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THE SARMATIANREVIEW

Vol. XXIV, No. 1 January 2004

Debating“first things” in Polish

Benedictine Missionary Sister Efrema with Damian, a special care child. Photo courtesy of the Rainbow House in Ełk,Poland, an institution for handicapped persons aged 0-30 maintained by the Polish Benedictine Missionary Sisters.

The Sarmatian Review (ISSN 1059-5872) is a triannual publication of the Polish Instituteof Houston. The journal deals with Polish, Central,and Eastern European affairs, and it explores theirimplications for the United States. We specialize inthe translation of documents.Sarmatian Review isindexed in the American Bibliography of Slavic andEast European Studies and in P.A.I.S. InternationalDatabase available on OCLC FirstSearch.Subscription price is $15.00 per year for individuals,$21.00 for institutions and libraries ($21.00 forindividuals, $27.00 for libraries overseas, air mail).The views expressed by authors of articles do notnecessarily represent those of the Editors or of thePolish Institute of Houston. Articles are subject toediting. Unsolicited manuscripts and other materialsare not returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed and stamped envelope. Please submit yourcontribution electronically and send a printout by airmail. Letters to the Editor can be e-mailed to<[email protected]>, with an accompanyingprintout (including return address) sent by air mail.Articles, letters, and subscription checks should bemailed toThe Sarmatian Review, P. O. Box 79119,Houston, Texas 77279-9119.The Sarmatian Review retains the copyright for allmaterials included in print and online issues. Copiesfor personal or educational use are permitted by section107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Permissionto redistribute, republish, or use SR materials inadvertising or promotion must be submitted in writingto the Editor.Editor: Ewa Thompson (Rice University).Editorial Advisory Committee: Janusz A. Ihnatowicz(University of Saint Thomas), Joseph A.Kotarba(University of Houston), Alex Kurczaba (Universityof Illinois), Marcus D. Leuchter (Holocaust MuseumHouston),Witold J. Lukaszewski (Sam Houston StateUniversity), Theresa Kurk McGinley (North HarrisCollege), Michael J. MikoÊ�(University of Wisconsin),Jan Rybicki (Kraków Pedagogical University),Dariusz Skórczewski (Rice University), TamaraTrojanowska (University of Toronto), Piotr Wilczek(University of Silesia).Copy Editor: Cyndy Brown (Rice University)Web Pages: Lisa Spiro (Rice University).Web Address: <http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~sarmatia>.Sarmatian Council: James Burns (Houston), Iga J.Henderson (Houston), Joseph A. Jachimczyk (J. A.Jachimczyk Forensic Center of Harris County, Texas),Marek Kimmel (Rice University), Leonard M.Krazynski (First Honorary Polish Consul in Houston),James R. Thompson (Rice University).

In this issue:SARMATIAN REVIEW INDEX. . . . . . . . 1002Christina Manetti, Tygodnik Powszechny and thePostwar Debate on Literature in Poland . . 1004Kevin Hannan, Polish Catholicism: A HistoricalOutline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1008BOOKS Received. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1016Clarinet Polka by Keith Maillard (reviewed byJohn Guzlowski). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1018Polish Romantic Literature: An Anthology byMichael J. MikoÊ (reviewed by Andrzej

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Karcz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1019After the Holocaust: Polish-Jewish Conflictin the Wake of World War II by Marek JanChodakiewicz (reviewed by Danusha V.Goska) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1021The Noonday Cemetery and Other Stories byGustav Herling (reviewed by Janet G. Tucker). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1022A Man Who Spanned Two Eras: the story ofa bridge pioneer Ralph Modjeski by JózefGlomb (reviewed by Ashley Fillmer) . . 1024Our Take: American Catholic Parochial-ism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1026About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1027Announcements and Notes . . . . . . . . .1028Thank You Note. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1028

From the EditorChristina Manetti’s articledemonstrates that Polish discoursehas come of age: it has becomecapable of criticizing itself.Specifically, it has begun to notethat the self-congratulatory attitudeswhich some World War II survivorsassumed were not entirely justified.The reference here is to such storiesas Jan Józef Szczepaƒski’s “Boots”published in Tygodnik Powszechnyin 1947. At that time Polishdiscourse began to note that victimscould also be perpetrators whileremaining victims; that survivorscan be perpetrators. Of course thetiming of “Boots” was wrong: thestory was published at a time whenfar more significant crimes werebeing committed on Polish soil bythe Soviet occupiers and theircollaborators—some of whom hadbeen, again, victims. The ability to make these finedistinctions is a sign of a discoursecoming of age. It is significant that inPoland, this coming of age occurredin a Catholic weekly, howeverrestricted its Catholic capabilitieswere by the Soviet occupiers. Kevin Hannan’s essay on PolishCatholicism is remarkable forseveral reasons. First, it is written

by a Texan rather than a Varsovianor a Cracovian. Second, itincorporates Dr. Hannan’sknowledge of several Slaviccultures and several branches ofChristianity. Third, it contains someunique insights, such as that of thelargely suppressed story of how theCouncil of Florence and its decreeswere initially accepted in MuscoviteRussia, and then rejected owing tothe tsars’ desire for power. Among the reviewers we againwelcome Dr. Danusha Goska, atalented academic from Indianawho has written her second reviewfor us. John Guzlowski’s reviewof Kenneth Maillard’s book arguesthat Clarinet Polka practices asubtle one-upmanship (calledOrientalism by Edward Said) withregard to Polish Americans. Thisis done without ever mentioning thename of Edward Said or touchingon his methodology: a feat thatsurely deserves praise. We need to correct informationgiven by the translator of GustavHerling’s (a.k.a. Gustaw Herling-Grudziƒski’s) The NoondayCemetery: Herling was not thefounder of the Paris monthlyKultura; Jerzy Giedroyc was.Herling was one of Kultura’scollaborators, and he publishedthere often until he and Giedroycparted ways due to disagreementson policy. We also would like to acknowledgethe long-term project in whichProfessor Michael MikoÊ hasengaged: that of providing a multi-volume compendium to the study ofPolish literature in the Anglophoneareas of the world. The volume underreview deals with Romanticism.Professor Andrzej Karcz gives it asensitive reading. Two more volumeswill be published, thus bringing a to aclosure Professor MikoÊ’s largeproject. ∆

SARMATIAN REVIEW January 2004

Russian migrationNumber of people who migrated to Russia between 1989 and 2002: 11 million.Percentage of persons of Russian ethnicity among these immigrants: 98 percent.Number of people who emigrated from Russia in the same period: 5 million.The number by which Russian population has decreased in recent years: one million people per year.Number of people from other countries who applied in 2002 to work in Russia as guest workers: 500,000.

Source: Russian Nationalities Minister Aleksandr Zorin, as reported by AFP (Moscow), 8 October 2003.Immigration to PolandEstimated number of illegal emigrants in Poland in 2003: from 200,000 to 500,000 persons.Ethnic groups most frequently represented: Armenians, Vietnamese, Russians, Ukrainians, and Chechens.Number of Vietnamese working in Poland as small traders: 20,000.Amnesty conditions offered to illegal immigrants in 2003: first, a one-year permit to work; second, a renewabletwo-year residence card; after 10 years a possibility of requesting Polish citizenship.

Source: Maja Czarnecka of AFP, 8 October 2003.Russian-Polish visa agreementsChief principle of protocols signed between Russia and Poland in 2003 concerning visa agreements betweenPoland as member of the EU and Russia as nonmember: strict reciprocity in procedures, prices, and demands.Execution by the Russian side of these agreements: disregarding them, Russia demands HIV certificates fromtruck drivers, and written invitations from Russia or confirmed hotel reservations.

Source: Michał Pawlak in Donosy, no. 3587 (8 October 2003).Polish economy as reflected in opinion pollsPercentage of Poles who described their economic situation as “good” in an October 2003 OBOP poll: 23 percent.Percentage of Poles who described their economic situation as “average” and “bad,” respectively: 48 percent and 29 percent.A similar OBOP poll conducted in 1992 yielded the following: 11 percent, 45 percent, 44 percent.

Source: Michał Jankowski in Donosy, 9 October 2003.Russian economy as reflected in opinion pollsPercentage of inhabitants of the Russian Federation who described their economic situation as “good’ or “verygood” in September 2003 WCIOM poll of 2,400 representative persons: 6 percent.Percentage of inhabitants of the Russian Federation who described their economic situation as “average” and“bad,” respectively: 55 percent and 36 percent.

Source: Marcin Wojciechowski (Moscow), as reported by Gazeta Wyborcza, 10 October 2003.Corruption in Russia and the former Soviet republicsRating of Russia in the October 2003 assessment of Transparency International (www.transparency.org): 83rdout of 133, a tie with Mozambique.Ratings of Estonia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Georgia, respectively: 33rd place for Estonia (the high-est in the former USSR); Ukraine, 106; 124 for the remaining countries (a tie with Cameroon and Angola).

Source: Jonas Bernstein of Russia Reform Monitor, no. 1083(8 October 2003).Ukrainian-Russian economic relationsPercentage of Ukrainians opposed to Ukraine’s proposed joining of an economic alliance between Russia,Belarus, and Kazakhstan: 44.3 percent.Percentage of those in favor: 31.3 percent.

Source: Sociological Institute of Kyiv poll, as reported by AFP (Kyiv), 16 October 2003.White slave trade in the Czech RepublicNumber of erotic clubs in the Czech Republic subjected to a recent police raid: 435.Estimated number of women who work as prostitutes in the Czech Republic: between 10,000 and 25,000.Number of German sex tourists (half of them pedophiles) who travel to the Czech Republic yearly: 100,000.

Source: AFP (Prague), 11, 20, and 28 October 2003.Roma (Gypsy) children in the Czech RepublicPercentage of Roma children in the Czech Republic that are sent to special (and inferior) schools for “problemchildren”: 75 percent.Countries that practice similar discrimination of Roma children: Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary.

Source: Katarina Rysova of AFP (Kosice, Slovakia), 22 November 2003.

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January 2004 SARMATIAN REVIEW

The Sarmatian Review IndexEU Constitution and Christian valuesPercentage of Poles who would like to see a mention of Christian values in the European Union constitution: 60 percent.Percentage of those opposed: 27 percent, with 13 percent undecided.

Source: Rzeczpospolita Europoll, as reported by Rzeczpospolita on 20 June 2003.Polish public relationsYearly budget of the Polish Tourist Agency whose task is to promote foreign tourism in Poland: $7 million.Amount of money the Czech Republic and Hungary spend on promoting foreign tourism: $40 million and $86million, respectively.

Source: Director of the Polish Tourist Agency Andrzej Kozłowski, as reported by Rzeczpospolita, 25 July 2003.Foreign investment in PolandAmount of money invested in Poland by foreigners in the first half of 2003: 2.53 billion dollars.Percentage drop in foreign investment in Poland since a year ago: 20 percent.Total foreign investment since 1989: 68.3 billion dollars.The largest investors in Poland so far: France, 12.52 billion dollars; the Netherlands, 8.9 billion dollars; theUnited States, 8.28 billion dollars.

Source: AFP (Warsaw), 30 September 2003; Donosy, 1 October 2003.Press freedom in RussiaRanking of the Russian Federation in the press freedom index: 121st of 139 countries listed, or less free thanTadjikistan (86th place), Kyrgystan (98th place), Azerbaijan (101th place), Kazakhstan (116th place), andUzbekistan (120th place)Worst rankings: China (138th place) and North Korea (139th place).

Source: The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, as reported by Russian Reform Monitor, no. 1076 (12 September 2003).Russian rearmament?Month and year in which the Russian Duma approved (in the first reading) a bill that would revive Soviet-stylemandatory military training in Russian schools: October 2003.Month and year in which Russian Defense minister Sergei Ivanov declared that Russia reserves the right to apreemptive military strike against its neighbors: October 2003.Weapons that will replace the aging Soviet-era nuclear missile fleet: dozens of SS-19 multi-warhead ICBMsdesribed by President Putin as having an “unrivaled” capacity to “penetrate any missile defense system.”

Source: Jonas Bernstein in Russia Reform Monitor, nos. 1081 and 1085 (2 and 22 October 2003).Internet in the Russian FederationPercentage of the Federation’s population that uses the Internet: 5 to 6 percent.Percentage of the population that does not know how to use either computers or the Internet: 67 percent.

Source: VTsIOM opinion poll, as reported by NEWSru.com, 20 August 2003.Religious preferences of American JewsAmerican Jewish population in 2003: 5.2 million.Percentage of American Jews not associated with a synagogue: 54 percent.Breakdown into religious preferences among the remaining 46 percent: Reform, 18 percent; Conservative, 16percent; Orthodox, 10 percent, Reconstructionist, 1.4 percent; other, 2 percent.

Source: Tara Dooley in Houston Chronicle, 11 September 2003.Sideshow in ChechnyaNumber of people killed by landmines in Chechnya in 2002: 5,695, or the largest in the world and twice thenumber in 2001.

Source: International Campaign to Ban Landmines, as reported by Russian Reform Monitor, no. 1076 (12 September 2003).Poland’s generosity to AngolaPercentage of Angolan debt to Poland annulled by the Polish government on 19 September 2003: 60 percent, or173 million dollars.Estimated number of Angolans in need of food aid in 2003: 2.7 million.

Source: AFP, 19 September 2003.

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January 2004 THE SARMATIAN REVIEW

Tygodnik Powszechnyand the Postwar Debate on Literaturein Poland

Christina Manetti

Kraków’s Catholic weekly TygodnikPowszechny, founded in 1945, occupied aunique place in Poland’s postwar cultural

landscape. Because of its critical stance towardtraditional Catholicism, the Communists allowed thepaper to exist—as proof of their good will towards theChurch. At the same time the Church gave Tygodnikits approval, since after 1948 all other authentic (i.e.,non-collaborating) Catholic publications were closed.Tygodnik’s quasi independent status gave it a uniqueopportunity to provide a subtly presented critique ofboth Communism and traditional Catholicism. Thepaper avoided overt political statements and focusedinstead on cultural and philosophical matters.

