The Exile Mission. Anna D. Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann
cater mostly to the tastes of recent Polish refugees who planned to return to Poland as soon as possible. The theater, despite some success, never achieved its objective of becoming a permanent center for the Polish performing arts in New York. When the governmental subsidies ended in 1945, the company ceased to exist. Most of the actors followed different career paths, including radio programs and individual tours to smaller communities in the country, or else returned to Poland.68
The existence of the theater during the war became an extremely important factor in the Polish exiles’ life. It enabled the survival of a group of people whose careers could not have been transferred easily into a foreign environment. For example, it gave employment to a host of Polish actresses such as Jadwiga Smosarska (one of the most popular and promising film actresses in Poland), Janina Wilczówna, Zofia Nakoneczna, Lunia Nestorówna, Karin Tiche, Stanisława Nowicka, and Maria Modzelewska, an accomplished actress of the Warsaw stage.69 But more significantly, it symbolized the efforts of the Polish people to go on despite war, exile, and terrible news from occupied Poland. In an article for Tygodnik Polski, director and playwright Antoni Cwojdziński described preparations for the performance of “Pastorałka” (Pastorale), a Christmas play based on traditional Polish folk motifs, as involving the good will and ingenuity of the entire company. The rehearsals took place in a private apartment after the regular workday, and even actors suffering from flu participated. A singer practiced in the bathroom, the only space free from interference and noise from the street. The stage designer created decorations by hand and often carried them herself to and from the car. The actors often played in small, unheated halls, to which they had to travel long distances. Still, an atmosphere of enthusiasm and ardor accompanied their work.70
This labor of love brought its own rewards. Irena Lorentowicz, who was the set designer and prepared all the costumes, noticed that “often laughter, loud calling, warnings for the characters on the stage, exclamations, and the sincere tears of the audience” came in instant response to the acting.71 After the premier of each new play, professional reviews appeared in Tygodnik Polski, written by Jan Lechoń or Józef Wittlin. In one of them, an excited Lechoń wrote: “Anyone who has lived in Warsaw and remembers the atmosphere of premiers in the Warsaw theaters could not fail to feel at the performance of the Polish Artists’ Theater . . . the rush of memories of those days and those halls.”72 During one program, “Echoes of the Polish Land,” when the actors on the stage sang, “We were happy and we did not know it,” several recent refugees, overwhelmed by their emotions, got up and left.73
The wartime exile community did not meet only during PIASA lectures or theater performances; they also created a close-knit community that was determined to recreate Polish prewar social circles in an American environment. The largest number of exiles settled in New York, and their social life centered on several key locations. One of them was the consulate of the Polish government in exile, until 1945 recognized by the United States as Poland’s legal authority. There, according to Lorentowicz, “we searched each other out[;] everybody was getting pieces of news from the homeland and sharing them with others.”74 Another place for social gatherings was the Ognisko (Campfire) restaurant located next to the consulate. As one exiled writer, Aleksander Janta, commented, every day Ognisko drew a sizable crowd of Poles, as if it was a popular place in Warsaw. “Here you could find all the gossip,” he wrote, “Here was the stock exchange for all political and social sensations and insinuations, here you could meet those that count and those that have just arrived, here you could learn everything about everybody.”75 The menu included strictly Polish cuisine, and the wait staff was composed of former diplomats, actors, and actresses, who had no chances for other employment in America.76 Hotels run by Poles in the Adirondacks and in Sea Cliff on Long Island served as other gathering places for the Polish elite of wartime New York.77
A particular brand of elitism, social self-sufficiency, and the belief that their sojourn in America soon would come to an end resulted in refugees having only limited contact with American Polonia. Gradually, refugees and Polish Americans came to know each other on several different levels. Concerns for the welfare of the refugees, Polonia’s humanitarian actions, and wartime political goals became the strongest catalysts for a closer relationship.
American Polonia and Polish Refugees during the War
As soon as the first news of the German attack on Poland reached the United States on September 1, 1939, Polish Americans manifested their support for the people of Poland. In a strong display of solidarity, Polonia organizations called for a united action on behalf of Poland. The Polish language press published a declaration, which proclaimed:
At this historic moment the Polish American Council calls all in whose veins Polish blood flows to mobilize their moral forces, to free all their spiritual powers, to focus their thoughts and will in one direction—the victory of Poland. All of Polonia in the United States, whose sons shed blood in the battle to regain independence, stands by the Homeland in this decisive struggle. We call all countrymen to unite their hearts and minds. We call all of Polonia to a great deed.78
Both the rhetoric and the spirit of the declaration signified a full return to the ideals of the exile mission in its familiar formulation from the turn of the century and the World War I years, when American Polonia claimed the cause of a free Poland as its most important objective. The call to unite and to sacrifice in the struggle for Poland revived the patriotism of Polish Americans and focused their attention on the cause of the homeland.
The response to the call was immediate, and the unification of efforts instantaneous. Rada Polonii Amerykańskiej (Polish American Council), a Polish-American charitable organization, underwent a quick reorganization in order to provide the homeland with humanitarian aid in the most effective way.79 The multitude of existing Polish-American organizations and parishes as well as the special relief committees that instantly sprang up in Polonia, comprised its ranks. At an extraordinary meeting on October 19, 1939, the Polish American Council, headed by Francis X. Świetlik, dean of the law school at Marquette University and censor of the Polish National Alliance, united all Polonia’s relief efforts under its auspices.80
Numerous demonstrations, public meetings, and solemn masses manifested American Polonia’s moral support for the Polish nation. At the conventions of several major fraternals in the fall of 1939, eloquent declarations of support and flaming manifestos entwined with spontaneous collections of donations and the formation of permanent administrative structures to coordinate humanitarian and political work. An important part of this undertaking focused on drawing the attention of the media and politicians to Poland’s plight and gaining the support of the American public and the government. For example, Polonia mobilized its members through a letter-writing campaign to support Franklin Roosevelt’s measures to assist the Allies, despite the official pronouncement of neutrality by the United States.81
Some initiatives spontaneously adopted at the outset of the war ended in failure. Collections for the Fundusz Obrony Narodowej (FON, or National Defense Fund) for Poland had to stop immediately after the American government announced its neutrality. Information centers, intended to disseminate news about the situation in Poland, turned out to be short lived for lack of organizational and financial support. Finally, efforts to recruit Polish Americans for a specially created military force patterned after Haller’s Army of World War I failed to receive enough support. Reflecting internal transformations within Polonia in the 1930s, the response to the idea of a new Polish-American legion in 1939 was weak.82
The neutrality pronouncement by the United States dictated the main focus of Polonia’s activities, which for years to come would concentrate on humanitarian aid. As Teofil A. Starzyński, president of the Polish Falcons (Sokół) fraternal, stated in September 1939, Polonia fully understood and accepted its position, but did not rule out the possibility of change in the future. “Poland does not need our blood yet,” his declaration read, “but when she calls for it, we will offer it willingly. Today we need rather financial aid and help in propagating the Polish question in the American public opinion. Such aid we must provide.”83 Rada, the American Red Cross, and countless local relief committees received an outpouring of donations from individuals, parishes, and organizations.