New York, N.Y. .. Frank Milewski, president of the Downstate New York Division of the Polish American Congress (right), donates the red and white Polish colors of the bunting the Congress used to decorate the speakers platform in a protest demonstration against Poland’s communist strongman, General Wojciech Jaruzelski when he visited New York in September, 1985.
Photo by Polish American Congress
This souvenir of that historical event will be preserved in the archives of New York City’s Pilsudski Institute which has become an important repository for valued collections of Polish documents, books, artwork and other Polish memorabilia.
Accepting the Polish American Congress (PAC) gift are (from left): Dr Magda Kapuscinska, president of the Pilsudski Institute (shown unrolling the bunting); Dr Marek Zielinski, its vice president and Dr Iwona Drag-Korga, executive director. They are standing in front of the statue of Marshal Jozef Pilsudski, after whom the Institute is named.
When General Jaruselski declared martial law on December 13, 1981,Polish Americans in New York began holding a series of protest demonstrations which were continually repeated until 1988.
These patriotic events were organized and directed primarily by the Polish American Congress to show America’s support for the human rights struggle of Poland’s first free and independent trade union, Solidarnosc (Solidarity). The target was the repressive communist system imposed on the Polish people by the dictators of the former Soviet Union.
The largest of these protests was held in September,1985 when General Jaruzelski visited New York to participate in ceremonies observing the 40th anniversary of the United Nations.
Knowing in advance the exact date when the General would be at the UN gave enough time to allow Polish Americans from beyond New York to plan a visit to the city and be at the demonstration.
Also helpful was an advertisement the PAC placed in the New York Times explaining the reason for it. Even a delegation of Poles living in Canada came down to New York to be part of the occasion and publicly express their protest against Jaruzelski.
Highlighting the list of speakers at the rally were American labor leaders headed by Lane Kirkland, president of the AFL-CIO. Also there was Al Mazewski, national president of the PAC, who came from Chicago to give a powerful and resounding message of support to Lech Walesa and the determined people of Poland.
Poland started numerous efforts to free itself of Russian and communist domination as far back as the 1950’s. So did countries like Hungary and Czechoslovakia, according to Milewski. They had the support of the Polish American Congress even then.
“Disconcerting and misleading“ are what he calls the current attempts to credit the Germans with the downfall of communism when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989.
“That wall came down because people like the Poles and the Hungarians and the Czechoslovaks began shaking the ground of Europe decades before,” he said.