An important debate on literature just after the waraptly illustrates Tygodnik’s view of Poland’sconservative Catholics and of Communist ideologues.It was an approach that would characterize Tygodnikthroughout the entire postwar period, with just a briefhiatus during the height of Stalinism when it was forcedto close. In these polemics Tygodnik’s writers defendedTadeusz Borowski(1) and Jan Józef Szczepaƒski whohad provoked criticism from both communists andCatholics for their stark portrayals of the demoralizationthat war brings, even among camp victims and heroicpartisan fighters.

Tygodnik writers advocated an approach to literaturethat would offer a sober critical appraisal of Poland’swartime experience, rather than one that focused ontheir country’s indisputable suffering as a victim. Oneof the most significant literary debates centered onTadeusz Borowski’s short stories “Day at Harmenz”and “This Way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen”published in 1946.(2) It should be noted that Borowskihad made his official Polish debut in Tygodnik’s 1945Christmas issue. A total of five of his poems werepublished in TP.

In his work Borowski showed that victims could alsobe perpetrators, something that shocked and offendedmany Poles. Tygodnik’s Paweł Jasienica (pseudonymof Lech Beynar) and Stefan Kisielewski were the onlywriters to publicly defend Borowski from both

Communist and Catholic attacks. Significantly,Jasienica and Kisielewski’s defense was more areaction against traditional literary norms than againstCommunist precepts. As it turned out, however, muchthe same criticism applied equally well to both theCommunist and Catholic camps.

After a number of attacks in the official party press,including the literary journa TwórczoÊç, Borowskipublished his own controversial review in early 1947(3)of a camp memoir by the well-known Catholic writerZofia Kossak-Szczucka.(4) Her book Z otchłani (Fromthe Abyss) had been published the previous year.Pointing to what he considered to be inaccuracies inKossak-Szczucka’s text, Borowski alleged that insteadof answering the question “How did you survive thecamp?” she invented stories in order to obscure theignominious truth. Having been in the camp at the sametime, Borowski was well aware of how it functioned,and what it took to survive. He wrote the following:

The author of the camp account belonged to a certainprivileged caste in the camp (she was in Birkenau duringthe period when it was possible to protect a person who wassupposed to survive), which was recruited from a certainnumber of Polish women, who thanks to packages, contactsand preferential treatment from the functionaries had arelatively comfortable and safe life in the hospitals andszonungi—rest blocks during ’43–’44—they did not go outto work with their commando, they did not get up (in thehospital) for roll call, [and] as patients they were not indanger of being sent on transports. I know these relationsfrom the hospital in Birkenau, where the best places as arule were occupied by members of the “Polish intelligentsia”who were actually healthy, but who had the right number ofpackages, while those who were truly ill were crammed intothe other worse sztube [rooms] or on the bottom bunks. Therewas a similar situation in the women’s camp. (5)

Borowski criticized Kossak-Szczucka not so muchfor her decision to avail herself of the opportunity forsurvival, but rather for what he considered to be herhypocrisy and perpetuation of the Polish“martyrological myth.” He wrote: “I just resent—andvery much at that—that she did not have the courageto include herself in the story and judge herself.”(6)Instead of pointing out the “packages, functions, andrelations which in reality secured [certain] Polishwomen a certain higher standard of living. . . and gavethem greater chances of survival,” she wrote that “thestrength that allowed Polish women to maintain aproper attitude was friends’ prayers.”(7)

Perhaps most distasteful for Borowski was Kossak-Szczucka’s portrayal of the upper class Polish women

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THE SARMATIAN REVIEW January 2004

as somehow inherently superior to the other campinmates by virtue of their nationality and religion.Borowski noted that she took this to absurd extremesin her assertion that “Polish women were better able towithstand hunger because before they knew how to fast[emphasis in original] during the days set by theChurch.”(8)

In a counterattack by S. Poszumski in SłowoPowszechne,(9) the ostensibly Catholic daily associatedwith Bolesław Piasecki and the PAX group known forits collaboration with the Communists, Borowski’s ownstories were criticized because he mentioned things thatwere inappropriate (in Poszumski’s opinion) in thecontext of concentration camps. Borowski noted thatsoccer games were played as people were gassed, thatcamp brothels existed, and that people were moreconcerned with surviving than with “doing good.”

In closing, Poszumski stated that Borowski wouldnot have provoked such a controversy if it had not beenfor his defamation of Catholic writers. The reviewerwrote: “We want to demonstrate that he does not havethe moral right to pass judgment and voiceobjections.”(10) Later Poszumski and others expressedthe opinion that Borowski should be brought beforethe court of the [Communist-run] Writers’ Union.

Writing in DziÊ i Jutro, (11) Stefan Kisielewski, likeJasienica in Tygodnik,(12) also defended Borowski.Kisielewski was most concerned about the narrow-mindedness of such attacks. Kisielewski argued thatthe scope of “Catholic culture” in Poland should bebroadened:

We must understand and realize one supremely importantthing, which is that Polish Catholicism after the war hasembraced within its scope a significantly broader range ofsubjects and problems than had been the case in Polandbefore September [1939]. The reasons for this are simple:the cataclysm of the war undermined or destroyed manyworldviews, ideological foundations, and politicalmovements. Because the sine qua non of a nation’s existenceis continuity of its intellectual life, all eyesincluding thoseof nonbelievers as well as of the “cathecumens,”(13) andquite often of people who had previously been completelyindifferentturned to the Church as the only institutionwhich survived unchanged, untouched, and uncontaminatedby the cataclysm of war. The Church has today eo ipsobecome that Ark of the Covenant between the old and thenew.(14)

Kisielewski argued that Poszumski and ZygmuntLichniak, the authors of attacks on Borowski and onZofia Starowieyska-Morstinowa, another TP writer,were clinging to outdated and restrictive views.

Starowieyska-Morstinowa’s book was condemned byLichniak for “not being Polish in its views” becauseshe allegedly advocated a “Parnassian” view of art. Theranks of Catholic writers should be expanded,Kisielewski urged, “so that Catholicism and notsomeone else becomes the patron of Polish art andculture.”(15) The Church had to broaden its horizonsif it wanted to play this important role. Thus,Kisielewski wrote, if Starowieyska-Morstinowa’s bookis “alien” as Mr. Lichniak asserts, something unusualfor our country, then in the name of enriching andbroadening our culture, should the book be condemned,or rather assimilated and taken advantage of to broadenour horizons a bit? The answer seems clear. If Mr.Lichniak believes Polish culture is something closedand defined, that it should [not] learn anything [fromanyone else], then all that is left for us is just to stew inour own juices.(16)

Jan Józef Szczepaƒski’s debut story, “Buty”(“Boots”), published in TP in February 1947, alsosparked a lively debate. Like Borowski, Szczepaƒskishowed victims as perpetrators. The scandal it causedwas no less than that surrounding Borowski’s work,and raised suspicions about the weekly’s trueallegiances. At that time, TP was officially an organof the Kraków Curia and Szczepaƒski was later on itseditorial staff. The plot of Szczepaƒski’s story revolvedaround the moral dilemma posed by a Polish partisanunit that decided to execute an enemy detachmentconsisting of Kalmyks(17) who had surrendered. Theexecution itself was not the source of the dilemma, butrather the partisans’ motivation as described bySzczepaƒski. The soldiers, the writer suggested, wereobsessed with material gain that would accrue to themif the Kalmyks were executed. It was not even theKalmyks’ weapons they wanted (though we are toldthat the enemy detachment was well armed), but rathertheir good boots which the partisans coveted—hencethe title of the story. Szczepaƒski shocked his readerswith his juxtaposition of the Kalmyks (shownphlegmatically peeling potatoes), and their Polishcaptors whose craving for the boots tipped the scalesin favor of execution.

Some readers were appalled by this kind of portrayalof Polish partisans. Szczepaƒski later recalled receiving“more than three hundred letters, scolding [him]terribly. [“Boots”] caused a great furor, [criticsclaiming] it was blasphemous and unpatriotic, andlibeled the Home Army.”(18) This kind of reaction wasprobably what the editor at TwórczoÊç, KazimierzWyka, had been afraid of when he rejected the piece.

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As Szczepaƒski pointed out, however, “Turowicz wasnot afraid of the text, and published it.”(19) It was notthe first time, nor would it be the last, that Turowiczand TP would opt to publish a controversial piece ratherthan play it safe.

The author of an article in a major Marxist culturaljournal, Odrodzenie, took a somewhat different stance.There “Boots” was held up as an example of the“disease” rather than a cure. Szczepaƒski was dismissedas simply another one of his generation obsessed withhis own wartime experience. His critic summed up thewhole problem by warning that

those people who are convinced that their lives as writersbegan August 1, 1944,(20) or the day they went to the woods[to join the partisans] must remember all uprisings andforests come to an end, even in literature. Especially inliterature.(21)

Szczepaƒski cites as typical another reader who accusedhim of “trying to lower the moral value of the Polishpartisan detachments who in their noble strugglesfought the German invader for the nation’s freedom.”Readers resented the tarnishing of what Anthony Smithhas called the mythomoteur of a nation.(22) A readerpointed his finger accusingly at Szczepaƒski, saying,“I am sure that J. J. Szczepaƒski would bring back adozen such watches [a highly coveted form of booty]from Berlin, if he had been given the chance. Moreover,taking possession of valuable items from the defeatedenemy is the law of war.”(23) This was preciselySzczepaƒski’s point, however, which the reader failedto see even as he himself was alluding to it. Althoughmost war literature, and popular reaction, had focusedon condemning the terrible crimes of the invaders andoccupiers, Szczepaƒski tried to show the equallyterrible effects those crimes had on those subjected tothem. The phenomenon of “infection by death”resulted, Szczepaƒski said, in a devaluation of humanlife: “A watch, pair of boots, and human life becomeabsolute categories without meaning,” as that readerhimself had said. Szczepaƒski, however, realized theimportance of discussing the war’s events and effectsopenly, no matter how painful the process might be.He wrote: “Almost all the letters that described ‘Boots’as morally repugnant are protests in the name of ahighly dangerous ethic of appearances. The criteriaused are ‘what you talk about and what you don’t talkabout’, and ‘what you should and shouldn’t do’.”(24)The most dangerous thing, Szczepaƒski argued, is thatan “‘upstanding person’ can with shocking ease betransformed into a person who is morally ‘derailed’.”

He says that as a soldier in the resistance, he himselfwitnessed this phenomenon:

the “infection of death,” a nihilistic disdain of man by manis not completely the result of war and a bestial [foreign]occupation. In a shockingly large number of cases, the warand occupation only acted as a catalyst for those dangerousforces which are always at hand, much closer than one wouldexpect in theory.(25)

To some extent, Szczepaƒski specifically blamed theintelligentsia, which traditionally was seen as thecountry’s moral leadership. He noted bitterly that it wasoften the intelligentsia from the underground leadershipthat proved most devoid of morals.

On another level, Szczepaƒski and Turowicz, whowrote TP’s response to the criticism,(26) also defendedthe literary value of “Boots.” Turowicz overtlycriticized Polish writers for a tendency to look at thenational mythomoteurs uncritically. “Legend should notmask the truth,” Turowicz wrote, “The medicine againstevil is not silence. In Catholic opinion, the conventionexisted that Catholic literature should be moralistic innature, and that it should not portray evil in order notto attract people to it.” He claimed current Catholicwriters have abandoned this model, realizing that “it ismore important to portray life as it is, that it is notimportant what one writes about, but how onewrites.”(27) [emphasis in original]

Szczepaƒski, too, made a strong statement for realismin literature, though not the kind advocated by the Partypress. He stressed that writing about the war, especiallyabout its morally reprehensible episodes, must bevalidated by some higher “therapeutic” and didacticaim. While the Marxist critic Kazimierz Wyka criticizedSzczepaƒski for not offering any solutions to this“infection of death” and for suggesting that suchsolutions do not exist, Szczepaƒski said that “notingand collecting the symptoms of the disease is necessaryif one intends to fight it.” He proffered no solution, hecontended, because he did not have one; but hecontributed to the solution by exposing the disease.

For Turowicz, Catholic personalism is a key part ofthe solution. “There is only one road to immunity tothe ‘plague’, and treating those already ‘infected bydeath’: raising people in the spirit of personalism, inthe spirit of respect for the noble dignity of each person,in the conviction that the human being is a value inand of itself.”(28) Turowicz was responding to themoral damage inflicted by the war, but his wordsapplied equally well to the “new reality.” While placingsupreme value on the collective, the Communist regime

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constantly denigrated the value of the individual as aremnant of a “reactionary” and bourgeois past.

It is worth noting that with one exception the lettersabout “Boots” to TP editors were anonymous. Turowiczfound this to be disturbing evidence of the damage doneto Poland by the Second World War on the one handand by the new political reality on the other. “Thisanonymity,” he wrote, “is a very unpleasantphenomenon. For the most part, there was nothing inthe letters’ contents that would have justified theauthors’ unwillingness to sign their names—and thus[must be the result of] some defect in citizens’ courage,or some habit adopted during the occupation thatcontinues to do damage today.”(29)

Issues raised by Tygodnik under Communismcontinue to be relevant today: the Polish nationalidentity, debates about what Catholic Christianity reallyproclaims, and Poland’s relationship to her past remainvery much alive. These themes will undoubtedlyresonate once again in public debate as Poland joinsthe European Union. ∆

NOTES

1. Tadeusz Borowski (1922-1951) was active in leftistyouth cultural life during the Nazi occupation of Poland,and was sent to Auschwitz and then to Dachau. He returnedto Poland in 1946, and eventually joined the Communistparty and wrote according to the strictures of socialistrealism. He committed suicide in 1951.2. The title of “This Way to the Gas, Ladies andGentlemen” was changed in Poland at the time to the lessshocking “Transport B∏dzin-Sosnowiec.” Several of hiscamp stories were published in 1946–7 as well.3. Tadeusz Borowski’s critical essay, “Alicja w krainieczarów,” appeared in Pokolenie, no. 1 (1947); Kossak-Szczucka’s memoir, Z otchłani, was published by Ksi∏garniaW. Nagłowskiego in 1946.4. Zofia Kossak-Szczucka also belonged to aprominent noble landowning family.5. Tadeusz Borowski,“Alicja w krainie czarów,”(“Alice in Wonderland”) in Utwory wybrane (Wrocław:Zakład Narodowy Ossoliƒskich, 1997), 464–465.6. Ibid., 465.7. Ibid., 461.8. Ibid., 461.9. S. Poszumski, “Fałsz, cynizm, krzywda:wspomnienia z obozu godzàce w godnoÊç i m∏czennika,”Słowo Powszechne, no. 81 (1947).10. Ibid.11. DziÊ i Jutro was the predecessor of SłowoPowszechne, founded in 1947. Kisielewski contributed toDziÊ i Jutro before PAX publications began to be boycottedby noncollaborating Catholic journalists in September 1947.

