, road, water resource, disability and city finance departments. In 1995, Mike Waske led a delegation of business, civic and labor leaders on a historical delivery of a Boeing 767 jet to Polish Airlines LOT in Gdansk, with Lech and Danuta Walesa at the inaugural ceremony. In 2000, Cindy and Andy Okinczyc, SGSCA board members, donated 121 servers to the city of Gdynia.  In 2002, SGSCA attended Gdynia’s Union of the Baltic Cities Conference “Without Limits” and “Europe Prize” award ceremony. In 2005, it partnered with the Trade Development Alliance of Seattle to formalize future delegations and received “Solidarnosc” medal from the Polish Railwaymen Trade Union.

Looking into the future, Seattle and Gdynia are natural partners in knowledge-based economies. Both modern cities with well-educated workforce and clean technology are hotbeds for job growth and entrepreneurship. With leading universities, vibrant culture and beautiful settings both are magnets for talent, families and quality of life enthusiasts. Seattle’s large Russian, German and Scandinavian ethnic communities resemble Gdynia’s Baltic region neighborhood. There are lots of reasons for students, scientists or investors to engage in each other’s cities.

The port hubs offer mutual benefit in the transatlantic and transpacific connectivity. Gdynia is a bridge to EU, Eastern Europe and Russia and Seattle to Canada, Pacific Rim and Asia. Kazimierz Poznanski, professor of economics at the University of Washington’s Jackson School of International Studies, believes that Gdynia can build a greater prosperity for its citizens if it balances its multilateral relationships to its advantage.

Gdynia Business Week tapping into Seattle’s smart networks can help Gdynia meet its local and regional strategic goals. With a global mindset, GBW alumni can achieve the scale and scope to turn the Baltic Rim into a powerhouse of jobs, ideas and capital creation.

Foto: Zdzislaw Polubinski From left: Marzana Bachowska, Krystyna Wrobel, Teresa Davis, Salon of Poetry in Seattle

The dialectic of Apollo and Dionysus was at work on Sunday, Sunday, May 16 when the Salon of Poetry in Seattle delighted guests of the Polish Home from as far as Vancouver, BC with humorous short poems and a potpourri of music. “Don’t Joke with a Woman” whimsical reading was introduced by a University of Washington Fulbright Prof. Przemyslaw Chojnowski with a 600 year-history of Polish epigrams. Epigrams are brief clever verses popularized by the Greeks and Romans two millennia ago.

Next, hosts Leszek Chudzinski and Lena Wrozynski led a playful poetry battle-of-the-sexes and an impromptu epigram contest from the audience. Accomplished local musicians, Aurika Checinska Hays, Marzena Szlaga and Marzanna Bachowska performed “Musical Picnic with Violin, Piano and Songs” and filled Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood with familiar tunes. The program continued late into the evening with Polish food sampling and lively conversation.

Since 2002 when Salon of Poetry – founded by well known actress and humanitarian Anna Dymna – debuted in Krakow at the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre, Ms. Wrozynski dreamed of starting her own tribute of the widely popular performance that has mushroomed all over Poland and the world. In 2005, she succeeded and brought the theatrical mix of local and classical poetry and music to Poles in Seattle. It is now five years strong. The mission of Ms. Wrozynski’s group is summarized by Anna Dymna’s quote on its website (translated by Hanna Gil):

“The Salon of Poetry is a place where the word reclaims its dignity and becomes our friend; it helps us to understand the world, as well as to understand other human beings. It tames our sufferings. Fortunately, there are poets who are able to arrange words in such a manner that they can often present the most important lessons of life in the simplest of ways.”

One poet who arranges words in an illuminating manner is Dr. Anna Frajlich, an émigré poet, scholar and senior lecturer from the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Columbia University. On Friday May 21, Dr. Frajlich delivered a lecture titled: “The Ghost of Shakespeare in Szymborska” at the University of Washington in Seattle.  On Saturday May 22, Dr. Frajlich and her husband Wladyslaw Zajac met with friends of the UW Polish Studies at the lovely home of Ewa and Krzysztof Poraj-Kuczewski for an intimate poetry reading in Polish.

In her lecture on Wislawa Szymborska’s poetry, Dr. Frajlich talked about the impact of Shakespeare’s timeless themes on the writers of the so-called ‘56 Polish generation.  In 1956, a chain of events such as Stalin’s death, Khrushchev’s “Secret Speech” at the 20th Congress and protests in Poznan and Hungary all stirred citizens living under a totalitarian regime in Poland to examine their beliefs and everyday conditions. Writers like Szymborska, disillusioned with Social Realism, began employing literary devices of Shakespearean symbolism to challenge the ignorance, apathy and complicity of those swayed by the communism ideology.  In her poem “Rehabilitation” (1957), reassessing the “crimes of the dead”, she voiced regret at her own blindness toward human suffering and social injustice.

Dr. Frajlich believes that the September 1956 production of “Hamlet” in Krakow marked a turning point in Poland’s transformation to freedom. Popular quotes from Shakespeare, like “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark,” resonated with the public, as did Cyprian Norwid’s heeding 100 years earlier: “What did you do to Athens, Socrates? (1856). In 1964, Jan Kott’s “Shakespeare Our Contempary” became a world-famous bestseller. The literary revolution continued through the unrests in 1968, 1970, 1975 and 1980 until the victory of Solidarity in 1989. Two Polish Nobel laureates Czeslaw Milosz (1980) and Wislawa Szymborska (1996), many think, were distinguished partly for their contribution to a rehabilitation of a generation scarred by idealism.

The speaker from Columbia University is no stranger to forced transformations and difficult adjustments. As a child of Lvov Jewish parents from Poland born as her mother was fleeing Nazis in Kyrgyzstan in 1942, raised in Szczecin, educated in Warsaw and displaced again in 1968 by an anti-Semitic campaign, Dr. Frajlich struggled with constant loss and a search for new identity. On May 21, warmly shaking hands with Capt. Witold Alexander Herbst, a Polish fighter pilot of the legendary Squadron 303 in the the Battle of Britain, she seemed reconnecting with her youthful past.

In her poetry reading, on May 22, weaving vignettes from her personal life with subtle poems from “Between Dawn and the Wind” (2006) and other collections, she shared her saga of coping and gradually adapting to emigration in New York. She ended with what seemed like a response to Hamlet by her 2007 poem “From two roads, must chose one.” The joy and gratitude in her voice beg a question: what helped a “poetess of exile” rehabilitate from history?

Eva Orlowska