Tag: Poles in the US

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A New Generation of Polish-Americans: Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska on NPR’s Latino USA

Greenpoint, Brooklyns Polish neighborhood. (Photos: E. Kern-Jedrychowska)

Greenpoint, Brooklyn’s Polish neighborhood. (Photos: E. Kern-Jedrychowska)

A New Generation of Polish-Americans, a story by Feet in 2 Worlds and Polish Daily News reporter Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska, is the main feature on this week’s NPR show Latino USA (find your NPR station here).

From the Latino USA website:

The history of Poland hasn’t always been pretty.

While historians would say the country was born in 966 when its ruler became Christianized, it’s territorial boundaries haven’t been well-defined throughout the ages. In fact, from 1795 to 1918, Poland didn’t exist as a nation and the territory was divided among the kingdoms of Prussia, Austria, and Russia.

Constantly invaded, partitioned, borders redrawn, and territory occupied, the Poles themselves led a workers’ revolution in the 1980s that threw off the shackles of Soviet-led communism and inspired the world with the word: “Solidarity.”

Throughout most of the 20th Century, however, many Poles yearned for the freedom and security of America. But for the younger generation who grew up after the fall of Communism, those yearnings of their parents and grandparents just aren’t resonating.

You can listen to the story below:

[audio:http://latinousa.kut.org/wp-content/lusaaudio/838_seg01.mp3]

Or you can listen to the story while watching a photo slideshow at the Latino USA website.

You can read more of Ewa’s Feet In 2 Worlds pieces on Polish-Americans here.