12. Paweł Jasienica, “Spowiedê udr∏czonych,” TP, no.40 (1947).13. The expression “catechumens,” or persons aspiringto join the Catholic Church, was used by the Tygodnik groupto describe the many people attracted and embraced by themwho were often still “searching” and not yet confidentenough to accept Catholicism wholeheartedly. Oneprominent “catechumen” who had converted to Catholicismduring the war was the playwright Jerzy Zawieyski.14. Stefan Kisielewski, “Przeciw ciasnocie,” DziÊ iJutro, no. 32 (1947).15. Ibid. Emphasis added to convey the author’sconspiratorial tone.16. Ibid.17. Kalmyks are a people of Mongolian origin whohave lived in the foothills of the Caucasus since theseventeenth century. They sided with the Germans againstRussians in the Second World War. In retaliation by theMoscow government, the entire Kalmyk nation was deportedto the Gulag after the war.18. J. J. Szczepaƒski, as interviewed by Jacek Trznadelin Haƒba domowa [1986], (Warsaw: Morex, 1994), 279.19. Ibid., 279.20. The first day of the Warsaw Rising 1944.21. Kjw [Kazimierz Wyka], “Szkoła krytyków,”Odrodzenie, no. 4 (1947).22. Anthony D. Smith, The Ethnic Origins of Nations[1986] (Oxford, UK and Cambridge, MA: BlackwellPublishers, 1993), 58–68.23. Letter to the Editor, TP, no. 10 (1947).24. Szczepaƒski, TP, no. 10 (1947).25. Ibid.26. Turowicz, TP, no. 10 (1947).27. Ibid.28. Ibid. Turowicz was interested in EmmanuelMounier’s personalism, and he published a number ofarticles on this philosopher in TP.29. Ibid.

Polish CatholicismA Historical Outline

Kevin Hannan

One can speak of the religion of a nation onlysecondarily, since religious faith originates and

exists, or may be extinguished, within the individual.Yet no discussion of predominately Catholic Poland iscomplete without reference to religion. We areprimarily concerned here with a secondarymanifestation of religion expressed in historical,cultural, and political developments.

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Observing Poles in their churches, one glimpses thedepths of the human capacity for belief. For manyPolish Catholics, the Catholic Church is the repositoryboth of transcendent, universal truth and of the valuesand lessons of Polish history. While critics havedismissed it as an unremarkable blend of folksuperstition, nationalism, and antimodernism, PolishCatholicism has proved to be a vital force in Europeanhistory as much in recent decades as in the past. Polescontinue to practice Catholicism not only as a ritualand tradition, but also as a living, relevant ideaembraced by the individual believer with enthusiasm.

The mission of Cyril and Methodius occurred beforethe religious split between East and West, and the twobrothers maintained close contacts with both Romeand Byzantium.

As with some other “national” varieties, the RomanCatholicism of Poland is, for the believer, analogousto an onion. The core contains the barely expressibletruths of heaven and earth. The outer layers mayembody qualities that are nationally specific,superfluous, maudlin, or simply imperfectly human,evidence of Catholicism’s ability to absorb andcelebrate within a religious context a broad variety ofhuman cultures and expressions. The core of this onionof Catholicism is separated from its exterior by layersof fine onionskin, so that it is impossible to determine,in peeling away individual layers, when one hasremoved the exterior and already begun to discard thecore. Yet the onion is of little use if reduced to a pileof individual layers: an evidence of Catholicism’sperfect grounding in both the body and the spirit. Thebeliever does not concern him/herself with the splittingof onionskins, but takes the onion whole, outerimperfections and all.

One is struck upon entering a Roman Catholic churchin Poland by the clutter of symbols and the abundanceof imagery. Some Orthodox churches leave a similarimpression with icons and lamps. It might appear to avisitor that the Polish churches are houses for the localreligious artifacts of the ages. Processional banners,candles, statues, colored streamers hung from theheights of the interior, stations of the cross, paintings,frescoes, and icons are visible. Some churches displayrosaries, jewels, miniature commemorative shields, andmetal wota donated by individuals in gratitude for andcommemoration of answered prayers. Certain paintingsportray national saints, such as Maximilian Kolbe, theFranciscan priest who, during the Second World War,

volunteered to die in Auschwitz in place of a fellowprisoner, a former sergeant in the Polish Army by thename of Franciszek Gajowniczek (d. 1995). Manychurches contain a copy of the national icon of theBlack Madonna of Jasna Góra. In addition to thecrucifix, the essential symbol of Catholic Christianity,Polish churches during the Easter season display astatue of the Resurrected Christ with a staff and bannerof victory, typically upon the altar. The sense of clutterin the churches grew in the final decades of thetwentieth century with the installation of a hangingvideo screen, upon which words to hymns are projectedoverhead during services. That installation in many ofthe older structures is a permanent, unsightly fixture.

It might appear to a visitor that the Polish churchesare houses for the local religious artifacts of the ages.

Observing those church interiors, a native of anothercountry might feel sympathy for the reformers whodesired to clear the houses of worship of distractionsand, in some instances in other parts of Europe,destroyed church interiors in the name of reform. Asingle point of theological and aesthetical focus todaycharacterizes Protestant houses of worship as well assome contemporary Roman Catholic ones, in contrastto many Catholic churches in Poland. During theReformation and Counter-Reformation, Polandexperienced little of the religious violence that occurredin other parts of Europe, and there was no massdestruction of Polish churches. For Polish Catholics,all the layers of artifacts and symbols in the churcheshave their rightful place. Distracting as they mightappear to the visitor, these represent the layers of Polishhistory and the influence of the Church upon thathistory.

The first mention of Christianity in Poland relates tothe mission led by two brothers, Cyril (known also byhis baptismal name Constantine and called thePhilosopher) and Methodius, who arrived in Moraviafrom Byzantium in the year 863. The story of Cyriland Methodius is rich in symbolism, though Poles tendto disregard its significance because the directinfluence of the Cyrilo-Methodian mission in Polandwas brief and impermanent, soon to be replaced by thetraditional Polish orientation towards Rome. Themission of Cyril and Methodius occurred before thereligious split between East and West, and the twobrothers maintained close contacts with both Rome andByzantium. Proclaimed copatron saints of Europealong with Saint Benedict, by Pope John Paul II, Cyril

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and Methodius represent a model for reconciliationbetween Catholicism and Orthodoxy.

The layers of symbolic artifacts in Polish churchesrepresent the layers of Polish history and the influenceof the Church upon that history.

By the ninth century, the territory of what is todaysoutheastern Moravia and southwestern Slovakia wasthe center of an expanding political and economicpower that became known as Great Moravia. This isthe first Slavic state for which there exists combinedarcheological, historical, and linguistic evidence. Atthe request of the Moravian ruler Rostislav, Cyril andMethodius led a Christian mission to Moravia. Thebeginnings of Slavic Christianity and the Slavic literarytradition date to that time. Under Rostislav and hissuccessor Svatopluk, Great Moravia’s borders furtherexpanded to include Slovakia, Pannonia, Bohemia, andparts of modern Poland and Austria. Though GreatMoravia was destroyed by the Magyars and Franks inthe first years of the tenth century, the influences ofthe Cyrilo-Methodian mission survived in the Balkans,and later penetrated to the territory of the East Slavs.Saint Cyril created an alphabet and a literary languageused today (after modifications) in Russia and theother Orthodox Slavic areas, as well as in the EasternCatholic rite in Ukraine and Belarus.

It should be noted here that for many centuriesWestern and Eastern Christianity have met,intermingled, and influenced each other along Poland’seastern borders. The Catholicism of Poland may appearmore “eastern” than most varieties of RomanCatholicism, just as the Eastern Christianity ofneighboring Ukraine and Belarus is more “western”than that of Russia. But Poles tend to view the easternborders of Roman Catholicism as stark and well definedin relation to neighboring Orthodox and Greek Catholiccommunities.

The Life of Saint Methodius describes a “powerfulpagan prince” of the Vistulians whom Methodiuspersuaded to accept baptism. Based on that evidenceand what is known of early political contacts betweenKrakow and the Czech state that developed in Bohemiafollowing the destruction of Great Moravia, it seemsprobable that the mission of Cyril and Methodius hadsome success on Polish territory. Yet fullChristianization came to Poland from the West.Poland’s official Christianization in 966 meant theofficial establishment of Christianity in its Latin form.

In 965 Mieszko I (d. 992), the first historical ruler ofthe Polish Piast dynasty, married Doubrava, a Czechprincess of the Premyslid dynasty. Doubrava’s uncleVaclav, who is memorialized in the carol “Good KingWenceslas,” was martyred in 935 and proclaimed asaint. Her great-grandmother was Ludmila, alsocanonized by the Church and honored as one of thenational saints of Bohemia. The beginnings of theCzech state in Bohemia preceded those of Piast Poland,a fact reflected spatially in Poland’s greater distancefrom the Franks and from Rome. In 966 Mieszko Iaccepted baptism in Gniezno, which in the year 1000became the seat of an archbishopric. It should be notedthat Vladimir of Kiev, who accepted Christianity fromByzantium in 988, was the last among the Slavs to joinwhat at that time promised to be a form of culturaladvancement.

Christianity led to the acceptance of monogamousmarriage and respect for the value and rights of thechild in society. Yet there was popular resistance toabandoning the old pagan beliefs. In the eleventhcentury Poland experienced a revolt against the Churchand state. Pagan beliefs were particularly wellentrenched among the Slavs of Pomerania and the Elberegion, as well as among the neighboring Balts. SaintWojciech (Adalbert), one of the patron saints of Polandand a former bishop of Prague, was martyred in 997while trying to convert the Baltic tribe of Prussians toChristianity.

Following the Union of Florence in 1439, theMoscow Metropolitan Isidore proclaimed the Unionof the Eastern and Western Churches in Moscow’sUspenskii Sobor in 1440. This proclamation wasangrily rejected by the ruler of Moscow Vasilii II whocondemned the Metropolitan and imprisoned him inthe Chudnov monastery.

In cultural milieus intolerant of Catholics, Poles aresometimes cast as fanatically religious. This is aninference based more on the statistic, infrequent todayin Europe, describing the nation’s identification withCatholicism, than on the individual Pole’s expressionof private religious faith. Many Polish Catholicsdisplay little interest in dogmas and are remarkablytolerant of other faiths. The tradition of religioustolerance in Poland dates back to the centuries ofreligious struggle in Europe, when the country was ahaven for religious refugees of all kinds persecuted inother countries. During the bloodiest periods ofreligious violence in Europe, Poland was a place of

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unparalleled tolerance. Catholic religious absolutismwas never a policy of the Polish monarchy.

In the fourteenth century and due to intermarriage,Poland was united politically with the Grand Duchy ofLithuania. Poland thus became a kingdom of bothWestern and Eastern Christians: Lithuania hadpreviously conquered what today is called Belarus andUkraine. In addition to the Eastern Orthodox, Poland’sreligious minorities have included monophysiteArmenians; Jews; Karaites, who reject the Talmud andaccept only the Old Testament; and Muslim Tatars. Bythe second half of the sixteenth century, a sizeablechunk of the Polish nobility had become Protestant.Calvinism exercised a strong influence in Little Poland(Małopolska) and in Lithuania, while much of Prussiaand the region of Wielkopolska followed the teachingsof Martin Luther. Only with the reforms institutedwithin the Catholic Church during the Counter-Reformation did the majority of Polish Protestantsreturn to Catholicism. Isolated communities of PolishLutherans survive today, notably in Teschen Silesia.

Religious matters were further complicated at the endof the sixteenth century with the creation of the GreekCatholic, or Eastern Caholic (Uniate) Church. TheUnion of Brest was signed in 1596 by the Catholicbishops and by most of the Orthodox bishops of Polishterritory. The former Orthodox acknowledged the Popeof Rome rather than the Patriarch of Constantinople asthe head of their Church, while they retained theirSlavonic liturgy and religious traditions, including themarried priesthood. Factors influencing the union werethe fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453, thedesire of the Orthodox clergy to improve their socialand educational status, and Rome’s aspirations forreunification.

The opinion that the Orthodox bishops were forcedinto the union with Rome became standard when theMoscow-generated history of the region gainedascendancy. Yet as Jerzy Narbutt points out in his bookDwa bunty, the Brest Union was but a confirmation ofthe Union of Florence (1439), whereby the unity ofthe Eastern and Western branches of Christianity wasproclaimed. Accordingly, the Moscow MetropolitanIsidore “proclaimed the Union of the two Churches inMoscow’s Uspenskii Sobor in 1440. This proclamationwas angrily rejected by the ruler of Moscow Vasilii IIwho condemned the Metropolitan and imprisoned himin the Chudnov monastery. Fortunately, theMetropolitan succeeded in escaping to Poland.” (52)Yet many of the Orthodox who did not accept the Unionof Brest were embittered at Rome and at Catholic

Poland. Today the existence of the much-persecutedGreek Catholic Church in western Ukraine and otherareas represents a major source of tension between theOrthodox and Catholic Churches.

In the eighteenth century Poland became an islandof Catholicism surrounded by Protestant Prussia andSweden in the northwest, by Hussite Bohemia in thesouth, and by Orthodox Russia in the east.

Political conflicts with hostile neighbors over thecenturies strengthened the position of the CatholicChurch in Poland. The country became an island ofCatholicism surrounded by Protestant Prussia andSweden, by Hussite Bohemia, and by Orthodox Russia.The religious policies of those states did not reflect thereligious tolerance (of the premodern variety) thatflourished in Poland. With time, the national ideologiesof Poland’s foes, especially Prussia and Russia, becamestrongly anti-Catholic. Following the fall ofConstantinople in 1453, Russians promoted the ideaof Moscow, the seat of a Russian Orthodox patriarch,as the “third Rome.” Moscow denounced Rome andCatholicism as heretical.

Poland’s declining political fortunes, climaxing withthe partitions of Poland among Prussia, Russia, andAustria at the end of the eighteenth century, were notunrelated to these developments. Obviously Polandpaid a high price for its fidelity to Catholicism. But illfortune also strengthened the association of Polishnesswith Catholicism. Under the partitions, the Churchwas viewed as a prime foundation of Polish society,and it was the only Polish institution to continue tofunction in all three partitions. Inspired by AdamMickiewicz and other poets of the first half of thenineteenth century, some Poles came to see aparallelism between their nation and the crucifiedChrist. Just as Russians assigned a special role inhuman history to Moscow, the “third Rome,” Polestoyed with the idea that the historical struggles andinjustices experienced by Poland had exceptionalsignificance for all of humanity. Some Poles lookedto Poland to initiate a new era of human history. Asimilar development is sometimes perceived in Irelandwhere English persecution strengthened RomanCatholicism.

Bismarck’s policy of Kulturkampf introduced inPrussia in 1872 was generally directed at all Catholicsunder German rule, though Catholic Poles wereespecially affected. Laws were passed prohibiting theuse of Polish in Polish schools. At the same time but

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for different reasons, similar laws were passed in theRussian empire where Poles were forbidden to use thePolish language even at Warsaw University. Led bythe Catholic clergy, the Poles of Prussia fiercely resistedBismarck’s policies. In the meantime under the Russianpartitions, a statue of Tsar Alexander II was erected in1889 in Czestochowa, and it became a symbol of thepolicies of Russification. The placement of theimmense statue at the entrance to the Jasna Goramonastery seemed to represent both Russian intent toblock entry to the monastery and the Russiangovernment’s opposition to the Catholic Church. Thestatue was pulled down in 1917.

Since the end of the Second World War, the oldtraditions of cultural and religious diversity in Polandare a memory of the past. Today’s Poland is arguablythe most homogeneous country in continental Europefrom the standpoint of its religious and ethniccomposition.

The experiences of the Second World War, theoccupation of Poland by the Nazis and Soviets, andthe imposition of a pro-Soviet communist governmentin the postwar period further reinforced the position ofthe Catholic Church in Poland. Both the Nazis and theSoviets targeted the Catholic Church for destruction.Following the Second World War, Poland’s bordersshifted to the west. The population squeezed into thoseborders (many of them being the PolishVertriebene, orexpellees from the east) was overwhelmingly Polishand Roman Catholic.

Since the end of the Second World War, the oldtraditions of cultural and religious diversity in Polandare a memory of the past. Today’s Poland is arguablythe most homogeneous country in continental Europefrom the standpoint of its religious and ethniccomposition. It therefore seems strangely reactionaryand nostalgic when some Polish and foreignintellectuals invoke the now-deceased multiculturaland multinational Poland, and call upon the now-homogeneous Polish nation to practice diversity andbehave as if the country had major problems with the“minorities.”

A milestone of Polish history was the election in 1978of Karol Wojtyła as Pope of Rome. The Catholic worldwas stunned at the selection of the first non-Italian popein centuries. A person of enormous intelligence andcharisma, John Paul II personally embodies the noblesttraditions of Polish Catholicism. He has been criticizedby some in the West as too Polish, i.e., too traditional,

too far removed from the concerns and sensibilities ofthe West. John Paul II was at least partly responsiblefor the collapse of the Soviet system. His visits toPoland as pope before the downfall of Communismvividly underscored the contrast between themendacious ideology of the Communist system andthe truths of Christianity.

The history of Christianity in Poland is related to thePole’s stereotypical enthusiasm for the abstract ideaand the nation’s obsession with historical duties.According to the Dagome Iudex, a twelfth centurysummary of an earlier Latin document sent by thePolish king to the papal see, Mieszko I asked that hisentire kingdom be placed under the protection of thepope. Certainly Mieszko I was motivated in part bypolitical considerations, though his request for unionwith the papacy has a special significance in light ofsubsequent Polish history. Another event that, in thelight of Poland’s thousand year history, becamesomething more than mere gesture was King JanCasimir’s consecration in Lwów (Lviv in contemporaryUkrainian) in 1656 of the Polish nation to the VirginMary, who was proclaimed Queen of Poland. At theinitiative of Stefan Cardinal Wyszyƒski, Primate ofPoland from 1948 through 1981, Jan Casimir’s vowswere symbolically renewed by the entire Polish nationin 1956, a year of dramatic political events in Poland.One of the grandest of the Polish nation’s Catholicstatements was Jan Sobieski’s defeat of the Turks atVienna which, incidentally, occurred during the nightof 9/11–9/12, 1683, September 11 thus being the dayof the Muslims’ greatest success in conqueringChristian Europe. Poles saw that struggle as a religiousone, and had Sobieski not felt a very Catholic obligationto lead his Polish troops to Vienna, Europe’s politicalfate might have been quite different.

The spiritual center of Polish Catholicism is themonastery of the Pauline Fathers in Czestochowa,called Jasna Góra, or the Mountain of Light, whichhouses the chapel of the icon of the Black Madonna.A painting on a wall above the chapel shows the JasnaGóra monastery as a medieval fortification threatenedby mounted invaders, a scene that became thecenterpiece of Polish self-perception. The monasterytoday is somewhat less impressive, on first appearance,than the fortress shown in that painting. The landscapesurrounding Czestochowa is rather flat, with dense,unimposing forests. The industrial town that has grownup around the fortress monastery obscures the elevationof the site on which the monastery was erected in the

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fourteenth century. The focus of the monasterybuildings contained within the fortress walls is a towerfirst erected in the fifteenth century, a structure notunlike some other historical towers in Poland, in whichthe majesty of height is not entirely matched byoriginality of architectural design. Viewing the austereexterior of the monastery from a distance, the visitormay be surprised later at the opulence and grandeur ofthe numerous churches and chapels tucked away withinthe monastery walls. Religious art in Western Christianity has longemphasized the humanity of Christ. This is visible inthe works of the Western European masters, as well asin the modern American iconography, which depictsChrist as a very human, long-haired white Anglo. InPoland, Christ’s human nature can be seen in the cultof Christ the Man of Sorrows (Chrystus Frasobliwy),a popular theme of folk sculpture that was popularizedfrom the fourteenth century on. Portrayed as fullyhuman, Christ the Man of Sorrows sits pensively, robedand with a crown of thorns, one hand supporting atroubled head with furrowed brow. The cult of Christof Divine Mercy, introduced in Poland by St. FaustinaKowalska (1905–1938), is associated with a popularreligious painting in which Christ’s human attributesand capacity for mercy are emphasized. In contrast, inthe Slavic East the figure of Christ the High Priest,seated on a throne in the vestments and crown of aBishop of the East, is emphasized. This image isseldom encountered in Poland, though an imposingsculpture was recently erected.

Jasna Góra houses a museum and library, and theentire complex represents a sanctuary of Polishness. Italso demonstrates to visitors from abroad that themedieval tradition of pilgrimages is alive and well inPoland. Before the main entrance stands an oversizedstatue of Cardinal Wyszyƒski, who guided the PolishChurch through the years when Poland was occupiedby the Soviets. Wyszyƒski is viewed by many Poles asa national hero. The modernistic stage of steel beamsand guywires erected for the papal Masses is still inplace above the monastery wall, in readiness for JohnPaul’s return. Within sight of that platform is animmense statue of John Paul II. A tablet at the base ofthat statue displays a quote from John Paul’s 1978 visitto the monastery: “If we want to learn how historyworks in the hearts of Poles, it is necessary to comehere, it is necessary to put one’s ear to this place, tohear the echo of the whole life of the nation in the heartof its Mother and Queen.”

A sign posted at the monastery entrances proclaimsin seven languages: “This is a holy place. Come hereas a pilgrim.” Nearly three and a half million pilgrimsvisited the monastery in 2002. As with other Christianmonasteries and with holy sites of other faiths, pilgrimsjourney to Cz∏stochowa to satisfy a spiritual need orimpulse. In Poland there is final recourse for every trialand tribulation. In times of trouble, Poles go toCz∏stochowa to pray before the Black Madonna.

Most observers will conclude today that the SecondVatican Council was a success in Poland. PolishCatholics at all levels of society embraced the reforms;the Council brought forth none of the divisivenessthat has been seen in America.

Jasna Góra is a Marian shrine, with the focus ofdevotion on Mary the Mother of God. Unlike Lourdesand Fatima, pilgrimage sites with which it comparesin the Catholic world in stature and popularity, JasnaGóra is not the site of a Marian apparition. From theofficial perspective of the Church, it is the choice ofthe individual believer to accept or reject the Marianapparitions, which, at any rate, play no central role inthe doctrines and teachings of Catholicism. Jasna Górais therefore a place where a nation chose to celebrateits ties to Christianity. Something of a window toanother world rather than a mere religious painting,the Black Madonna, as the painting of Virgin Mary inCz∏stochowa is customarily called, is credited withmiracles associated with Polish history, especially therepulsion of foreign invasions. Following the Swedishsiege of the monastery in 1655, the icon’s importancecame to be acknowledged throughout the nation as asymbol for all Poland.

At the center of Jasna Góra, behind the fortificationsand the monastery buildings that have been erected overthe centuries, is the chapel of the Black Madonna. Thischapel more closely resembles one of the churches ofthe Holy Land than it does a Roman Catholic shrine ofEurope. A gate of black iron and ornate metals extendsto the ceiling in front of the small chapel, so that onemay view the chapel during those times the gate issecured. In front of the gate hang immense, ornatevotive lamps. The nave before the chapel has no pews,so that pilgrims must either stand or kneel. Both chapeland nave are filled throughout day and evening withpilgrims.

High above the chapel altar, the icon of the BlackMadonna is concealed behind an ornate silver shield,which at specific times of day is ceremoniously raised

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to a dramatic fanfare of horns and drums. That musicis not a recording but is performed by monks. Alongthe outer perimeter of the chapel a rail partitions a pathwhich leads behind the altar. The altar in the chapel islocated directly beneath the elevated icon, so that thepriest celebrant says Mass with his back to thecongregation, as was the Catholic practice before theSecond Vatican Council. Mass is celebrated throughoutthe day in the chapel and in adjacent churches, so thatthe pilgrim has the opportunity to walk from one servicedirectly to another.

Some young Poles today consider their nation’subiquitous Catholicism to be suffocating andinhibiting.

The oldest extant source on the icon is the fourteenthcentury Latin work Translatio Tabulae Beatae MariaeVirginis, quam Sanctus Lucas depinxit propris minibus,a copy of an earlier chronicle. According to thischronicle, the icon was painted by Saint Luke theEvangelist upon wood from the kitchen table of thehouse in Jerusalem where the Virgin spent the finalyears of her earthly life. Clearly, however, this andother icons of Byzantine style are of more recentprovenance. Legend states that Emperor Constantinethe Great brought the icon from Jerusalem toConstantinople, where it was acquired by a Ruthenianprince. It subsequently became the property of PrinceWładysław of Opole, who established the monasteryat Jasna Góra in 1382. Władysław donated the icon tothe monastery, probably in 1384.

Measuring 81.6 x 120.2 cm (97 x 137 cm with thepolychrome frame), the icon presents a frontal imageof the Virgin holding the child Jesus in her left arm.Stylistically, the icon represents the Byzantine modelknown as the Hodegetria. However, judging by thewritings the icon has generated, the average Pole haslong since lost any sense of connection with theByzantine origins of the icon. For him or her, the iconis simply a Polish representation of the Madonna. Thebottom layer of the icon of the Black Madonna consistsof three planks of linden wood, each 3.5 cm thick.According to the traditional method of “writing” icons,canvas was applied to the wood, and the canvas thencovered with gesso. The tempera with which the iconwas “written” forms the top layer. On specialoccasions, the icon is “dressed” with an elaborate rizaof gems and precious metals, revealing only the headsand hands of Mary and Christ. Over the centuries,popes, kings, and nobles donated numerous gold and

jewel-encrusted embellishments for the decoration ofthe icon.

The priests within the Jasna Góra complex exudeenergy and a sense of purpose, and they appear eagerto deal with the anxiety and despair that bring somepilgrims here. Most of the crowds that fill themonastery complex are dressed somewhat formally.The pilgrims represent foreign visitors and a crosssection of the Polish population. Observing familiesleisurely strolling the perimeter of the monasterycomplex, one might suppose this is a park in the middleof a city. Large numbers of Poles make a summertimepilgrimage on foot to Cz∏stochowa from their homes.While the intended gain is spiritual, the unintendedphysical benefits should not be discounted. The journeycan last several days or even a week, and the pilgrimstypically make arrangements beforehand to lodge inthe homes of local citizens along the way.

One of the most impressive sights viewed from theheight of the monastery walls is the First Communionprocessions of children that wind along the roads belowthe monastery. Moving hurriedly on foot, the lines ofchildren, girls in white gowns and veils, boys in suitsand ties, approach from the distance and pass throughthe main gate to one of the churches. Weddings andfunerals also take place here.

Catholicism remains one of the most fascinatingaspects of contemporary life and culture in Poland, atestament of history and tradition that survivedcenturies of determined opposition and persecution.

Somewhat more imposing architecturally thanCz∏stochowa, though less significant historically, isKalwaria Zebrzydowska, another distinguished Polishpilgrimage site. Located some twenty miles southwestof Kraków, Kalwaria Zebrzydowska is nestled in thefoothills of the Carpathians. The site is associated withPope John Paul II who was born nearby in Wadowice.Comprising forty-four churches and chapels, KalwariaZebrzydowska was established in the seventeenthcentury as a replica of the holy sites of Jersualem,clearly a part of the Counter-Reformation movementin Poland. Like Cz∏stochowa, Kalwaria Zebrzydowskaboasts a miraculous icon, Our Lady of Kalwaria, apainting in the Western European style. Anotherbeloved icon and pilgrimage site is found in Wilno(Vilnius), the capital of Lithuania. The OstrobramskaMother of God in Vilnius has enjoyed enormouspopularity among both Catholic and Orthodoxbelievers. Other icons, some venerated as miraculous,

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were found in Poland’s eastern marches in what is todayUkraine, Belarus, and Lithuania. Two of the mostbeloved were removed to Wrocław in the postwarperiod: the Mother of God of Zborów nad Strypà, whichaccompanied King Jan Sobieski during his militarycampaigns, including his defense of Vienna; and theMother of God of Podkamieƒ.

Some young Poles today consider their nation’subiquitous Catholicism to be suffocating and inhibiting.Individuals immersed in the relativism of the West,where all the varied and contradictory systems ofhuman beliefs are increasingly accorded equalattention, protest against the value-oriented teachingsof the Catholic Church in Poland. In modern Polishcities it is easy to escape from religious symbolism,and church attendance is not required. Visitors toPoland can easily find milieus where traditional PolishCatholicism is scorned and rejected.

Catholic churches in Poland and the United Statestypically look quite different, and, corresponding tothe physical environment, the services held in themhave different ambiences and liturgical emphases.Liturgical devotions in Polish churches seem moreprivate in character than in American churches, wherethe mind more often communes with the immediatecommunity than with the deity and the saints of thecenturies. Observing contemporary Catholic Poland,one hardly senses the tremendous upheaval that tookplace in the Catholic Church following the SecondVatican Council (1962–1965) and in the years thatpreceded the election of Pope John Paul II in 1978.The changes related to the liturgy, the role of the clergyand laity, and church policy on ecumenism are lesspronounced in Poland. In America changes associatedwith the Council were introduced almost immediately,whereas the attitude of the church hierarchy in Polandwas more cautious. Liturgical reforms in Poland wereintroduced gradually, and the Polish hierarchy wasunwilling to discard tradition solely for the sake ofexperimentation. In Western Europe and America thechanges that followed the Council brought aboutconsiderable disruption, so that even today thereremains a lack of uniformity in certain liturgical andadministrative practices, as well as a lack of consensuson the intent and meaning of certain reforms of theCouncil. No such developments can be observed inPoland, where the introduction of the vernacular andof the second altar for the priest facing the congregationhave been accepted without causing disruption in othersegments of the liturgy.

Most current observers will probably conclude thatthe Second Vatican Council was a success in Poland.Generally, Polish Catholics at all levels of societyembraced the reforms; the Council brought forth noneof the divisiveness that has been seen in America. Fromthe perspective of the West, this is one of the puzzlesof Polish Catholicism. In few other countries was theintroduction of the reforms of the Council so wellreceived and so lacking in controversy as in Poland.And yet, despite the general acceptance of the reforms,the Polish church, outwardly and inwardly, hasremained more traditional than the Catholic Church inthe West. One can hardly escape the conclusion thattogether with the reforms intended by the Council, otherinfluences played a role in American and WesternEuropean churches. In Poland, the Council reformswere implemented without distortions and re-interpretations.

Catholicism remains one of the most fascinatingaspects of contemporary life and culture in Poland, atestament of history and tradition that survivedcenturies of determined opposition and persecution. Ofcourse, since the fall of Communism, the influence ofthe church has declined to some degree. Some Polesremark that their long history of oppression and foreignrule did not prepare them for the freedoms they haveenjoyed since 1989. Those individuals are frustratedthat the Church, which led the Polish nation to victoryover determined enemy, now faces in the consumerismand hedonism of the West a more treacherous enemy.Yet considering the history of Catholicism in Poland,one inclines towards optimism and expects the Churchwill succeed in the future in finding its place in the cultureof Poland as it has done through the centuries. ∆

BibliographyJan Sergiusz Gajek et al., editors, Cyryl i Metody.Apostołowie i nauczyciele Słowian. 2 vols. (Lublin: KUL,1991).Violetta Gradek, “Do czarnej Madonny,” Dziennik Zachodni(Katowice), 15–16 February 2003.Antoni Jackowski, Jan Pach, and Jan Stanisław Rudziƒski,Jasna Góra (Wrocław: Wydawnictwo DolnoÊlàskie, 2001).Jerzy Kłoczowski, A History of Polish Christianitytranslated by Małgorzata Sady et al. (Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 2000).Jacek Kolbuszewski, Kresy (Wrocław: WydawnictwoDolnoÊlàskie, 1995).Jerzy Narbutt, Dwa bunty (Katowice: Unia, 2003).A. G. Velykiy, S litopysu khristiyans’koy Ukrainy, vol. 2(Rome, 1969).Adam Zamoyski, The Polish Way. New York: Hippocrene,1994.

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BOOKS Received

The Nation in the Village: The Genesis of PeasantNational Identity in Austrian Poland, 1848–1914,

by Keely Stauter-Halsted. Ithaca & London: CornellUniv. Press, 2001. x + 272 pages. Index, bibliography,photographs, maps. Hardcover. $49.95 onAmazon.com.

This book ushers in compelling evidence that themodern Polish national identity developed amongpeasants in Galicia long before the First World Warand reconstitution of independent Poland. It also showsthat the conception of Polish identity among peasantswas by no means uniform. The author argues that theregion’s peasants possessed a high degree of civicconsciousness at the time when non-Germanic CentralEuropean peasants were supposed to be illiterate, mute,and malleable. Thus the book works toward theshattering of stereotypes associated with peasantry, andfor that reason it will not be welcome by those whocling to these stereotypes. The region’s peasants wereproverbially poor (“Hunger” and “Misery” are theactual names of villages in the vicinity of Zakopanetoday). As has often been the case concerning Polishlands partitioned among three European empires, thehistory of this area has usually been told from thestandpoint of the politically and economicallysuccessful groups.

The book is meticulously researched anddocumented. The scholarship is cutting-edge. In theearly twentieth century, Polish immigrants to Americacame largely from Galicia. The Nation in the Villagehas already surfaced in various American Polishdiscussion groups on the Web.

A Cold War in the Soviet Bloc: Polish-East GermanRelations, 1945–1962, by Sheldon R. Anderson.

Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2000. 336 pages.Hardcover. $33.00 on Amazon.com.

A revealing study of the relationship between twoCommunist groups, East German and Polish. In spiteof sloganeering about the supranational nature ofCommunism, the old animosities survived intact in theEast German-Polish relations during the Cold War. EastGerman Communists conveniently shrugged off theirportion of guilt for the Second World War, attributingit all to West German capitalists. This enabled them toremain intransigent, behind the facade of consent, aboutthe Oder-Neisse border with Poland. The oldPrussianism with its hostility to Poland and to theAusländer generally survived in the DDR more fullythan in the FRG. It enabled East Germans to feel no

sense of guilt whatsoever toward the Poles whosecountry they invaded, ravaged, and exposed to half acentury of Soviet occupation. Scholars in German andSlavic history need to pay more attention to this book.

Warsztaty translatorskie II / Workshops onTranslation II, edited by Richard Sokoloski,

Henryk Duda, and Jacek Scholz. Lublin-Ottawa:Towarzystwo Naukowe KUL and Slavic Research Group,University of Ottawa, 2002. 205 pages. Paper. ISBN 83-7306-113-4. In Polish, English, German, and Russian.

This volume is a continuation of a project started inJune 1999 and involving cooperation of the Institute ofPolish Philology of the Catholic University of Lublin,Poland, and the Slavic Research Group of the Universityof Ottawa. It comprises selected papers from twoWorkshops on Translation held in Lublin in 2000 and2001.

The contents of the volume are diverse yet coherent.It embraces issues related to both theory of translationand practice of it. The authors and participants in theworkshops are interested in some specific problem oftranslation of (mostly) literary texts into a particularlanguage. This pragmatic direction is welcome. Alsoworth noting is the fact that the Lublin-basedWorkshops on Translation, having already become atradition, develop to embrace other languages of theCentral and Eastern European region and thus becomea forum for scholars, graduate students, andprofessional translators who seek to improve theirinstruments of translation and exchange theirexperiences. Besides Polish and English (the latterbeing the target language of translations of some ofthe most difficult Polish poetry by Mikołaj S∏p-Szarzyƒski, Jan Andrzej Morsztyn, Ignacy Krasicki,Adam Mickiewicz, Cyprian Norwid, TadeuszRóÏewicz, and Stanisław Jerzy Lec), other Slavic(Russian, Ukrainian, and Bulgarian) as well as non-Slavic languages (German and even Turkish) areobjects of research. (ds)

Ethos, vol. 14, no. 4 (2001). A quarterly publishedby the John Paul II Institute in Lublin and the John

Paul II Foundation in Rome ([email protected]).ISSN 0860-8024. 398 pages.

A periodical on philosophical and ethic issues. Theauthors of essays (some of them translated into Polish,others written in Polish) are all noted philosophers andscholars. The lead essay is authored by Karol Wojtyłaand it deals with the role of Christianity in history. Asection of the philosophy and theology of historyfollows (four articles) then a section of thephilosophically-minded Romantic poet of Poland,

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Zygmunt Krasiƒski (eleven essays). These major sectionsare followed by polemics, book reviews, interviews, andconference reports. There is a summary in English.

Unfortunately, the volume is marred by editorialincompetence. The archaic way in whichbibliographical matters are supplied is one. Issuenumbers and dates of publication have to be broughtin line with the standards prevalent in first worldcountries. As things stand now, a reader does not knowwhether Ethos is published quarterly, yearly, or semi-annually. The publishers of the footnoted books arenot supplied, only the cities in which books werepublished and dates of publication. The topics ofprevious issues enumerated on the back cover meannothing to a contemporary researcher unlessaccompanied by names of people who wrote on thesetopics. No such names are supplied. Such namelesslistings smack of medieval times when Christianhumility made authors avoid putting their namesforward. Today they merely signal editorial negligence.The English summary is too brief. These and other slipsmake this worthy volume lose potential readership.

Polskie Êredniowieczne pieÊni maryjne. Studiafilologiczne, by Roman Mazurkiewicz. Kraków:

Wydawnictwo Naukowe Akademii Pedagogicznej,2002. 412 pages. Bibliography, indexes, summariesin English, French, and Russian. Paper. In Polish. In his study of the Polish medieval Marian songs,the author argues that a living Marian cult in Polandwas not, in spite of a deeply rooted opinion, aspecifically Polish feature, but that it grew from acommon Christian tradition prevalent throughoutEurope. It is therefore necessary, when studying thenative heritage of Marian poetry, to take into accountan extensive context of tradition: biblical, apocryphal,patristic, theological, exegetic, literary, iconographic,and musical.

The book consists of two parts. The first is titledPolish Marian Song in the Middle Ages, and it is asurvey of major findings emerging from the existingstudies devoted to the heritage of Polish medievalMarian song. The chapter entitled A General View ofthe History of Research: Discoveries—Editions—Studies presents the history of the discovery of sourcesand of studies devoted to medieval Marian songs inthe Polish language. The next chapter, A GeneralDescription of Resources, provides a syntheticdiscussion of key issues connected with the heritageof the Polish medieval Marian song preserved to ourdays: its birth and development, sources and forms oftransmission, creative milieus, attitude towards foreign

models, place in liturgy, performing practice, typologyof works, their language and imagery. The thirdchapter, Inventory of Polish Marian Songs Until theMiddle of the 16th Century, reviews the source materials:the known texts, information about probable dates andauthors of the songs, their relationship to foreignmodels, their purpose and liturgical function, as wellas the most important editions and studies of the olddocuments. The second part features five analytical studies(Studies and Analyses). Four of them pertain to specificsongs: Holy and Pious Anna, The Lord’s Mysteries AreImmense, The Living God’s Liberality, and A Pure LittleFlower, Consolation of a Sad Heart, while the last onedeals with one of the crucial questions in Polishmedieval studies, namely the relationship of the nativemedieval Marian songs to the Old Czech literature. These songs glorify the most important Marianholidays of ancient Christian origin: Mary’s Birth (Holyand Pious Anna), Annunciation and Incarnation (TheLord’s Mysteries Are Immense), and Dormition andAssumption (The Living God’s Liberality).Consequently, they pertain to the most important andearliest mysteries of the Mother of God’s life on earthcelebrated by the Church. The fourth poem (A PureLittle Flower, Consolation of a Sad Heart) is in turn aprayerful and laudatory song, summing up merits andvirtues of the “glorious Virgin.” All of them are originalworks, at the same time deeply rooted in the traditionof medieval mariology. In addition, these poemsrepresent a relatively high theological and literary level,while illustrating a development of the Marian song inPoland from the first half of the fifteenth century (TheLord’s Mysteries Are Immense) to the beginning of thesixteenth century (Holy and Pious Anna). The studies devoted to these documents containtransliterations and transcriptions of texts,commentaries pertaining to the history of literature andto language, and present earlier readings andemendations. But they also go beyond pure philology,opening it to the contexts most natural to religioussongs: biblical, typological-figural, liturgical,hymnological, theological, and literary.

The author of this highly recommended bookconcludes that Polish medieval Marian songs have deeproots in Christian tradition, from which the old“masters” drew inspiration and models, and in whoselanguage, adorned in the poetic music of the vernacular,they conveyed to the faithful “the Lord’s immensemysteries about Mary’s magnificence.” (mjm)

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Other Books Received:Two-Hearted Oak: The Photography of Roman Loranc.Afterword by Lillian Vallee. Berkeley, CA: HeydayBooks, 2003. 80 pages. Hardcover. $27.95 onAmazon.com.

A stunning work of art, or rather works of art, for thealbum contains several dozen photographs of California’sCentral Valley, followed by some photographs of CentralEurope. Among these monochromatic masterpieces weliked best the title (and dustcover) picture of two-heartedoaks.Xenophobe’s Guide to the Poles, by Ewa Lipniacka.London: Oval Books, 2000. ISBN 1-902825. A delightfuland humorous introduction to a nation once called “a stateof mind” by an English wit. You do not have to agreewith everything it says to enjoy it. Definitely a nice gift toan unsuspecting friend. Full of jokes, too.Leksykon zakonów w Polsce: Instytuty zyciakonsekrowanego i stowarzyzenia Ïycia apostolskiego, byBogumił Łoziƒski. 2d revised edition. Warsaw: KatolickaAgencja Informacyjna (http://www.kai.pl), 2002. 480pages. Illustrations, indices, tables. ISBN 83-9911554-6-3. Paper. In Polish. An official encyclopedia of the religious orders in Poland.From it, one learns that there were in 2001 over 26,000 womenreligious in Poland, and under 14,000 religious men (plus aroughly similar number of diocesan priests). Altogether, thereare 238 religious orders in Poland. They run nearly 2,000charitable institutions. Each order is described in terms of itsfounding, present status in numbers, addresses and institutionsrun by it, as well as its spiritual goals.Vmeste ili vroz’: zametki na poliakh knigi A. I. Solzhenitsyna,by Semen Reznik. Moscow: Zakharov, 2003. ISBN 5-8159-0332-9. 432 pages. Hardcover. In Russian. Takes on Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s ideologized book on Jewsin the Russian empire. Reznik points out that an entirelydifferent history of Jews in Russia could be written, and hecontributes to this counterhistory in a significant way.Treasury of Polish Love Poems, vol. 2. Edited and translatedby Mirosław Lipiƒski. New York: Hippocrene Books, 2003.11. pages. Hardcover. Bilingual English-Polish. $11.95. Poems from Jan Kochanowski to Wisława Szymborska.Tyrmand: bikiniarz, konserwatysta. Szkice o literaturze iobyczaju, by Tomasz M. Głogowski. Katowice:Wydawnictwo Gnome, 2001. Index. 85 pages. In Polish.Nie min∏ło nic, prócz lat, by Szymon Kobyliƒski andAleksandra Ziółkowska-Boehm. Warsaw: Nowy ÂwiatPublishers, 2003 (www.nowy-swiat.pl). 303 pages. Paper. InPolish.

Clarinet Polka

By Keith Maillard. New York: St. Martin’s Press,2003. 384 pages. ISBN 0-312-30889-2. $17.47on Amazon.com.

John Guzlowski

In his seminal essay “The Art of Fiction,” Henry Jamesmakes an important addition to the discussion of whata writer of fiction has to know in order to writesuccessfully. James puts forth the argument that anauthor does not necessarily have to possess a wealthof information or experience regarding his subject inorder to do justice to it.

To illustrate this point James tells a story of anEnglish writer who was often commended for herdepiction of French Protestant youth. When she wasasked how it was that she knew so much about thissubject, she liked to explain how once when she wasascending some stairs in a clergyman’s house shehappened to pass a room where some young Protestantswere completing a meal. This scene, according toJames, so impressed her that she was able later to writea moving and completely successful narrativeconcerning French Protestant youth. James asks us toconsider this: this writer did not have an encyclopedic,book knowledge of life in France; she did not have lifeexperiences that opened the hearts of French Protestantyouth to her; and she did not know much about whatFrance looked like or sounded like or smelled like.According to James, she needed none of this. Whatshe did have was a talent for keen observation. Shewas the kind of person “upon whom nothing is lost.”This he says is the key element a novelist must possess.If a person is one on whom “nothing is lost,” that personcan take a brief glance, a sidelong glance as it were,and that brief glance coupled with the artist’s imaginativeand creative talent for analysis and interpretation willenable that person to spin a world out of it.

The point that James raises may seem like the sort oftheoretical, nineteenth-century issue that is best left tothe classroom, something to puzzle an undergraduateclass with, but it is really a central issue for our time aswell. Let me phrase the question James addresses thisway: does a writer have a “right” to write about aculture that he is not a part of? For example, does thewhite writer have a right to write from an AfricanAmerican perspective? A Jewish writer to write froma Catholic perspective? A male writer to write from a

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female perspective? And to bring this discussion tothe novel at hand, Keith Maillard’s The Clarinet Polka,does a non-Polish American have the “right” to write anovel from a Polish-American perspective?

James would answer that Maillard does have such aright, if he is the sort of writer on whom nothing islost, the sort of writer who can see a glimpse of a PolishAmerican culture and have the psychological andanalytic tools and intuitions to construct a plausibledepiction of that culture. Unfortunately, Maillard isnot such a person.

The Polish American world Maillard depicts is thin.Set in the late 1960s, the novel tells the story of an AirForce veteran who returns to his old neighborhood, aPolish American working class area in a town likeWheeling, West Virginia. The veteran, JimmyKoprowski, is alienated, dissatisfied, and sexuallypromiscuous in the manner of many fictional charactersof the Sixties. In Jimmy’s isolation and sexuality thereader hears echoes of Bellow’s Herzog, Baldwin’sRufus in Another Country, Updike’s Rabbit Angstrom,and Roth’s Portnoy. What is new here is that all of thisis played out against the background of a PolishAmerican community. Or more rightly, I should saythe foreground of a Polish American community.

In those novels about young men from marginalcultural groups coming into contact with the dominantculture, the marginal culture is presented asbackground. For example, Baldwin does not explainwhat blues music is; Bellow does not explain what ashtetl is; Updike does not explain what golf is. Thecultural background of the characters is so much a partof the characters and so much a part of the authors’understanding of their characters that those authors donot stop the narrative progress of their characters’fictional journeys to say something like: “Weigela,well, that is a Polish religious ceremony that involvessuch and such.” But Maillard does this sort offoregrounding constantly in the novel. He does it whenhe discusses Polish religious holidays and customs,when he talks about the things Polish American eat,when he talks about the polkas they listen to, and whenhe talks about Polish American and Polish history.Maillard has apparently done considerable research onPolish Americans. He states in his “Acknowledgementsand Notes” section at the end of the novel that he wantsthe Polish American community in his novel to feel“authentic” (his emphasis), and he mentions many ofthe works and people he has consulted to that end. Iam not sure Henry James would fault him on that, butI believe he might feel that Maillard could have been a

little subtler about his use of his research. The wayMaillard presents this information about PolishAmerican culture makes the novel often seem more atravelogue through an interesting culture and less a novelabout a veteran’s fall into dissipation and redemption.

Before I move on, I would like to say one more thingabout Maillard’s research. It is narrow. He hasconsulted books on Polish Americans by Lopata,Renkiewich, Pula, Zand, and Wróbel, but he also stateshe “deliberately did not read any Polish-Americanfiction” until after he finished the first draft of his book.This seems such an odd admission and such an oddomission that one has to wonder what was in Maillard’smind. Imagine someone who has written a novel aboutAfrican Americans or Jewish Americans admitting thathe has not read any fiction by members of either group.I wish Maillard had explained why his research didnot extend to reading Suzanne Strempek Shea or TonyBukoski or Stuart Dybbek. Did he feel perhaps thatthey could have given him insights into PolishAmerican culture that would have made him aware ofhow stereotypical his presentation of his main characterJimmy was? That he had more to do with TennesseeWilliams’ Stanley Kowalski and Nelson Algren’sFrankie Machine than with real Polish Americans?

Finally, let me return to James’s argument. Hecontends that you do not have to be immersed in aculture to write about it, that in fact perception andsmartness will give you what you need to present aworld different from you own. Having read Maillard’sbook I feel that James may be wrong. Maillard isclearly a man with sharp skills of observation. Hisprevious novels and the acclaim they have brought himshow there is something serious and profound in hispowers as a novelist. But those powers do not seem tobe enough to bring the Polish American characters tolife in his novel. ∆

Polish Romantic LiteratureAn Anthology

By Michael J. MikoÊ. Bloomington: SlavicaPublishers, 2002. viii+216 pages. Illustrations,bibliography. Hardcover. $26.95.

Andrzej Karcz

Michael MikoÊ’s book is yet another volume of hisimpressive anthology of Polish literature in English

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translation. The previous volumes include MedievalLiterature of Poland (New York: Garland, 1992), PolishRenaissance Literature (Columbus: Slavica, 1995), andPolish Baroque and Enlightenment Literature(Columbus: Slavica, 1996). MikoÊ, a professor in theDepartment of Foreign Languages and Linguistics atthe University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is thevolume’s editor and translator. He also authored thefourteen-page introduction and all the notes on thetwelve writers represented in the book. With this newvolume the entire anthology, now in four volumes, hasbeen greatly enriched. It would be hard to imagine anyselection of Polish literature without a representationof Polish Romantic authors, for along with theRenaissance Romanticism was the most original and mostconsequential epoch in the development of Polish culture.

The first half of the nineteenth century, i.e., the eraof Polish Romanticism, was the time of the birth of anew sensitivity. As in other western European countries,in Poland Romanticism broke from the rigidity ofclassicism and rejected the rationality set by the age ofreason in the previous century. These were replacedby an intense interest in spirituality and mysticism. Butin Poland the new era was also marked by thecomplexity of the country’s political situation. Afterlosing its independence to Russia, Prussia, and Austriain 1795, Poland entered a period of national struggles,clandestine political activities, and armed uprisings.Every intellectual pursuit, especially imaginativeliterature, became subjugated to the national cause ofthe country’s liberation. Polish literature began to bepreoccupied as never before with the problems ofhistory, politics, and society. This preoccupation andseveral other factors, such as the influence of localfolklore and messianic ideas, determined the originalcharacter and uniqueness of Polish Romantic literature.

MikoÊ’s present volume shows these qualities ofPolish Romantic literature extensively, as much as amodest anthology of only 200 pages can be extensive.It contains more than one hundred poems and proseexcerpts of the period’s leading writers—AdamMickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki, Zygmunt Krasiƒski,Cyprian Norwid, Antoni Malczewski, HenrykRzewuski, and Aleksander Fredro among others. Theselected poems, as well as prose and drama excerpts,are—generally speaking—most representative of eachauthor. These are the basic and most essential workswith which the reader and student of Polish Romanticliterature should be acquainted.

A critic will of course ask questions. Why did thevolume’s editor and translator choose one particular

work over another? In the case of longer works, it isunderstandable that, due to space limitations of thevolume, he needed to select short excerpts of each text.Therefore we find only three books from Mickiewicz’sepic poem Master Thaddeus and only one scene fromone act of Słowacki’s play Kordian. These selectedexcerpts can indeed represent the most essential textsfrom the two poets’ chosen works. But the choices areless clear when it comes to shorter works, especiallypoems. Why did the editor include, for example,Mickiewicz’s Crimean sonnet VIII and not V?Similarly, the critic will wonder why the editor decidedto choose one author over another. The mostconspicuous example is the omission of one of the mostimportant poets of Polish Romanticism, BohdanZaleski. Fortunately his name is mentioned in theintroduction, which also features an illustrationportraying the poet, and yet there is no single poem byhim included in this work.

However, the absence of Zaleski’s poetry does notdiminish the great value of MikoÊ’s volume. It is a finecollection of authors and their texts. Deservingly,Mickiewicz occupies one fourth and Słowacki one fifthof the collection. The other conspicuous places belongto Krasiƒski (20 pages) and Norwid (20), who arefollowed by Fredro (15), Kraszewski (15), andMalczewski (10). Most of their works presented inthe anthology have been translated into English for thefirst time. The same can be said about the majority ofall the other works in the volume. The feat of MikoÊcannot be praised enough. Obviously, not mere quantityof original translations should be considered in measuringan achievement like this but, above all, their quality.

After the first reading, it is already clear that MikoÊ’stranslations aim at conveying the original texts asfaithfully as possible. In the case of poetry, thisfaithfulness concerns both semantic and formal layersof the poetic text. It is remarkable that in his translationsMikoÊ succeeds in both bringing into the Englishlanguage the meaning of the Polish original and inrecreating in English the rhythmic and other soundqualities of the poetic text that are close to the original.He always aims at retaining rhythm and rhyme in hisEnglish translations, if rhythm and rhyme are used inthe original text. At times he even matches the numberof syllables in his English verse line with the numberof syllables found in the verse line of a Polish poem.Both the sound and metric elements and, especially,semantics of all the translated poems make them easilyrecognizable for someone who knows the originalpoems in Polish. This quality is likely a reliable measure

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of good translation but, surely, when it comes to literaryand poetic translation there is more than faithfulnessin the conveyance of meaning and sound. After all,poetry displays such qualities as beauty, poetic mood,semantic tension, emotional sincerity, and heightenedintensity of emotion. Critics will certainly want to pointout that some of these qualities have at times been lostin MikoÊ’s translations. They will take, for example,W. H. Auden’s loose translation of Mickiewicz’s poem“Romanticism” and say that it feels more “poetic” thanMikoÊ’s faithful version. Thus they will still prefer thelines “Silly girl, listen!”/ But she doesn’t listen”(Auden) over “Just listen, maiden!/– She will not hear”(MikoÊ).

Whatever the possible critique, MikoÊ’s anthology,the first collection of this scope of Polish Romanticpoetry, prose, and drama in the English language, hasmerits that effortlessly outweigh any imperfections thatcritics would be eager to detect. The high literary valueof the translations is unquestionable and theintroduction, notes, comments, and the selectbibliography are flawless. ∆

After the HolocaustPolish-Jewish Conflict in the Wakeof World War II

By Marek Jan Chodakiewicz. Boulder: EastEuropean Monographs. Distributed by ColumbiaUniversity Press, New York, 2003. 265 pages.Hardcover. $32.64 on Amazon.com.

Danusha V. Goska

Marek Jan Chodakiewicz, Kosciuszko Chair of PolishStudies at the University of Virginia, argues in his newbook against interpreting postwar killings of Jews inPoland as the result of antisemitism. He cites threereasons that Poles killed Jews: resistance to Jewishcommunists, to Jews determined to execute Poles whohad collaborated with the Nazis, and to Jews attemptingto reclaim property expropriated by Nazis and sinceclaimed by Poles. To prove his points, Chodakiewicz cites materialoften not cited, and attempts to investigate claims ofkillings made by other scholars. Among others he citesJohn Sack, whose journalism has proven verycontroversial. Many other scholars in this field wouldnot cite John Sack. Less controversially, Chodakiewicz

cites previously unused Polish-language, Soviet-eraarchives, often local; and materials from undergroundgroups. Chodakiewicz cites ample evidence to support claimsabout the Communist occupation that have beenrecorded in other works. The postwar Communistgovernment of Soviet-occupied Poland did demonizeand persecute the heroic Poles who had fought againstthe Nazis during the war. These Poles, includingrescuers of Jews, faced often fabricated charges ofantisemitism. This was one way to discredit Poland inthe West and lend legitimacy to the Communisttakeover. Anti-Nazi heroes were hounded, imprisoned,tortured, and murdered. Similarly, the author providesample evidence to support what has been acknowledgedelsewhere but remains a contested factor of postwarPolish life. Jews were disproportionately representedin the Communist power structure, including amongthose actively torturing Poles. Chodakiewicz’s estimateof Jews killed in Poland in the immediate postwarperiod is much smaller than estimates used by otherscholars. While other scholars’ estimates run as highas 2500, After the Holocaust’s estimate is 400–700.Further, Chodakiewicz argues that the number of Poleskilled by Jewish communists was greater than thenumber of Jews killed by Poles. Chodakiewicz’s bookproved most valuable to this reader as a reminder ofthe terrible, and too-often ignored, sufferingCommunism inflicted on a Poland already deeplywounded by Nazism, and as a reminder of the valiantefforts of heroic Poles to resist Communism. For this reader, Chodakiewicz was less successful inproving that antisemitism had nothing to do with Polishpersecution and murder of Jews. Chodakiewicz citesaccount after account of Polish attacks on Jews. Attimes his book reads like an aimless and drearycatalogue of local atrocities: Jews in postwar Polandforced, by Poles, to strip naked and sing Jewish songs,Jews axed to death, Jews dragged from trains andmurdered. Chodakiewicz does not relate these attacksto interwar Polish antisemitism, which predated thepostwar Communist occupation, and which included ademand for a Jew-free Poland. In insisting that thesebrutalities were motivated by Polish anti-Communismrather than Polish antisemitism, Chodakiewicz begs thequestion of the nature of hate. The black men who,during the 1992 Los Angeles riots, dragged innocenttruck driver Reginald Denny from his vehicle andtortured him before news cameras do live in a countrywith a white supremacist history; their action was aprotest against white supremacy. Those facts do not

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negate that these black men were also violent,unjustifiable bigots. In this same way Polish partisanswho murdered Jews who may or may not have beenCommunists and also murdered their certainly innocentchildren, may not have had a “pure” anti-Communistmotive, but may have acted from an anti-Communismmade more explosive by antisemitism. It is also just aslikely that anti-Polonist Jews who, as Communists,persecuted Poles, were not acting from pureCommunist spirit; anti-Polonism may have honed theirzeal to a sharper ferocity. There is no clean line ofdemarcation where justice leaves off and hate begins;between what one viewer assesses “justifiablerevenge,” “self-defense” or “rationally motivated extra-judicial executions” and another calls “lynchings,”“pogroms,” or “irrational racism.” A scholar dealingwith postwar Poland must be willing to address thismurky terrain. This lack of psychological penetration brings to minda book that Chodakiewicz should have engaged, butdid not: Michael C. Steinlauf’s Bondage to the Dead:Poland and the Memory of the Holocaust.Chodakiewicz never mentions that Poles would haveample reason to doubt their own conclusion that Jews,qua Jews, had great power: Poles had just witnessedthe Holocaust. Steinlauf points out that this proof ofJewish powerlessness did not alter the stereotype ofJews as being powerful enough to make and breakgovernments. The widespread Polish perception thatJews, as Jews, rather than as pathetic puppets of Stalin,could on their own volition alter Poland’s fate isirrational; yet it was powerful enough to give birth tothe Polish term “zydokomuna,” or “Jewish-communistconspiracy,” in Chodakiewicz’s translation. Using workby psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, Steinlauf argues thatPoles underwent, under the Nazis, not only their owntrauma, but the trauma of witnessing the genocide ofthe Jews. This psychological scar, Steinlauf argues,played a role in a post-war antisemitism that cannotalways be explained away as anti-Communism. Forexample, some who hid Jews did not want to beidentified as rescuers, for fear of their neighbors’condemnation; some Jewish children were kept inhiding up to a year after the Nazi defeat. After the Holocaust suffers from another lack. Like itor not, the argument that more Poles were killed byJews than vice versa raises an unavoidable problem,one unaddressed by Chodakiewicz. The Holocaust was,inter alia, a wake-up call to Western Civilization.“Antisemitism is a bad thing,” the Holocaust said, loudand clear, forcing people of good will to interrogate

centuries of attitudes, stereotypes, and practices.Antisemites would like to negate that impact of theHolocaust. They do so by arguing that the Holocaustwas matched by an equivalent and specifically Jewishgenocide of Christians. A December 2003 Googlesearch of the phrase “Jewish communists murderedChristians” immediately turned up countless websitespurporting to expose Communism as a specificallyJewish phenomenon directed at the mass-murder ofChristians. One such website announces, in nouncertain terms, that Jewish victims of the Nazigenocide deserve no sympathy because Jewsthemselves committed a “holocaust” against Christians.One can safely wager that the makers of such websiteswill pounce on Chodakiewicz’s book; he should havepreempted such exploitation with a completerenunciation.

Finally, there is another unaddressed question. As hasoften been remarked, an unfortunate feature of theterminology “Jews” and “Poles” is that it tempts oneto regard the two groups as mutually exclusive. Plentyof Jews considered themselves just as Polish as theirCatholic neighbors; many Polish non-Jews alsoembrace Jews in their understanding of Polish identity.Polish-Jewish Communists were an entirely validexpression of one aspect of political and social thoughtin postwar Poland. Their enemies figured them asutterly non-Polish and, indeed, anti-Polish. But theywere not, necessarily. Their hostility to a Poland ofunbreachable walls between classes and faiths, a Polandwhere antisemitism could play a prominent role, was avalid expression of Polishness. Some were as idealisticas the Armia Krajowa, and wanted to create a betterPoland. Even their ugliest acts of vengeance arecomparable to acts committed by Christians driven toviolence by the betrayals of the war. Any understandingof these Jews as external to definitions of Polishidentity, and therefore worthy of exclusion or death, isflawed. ∆

The Noonday Cemetery andOther Stories

By Gustav Herling. Translated from Polish by BillJohnston. New York: New Directions Books([email protected]), 2003. 281 pages. Hardcover.$25.95.

Janet G. Tucker

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This volume by Gustaw Herling (Gustaw Herling-Grudziƒski) consists of thirteen stories of varyinglength written in the 1980s and 90s. The narrator of allthe stories exists in a strange land, a Polish Jewishintellectual/ refugee in Italy, where he virtually feelsat home. The tales are about different worlds—fromvarying times and place—that collide and are unifiedby the narrator. Herling pairs life and death, faith andirony, love and anger in tale after tale, almost all set inItaly, hence by and large sharing a unity of place. Theyare also united thematically, with memory and anundercurrent of death, even violent death, runningthrough them. Loneliness plays a significant role aswell. But the principal theme encountered throughoutis that of the hidden life—the secret, or the concealednarrative or journal—the discovery of which bringsdisaster or brings a disaster from the past to light. Thatsecret frequently involves a love affair, sometimes anillicit one, with horrific consequences. At times thesecret relationship is not erotic but rather unexpected.Herling exploits literary references to underscore hismain theme. We are frequently left with an open-endedtale, or else one containing mysteries not revealed tothe reader. There is a Hoffmannesque sense here thatHerling is recounting actual events rather than creatingfiction. His stories are marvelous, each a small gemopening onto a seemingly infinite complexity. “The Noonday Cemetery: An Open Story,” first inthe present translation, has associations—exploited togood advantage—to Paul Valéry’s poem “Le Cimetieremarin.” Herling recounts secret, complex loves: awidow’s for her husband and his gravedigger, thegravedigger’s for the widow and his cemetery. We arenever given the details of the mystery and can onlyguess at events leading to the widow’s andgravedigger’s deaths, with Herling’s reference to HenryJames a reminder that an author can leave thingsunexplained. The James “frame” resonates in other stories as well.In “A Hot Breath from the Desert,” the frame is illness,specifically, heart disease, as two narrators in a hospitalrecount in turn a harrowing and mournful tale of mentaldecay and murder. As in “The Graveyard” and virtuallyall the other stories in this collection, the protagonists(like the narrator, and author) are “refugees” in a foreignland. Herling’s use of illness and the hospital, whereeveryone is a stranger in a strange land, underscoresthe central theme of displacement. In “The Eyetooth of Barabbas,” the narratorcombines religion with the macabre in the form ofrelics, the specific relic here being Barabbas’ eyetooth.

Barabbas, released when Christ was crucified, is linkedwith the devil (or vampire) through his reliquary tooth.We get a sense of a relic à rebours, its holy, healingpower given over to evil, in a tale in which an unsettlingtruth lurks beneath the surface in the unseen world.The sense of pervasive evil is akin to what we see inNikolai Gogol’s world, where the devil pulls the strings. Herling is clearly anticlerical, a mood capturedpointedly in his next story, “Beata, Santa.” The youngPolish protagonist Marianna, gang-raped by maraudingSerbian soldiers during the ethnic cleansing of Bosnia,is pregnant by one of them and has chosen to have herchild. Only the narrator can communicate with her, arole he plays more than once in this collection. Healone becomes partially privy to a hidden realm.Herling stresses the role played by the local Catholicclergy eager to demonstrate Beata’s “near sainthood”to the world. The narrator sets a negative mood earlyon (“Potenza is an unsightly city”), and we expect atragic ending. We are not disappointed. Marianna’sunfortunate habit of sleeping soundly condemns her toburial alive following the birth of her son, who willthen be brought up by the Church clerics. Herling’sironic touch is evident throughout, but nowhere morethan at the end, when we are informed that the Church’scanon law allows for beatification of only those personswhose last conscious moments were witnessed byothers and whose state of mind before death can beattested to by witnesses. “The Height of Summer: A Roman Story,” deals withthe annual rash of suicides hitting Rome every August15th, known as Ferragosto. The narrator trains hissights on a few victims. Two are a lonely couple whoseparrot has died. The next is Italian, but “displaced” byhomosexuality and broken by the departure of his lover.Then we have the rape and murder/suicide combinationof the young American couple, with the man’s secretof AIDS and probable bisexuality, followed by thesuicide of an older couple in the ancient Roman ghetto.Typically, Herling’s narrator penetrates beneath themute surface of the evidence, attempting to unlock thesecrets of these drastic acts. The narrator himselfalmost falls prey to this “suicide-itis,” and is savedfrom self-destruction by passing the night in an openboat. The hint at a symbolic journey suggested by theboat, combined with the closeness to heaven during anight under the stars, juxtaposes life and death. An undercurrent of lurking violence breaks throughin “Ashes: The Fall of the House of Loris.” The secret,yet another family curse, is the deafness of Loris’stwelve-year-old daughter, an angry young girl whom—

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as with Marianna—the narrator can, for a period, reach.He loses her in the end, for she dies of a drug overdosein India. The pain—typical in Herling’s work—fuels adouble sense of tragedy, as her father comes one daytoo late to save her. With her mother’s cancer, her lossspells the fall of the House of Loris, reminiscent ofPoe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. That Loris hastranslated Poe emphasizes the theme of doubling, tiedin with hidden worlds and refugee status. In the “Notebook of William Moulding, Pensioner,”set in London, the narrator is twice removed from hisnative land: having moved to Italy, he finds himselfbriefly in London, a city he strongly dislikes. Thisvery antipathy leads to alienation and a sense ofseparation. William Moulding has left a journal, givinghere, as elsewhere, a sense of double narration. He isa hangman, forced eventually to live under an assumedname to escape public wrath. His ploy meets withmixed success. Moulding’s eventual torture and murderat the hands of young men knowing nothing of hishistory resonates with irony that is typical of Herling’sstories. “The Silver Coffer” combines mystery with theft,decay, incest, and death: a triple murder set back intime, the deterioration of the modern protagonist, thedisintegration of a manuscript (symbolic of the decayof the literary text?), and the “demise” of the silvercoffer. The narrator’s love and eventual disaffectionfor the coffer hints at the frailty of human emotionsand human existence. The historical parallelism inherent in “The SilverCoffer” figures centrally as well in “Ugolone da Todi:Obituary of a Philosopher,” a story about acontemporary philosopher alluding to a thirteenth-century figure. The narrator compares Ugolone’sdecline and eventual demise with Kant’s, once againnoting the unseen, mysterious links between thecontemporary and historical worlds. The theme of hidden and corrupting evil emerges yetagain in “The Exorcist’s Brief Confession.” In theopening frame, Herling’s narrator leads a furtiveexistence that prepares us for the main character’s—Father Ulderico’s—equally secret life. A priestspecializing in exorcisms who initially succumbs topassion and then reacts violently, Ulderico is defrockedand tried, and is given a suspended sentence. Theending underscores Herling’s main theme runningthroughout: life for all of us is but a suspendedsentence. The surgeon of the eponymous tale “Don Ildebrando,”also known as Fausto Angelini, reminds us yet again

of the evil concealed at the heart of characters andsituations. Here evil eventually manifests itself as theevil eye, with the famous afflicted surgeon FaustoAngelini enjoying for some years a reputation as anexpert healer. He has successfully operated on thenarrator himself, but the doctor’s own sister perishesunder his knife. The evil eye and a related portrait of asimilar “gifted” predecessor recalls E.T.A. Hoffmann’snovel Die Elixiere des Teufels and Nikolai Gogol’s story“Portret” (“The Portrait”), two works in which evil,manifested as an evil eye, wreaks deadly havoc. “Suor Strega” again explores the borderland betweengood and evil. Suor Strega enters into a love affairwith a priest, runs away from her convent, and becomesthe guardian of a subterranean reliquary. As with “TheEyetooth of Barabbas” and “Beata Santa,” the Church-related stories speak of death, decay, and evil.

“A Madrigal of Mourning” once again links love,decay, and mystery. The narrator is in love with AnnaF., a half-Pole, half-Russian enamored of a long-deadcomposer of madrigals (rather, the narrator informs us,like the great Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva’s lovefor Aleksandr Pushkin the poet and the man). But thisfinal tale, in contrast to others in the collection,concludes on a somewhat elegiac note rather than oneof concealed horror. In sum, this is an intensely interesting collection ofstories. Herling is complex and subtle, penetratingbeneath the surface of apparent reality to a layer ofsecrets that hint at hidden evil and sadness. The narratorof the stories plays a significant role throughout. Anexpatriate himself, Herling reminds his readers that weare all strangers in the mysterious dream land of life.His stories, in Bill Johnston’s masterful translation,should give Herling a deservedly wide audience. ∆

A Man Who Spanned Two Eras: Thestory of bridge pioneer RalphModjeski

By Józef Glomb. Translated by Peter Obst.Philadelphia, PA: The Philadelphia Chapter of theKosciuszko Foundation, 2002. 90 pages. Paper.

Ashley Fillmer

Although the bulk of bridge engineer Ralph Modjeski’sprojects are permanent fixtures on American interstatesand railroads, the story behind their creator remained

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in Poland until 2002. Józef Glomb’s biography ofModjeski first appeared in Poland in 1981, andcelebrated the little-known American of Polishbackground through an exhaustive, disorderly accountof his life and work, creating a difficult task fortranslator Peter Obst, chapter president of theKosciuszko Foundation in Philadelphia. His proposedtranslation of A Man Who Spanned Two Eras garneredattention from Modjeski’s relatives and the Modjeskiand Masters engineering firm, and received continuedsupport from historian Edward Pinkowski. Despitevarious publishers’ lack of interest in the book’sdevotion to a twentieth-century century engineer, Obstpersisted and eventually incorporated new material intothe existing book, including a foreword by PolishAmbassador Przemysław Grudziƒski andcomplementary preface by professor of mechanicalengineering Zbigniew Marian Bzymek.

Obst began the translation with the hope of publishingbefore the 75th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin Bridgein 2001. The final product followed one year after thebridge’s grand anniversary celebration, but still metthorough acknowledgment from the American Polishcommunity. First ladies Laura Bush and JolantaKwaÊniewska of Poland received the translation inceremony, giving the nearly forgotten engineer someposthumous recognition and Obst reassurance that histranslation project was worthwhile; he includes a reprintof Laura’s official White House thank you after thetranslator’s note.

A worthwhile effort it was, as Modjeski’s engineeringfeats were monumental for his time. The book’s reader,however, might find it difficult to understand exactlyhow Modjeski accomplished what the title states. Obstapparently aimed at reaching two audiences: the noviceengineers and Polish American biography enthusiasts.The text rarely delves into the principles of structuralengineering and is replete with praise for Modjeski’sroots. The first two chapters are almost entirely devotedto his Polish upbringing. At times it is uncertain whetherModjeski or his mother, a famous actress on the Polishand American stages, is the focus of the biography. Thereader gets a mild sense of Polish affluence and culturaltradition under imposed Austro-Hungarian influenceand begins to wonder if this is perhaps the first of thetwo eras the Modjeski family experienced. TheModjeskis later traveled across the ocean to settle inpost-Reconstruction America.

The author’s subsequent attention to the minutedetails of the Modjeskis wanderings and personal livesafter immigration are tiresome and only provide a weak

character foundation for the future engineer. There aresuggestions that Modjeski learned at an early age toendure hardships and rise above present challenges,but there is also a great deal about the family’s affluenceand unwavering emotional support. Obst also describeshow Modjeski hesitated between taking music orengineering as a profession, and for all of theinformation on his gifted mother’s theatrical successthere is no satisfactory conclusion as to why he choseengineering in the end, save for a mention of achildhood interest in the Panama Canal. But chooseengineering he did, and instead of an education at theconservatory, Modjeski relocated to the Ècole des Pontset Chausses in Paris and earned a diploma as engineerof roads and bridges.

Modjeski’s engineering school experience wasaccompanied by wotmessomg the construction of theEiffel Tower and complemented by daily travelsthrough Hausmann’s city design. The Paris scene wasan explosion of modernism, but this piece of historicalsignificance is glossed over as an influence to the youngengineer. His early bridge designs borrowed theboundary-breaking elements of modernism but did notretreat from pure functionality in their esthetic design.He leapt into the middle of a great push towardmodernizing American transportation, designingbridges that stretched further and supported more thanany preceding structure. But he was not the first toemploy the methods seen in the great works ofAmerican bridge engineering; the famous suspensiondesign of the Brooklyn Bridge was common andcantilevered construction standard. With the modernistera of architecture and engineering already in progress,it is difficult to assume that Ralph Modjeski was theman that built an essential bridge into a new era.

He did, however, introduce methods into modernbridge building that paved the way for greater and saferbridges around the world. Even during the swell ofmodern engineering, construction procedures weredangerous due to flaws in bridge design. But it becomesonly too slowly apparent that this hastiness ofmodernization is the first “era” alluded to by the title.Modjeski conquered the challenges of building theCecilo Bridge on unstable foundations through the yet-untamed Oregon wilderness, calculated seismicinterference for the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge,redesigned the Quebec Bridge, and broke world recordsin cantilever and suspension bridge spans, all withinthe perimeters of newly adopted safety standards.Increase in bridge span, introduction of newconstruction materials, and refined techniques to

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achieve strength and form are the bastions ofModjeski’s career. The main elements that contribute to Modjeski’s fameonly appear sporadically throughout the text, confinedin clear detail to the last few paragraphs of the book.An understanding of his accomplishments is discernibleonly through steadfast, disciplined reading through theminutiae of Modjeski’s life and bridge building. Thereare refreshing moments of lucid writing in which theauthor, or the translator, provides analysis of theengineer’s work and reflects on different periods ofhis personal life, allowing the reader brief insight intothe significance of Modjeski’s career. At these pointsit is apparent that he is not being praised simply for hisPolish roots or seeming lack of publicacknowledgement. By the end of the biography we areprivy to Modjeski’s many amazing technologicalmaneuvers that elevated bridge engineering to a newstandard. An engineer’s precision and inventivenessbrought Modjeski success and he deserves a morecohesive attention to his bridge works and biographicaldetails. ∆

Our Take

American Catholic Parochialism

A religious poll commissioned in March 2003 bythe leading Polish daily Rzeczpospolita indicated

that in terms of declared allegiance, Poles are the mostreligious nation in Europe. Sixty percent stated thatthey are observant Catholics, while 35 percent said thatthey believe in God but do not always agree with thestrictures of their Churches: they wish to believe “intheir own way.” Two percent said they are atheists, andthree percent were not sure. Altogether, 95 percent ofPolish citizens stated that they are religious believers.

The number of Protestants and Eastern Orthodox inPoland does not exceed 3 percent, while Jews andMuslims command a statistically insignificantpercentage. Thus the vast majority of the respondentswere Catholics. In addition to being the most religious,Poland is also the most Catholic nation in Europe, ifonly in terms of declared allegiance.

Such statistics have their consequences. Poland ishome to numerous Catholic religious orders, manyof them founded in Poland. Polish monks and nunswork in hundreds of charitable and religiousestablishments in dozens of countries(www.zakony.katolik.pl/zz/stat). The work of Polishwomen religious with handicapped children is

exemplary. Foreigners are usually directed to theshowcase establishment for blind children in Laski nearWarsaw, but there are many others worth visiting andwriting about. The establishments for the handicappedin Łódê, Niegów-Samaria, Ełk or elsewhere are unique.This writer visited half a dozen such establishments inwhich hundreds of children and handicapped adultslead—surprisingly—an apparently happy life. In onesuch establishment, a bundle the size of an infant witha large head responded to a smile with a hearty smileof its own showing its large, healthy, but evidently agedteeth. When I asked why the teeth seemed “used,” Iwas told that the bundle was twenty-something yearsold. It—and its companions in deformity—resided incleanliness, enjoying white bed linen in a room thatwas not permeated by foul smells. Those who couldwalk did, playing and signing songs under theleadership of their wychowawcy (mentors andcaretakers). If the degree of civilization of a country ismeasured by the treatment it affords to its weakestcitizens, Poland ranks close to the top.

This Catholic culture has produced a slew of Catholicpublications ranging from the sophisticated monthlyZnak and the academic quarterly Ethos to hundredsof popular publications. The spread of sociopoliticalchoices is likewise wide, from the prudent andthoughtful Tygodnik Powszechny to the generallypoorly-edited right-wing publications. There is enoughsubstance in these periodicals to introduce importantcorrections to the American Catholic discussions aboutthe role of Church in society. The youth movement“Oases” initiated by the late Rev. Franciszek Blachnickicould be a model for similar initiatives in America’ssuburbs and inner cities. Virtually nothing concerningthese developments has been reflected in English-language publications. One negative feature of thePolish Catholic initiatives is their timidity—theirleaders all too readily concede the top place at the tableto the French, German, or Anglophone movements,periodicals, or individuals. The latter are only too happyto oblige—and to deal with the rest of the world as if itwere in need of their tutelage.

The biographies of some of these Polish personalitiesare awesome. Consider the above-mentionedFranciszek Blachnicki. Born in 1921, he was arrestedin 1940 by the Germans for participating in the PolishResistance. He was sent to Auschwitz as prisoner #1201and spent a month on death row, Auschwitz-style. Hewas later transferred to hard labor and spent theremainder of the Second World War in other Germandeath camps. He was liberated by General Patton’s

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army, returned to Poland, and became a priest. Arrestedfor anti-Communist activity in 1961 in Soviet-occupiedPoland, he was sentenced to three years’ probation. Hecompleted his habilitation thesis at the CatholicUniversity of Lublin, but the communist EducationMinistry refused to recognize it. Blachnicki led anextremely active pastoral and intellectual life as acreator of the Oases Movement, or small groups ofyouths operating in ways appropriate for a societywhose ideology was anti-Christian. While in Carlsbergin West Germany, he started the movement later called“Light and Life” (Âwiatło i Îycie). He died in 1987leaving a rich legacy of disciples and writings.

The editors of the American Catholic periodicals allbut ignore such Catholic personalities, movements, anddevelopments. When one peruses their publications onesees an endless string of Anglo-Germano-Irish namespontificating on issues large and small. The remotenessof these monologues from the actual history andproblems of Catholic Christianity seems obvious tothose who are not imprisoned in the upper-middle-classstrata of American society. An inability to rank-orderissues is glaringly obvious in these publications. Theykeep writing about topics and groups of people onwhom attention has been bestowed by the non-Catholicmedia, while others are not even mentioned by name.The impression left after reading such periodicals isthat the editors strive to retain at any price thesympathetic attention of those who are in a position tobestow or withhold recognition in American society.Their editors seem to desire so strongly thatCatholicism win that they lose sight of “first things”while declaring their allegiance to them. Yet the goalof Catholicism is to be faithful rather than to win. It isthe striving after too much worldly wisdom that ailsthese periodicals.

Not that the blame is totally on one side. The PolishChurch and Polish Catholic intellectuals are not veryhelpful in putting their best foot forward when it comesto representation abroad. In the United States, the PolishCatholic parishes (headed by Polish-educated priestsmainly from the Society of Christ) have done preciouslittle to integrate Polish Catholicism into the largerCatholic context in America. In many ways, thesePolish parishes cultivate ghetto attitudes which theauthorities believe are supportive of their members butwhich in fact prevent them from exerting their shareof influence on society. Suffice it to say that there existsno translation into English of the Polish Christmascarols, among which there are some poetic and musicalmasterpieces.

On balance, the Polish Church must be doingsomething right. It survived Communist persecutionand none of its bishops engaged in collaboration withthe Communist secret services. Its contributions toarchitecture, art, and literature are outstanding. To offerAmerican Catholics a view of the vibrantly Catholicculture which it has helped create seems worthwhile.Why then do Catholic intellectual publications lamentso loudly the nakedness of the public square in Americawhile studiously avoiding a look at a public square thathas not yet been stripped bare? ∆

About the AuthorsAshley Fillmer is a graduate student in Slavic Languagesand Literatures at the University of Illinois-Urbana.Danusha V. Goska’s dissertation on Polish-Jewishrelations, completed at Indiana University in 2002, hasbeen accepted for publication by the Polish and Polish-American Studies Series at Ohio University Press.John Guzlowski is a poet and Professor of English atEastern Illinois University. He is the recipient of the 2001Illinois Arts Council Poetry Award. His essays oncontemporary fiction have appeared in Modern FictionStudies, Critique, The Polish Review, Shofar, and otherjournals.Kevin Hannan received his doctorate from the Universityof Texas at Austin. He is the author of Borders of Languageand Identity in Teschen Silesia (1997) and teaches at theUniversity of Łódê, Poland.Andrzej Karcz is Assistant Professor of Polish at theUniversity of Kansas.Christina Manetti received her doctorate from theUniversity of Washington-Seattle. Her article is excerptedfrom her PhD dissertation. She is presently doing researchin Poland while working as a translator.Janet Tucker is Associate Professor of Slavic Languagesand Literatures at the University of Arkansas.

CorrectionIn the previous issue of SR (“About the Authors,”September 2003), Anna Czarnowus was incorrectlyidentified as an ABD in Polish Literature. She is an ABDin English Literature at the University of Silesia-Katowice.

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