Many older immigrants in New York City’s Polish community have lived on very modest incomes for years. The economic recession has exacerbated their situation, forcing some to make tough choices.
In a television interview Kern-Jedrychowska talks about covering events following the death of President Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and many top officials in the April 10th plane crash.
Can traditional Polish music sound funky? Or Asian? Or bluesy? The members of the Warsaw Village Band think it can, but some Polish immigrants in New York beg to disagree.
Feet in 2 Worlds and Polish Daily News reporter Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska portrays the daily struggles of Latina and Polish women who seek domestic work in Brooklyn in her latest story for The New York Times.
Nowy Dziennik/Polish Daily News reporter and Feet in 2 Worlds contributor Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska had a story this week on The New York Times’ City Room blog, about city comptroller-elect John Liu’s outreach to local ethnic media.
When the Obama administration recently announced its decision to scrap the Bush-era plan for an anti-missile shield based in Poland and the Czech Republic many Poles were not surprised. It simply confirmed what they had been expecting.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski meets with reporters in New York. Photo Karolina Szczepanska
Last fall then-President-elect Obama expressed doubts about the system, and members of the Polish community in the U.S. anticipated that he wouldn’t feel obligated to respect agreements signed in 2008 by the previous administration.
“The US has its own problems now and they do whatever is best for them,” said Grazyna Bulka, east coast director of a Chicago-based shipping company, Polamer Inc. Bulka feared the system would have infuriated Russia, and was relieved to
learn that it had been abandoned.
“Poles love America so much and the U.S. really doesn’t care about us much,” lamented Emilia Sroczynska, a small business owner from Brooklyn, who favors the anti-missile system. “They remember us only when they need us, but they abandon us as soon as they don’t. To me it’s just another disappointment.”
Whether they supported or opposed the Bush plan to place ten ground-based interceptors on Polish soil, many agreed that Obama’s decision to scrap the deal proved that the U.S. considers Poland a second-class ally.
But what truly embittered Poles was the timing of the announcement, widely interpreted either as ignorance or insensitivity to Poland’s history by the Obama administration. (more…)
“While there are anti-Semites in this country, there is even a larger number –and that group is growing faster– of people opposing anti-Semites, the anti-anti-Semites.”
[ Rabbi Michael Schudrich ]
Zygmunt Rolat at the ceremony to launch construction of the museum. Rabbi Schudrich is on the right. (Photo: Krzysztof Slomka)
The history of Jews in Poland is long and not without controversy, especially due to their persecution during World War II. The fact is, until that war started Warsaw was a center of Europe’s Jewish community.
Now, construction has started there on the Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
An artist's rendering of the museum. (Image: Museum of the History of Polish Jews)
It will not simply be a museum about the Holocaust. The museum team wants to focus more broadly on centuries of Jewish life and achievements in Poland.
Feet in 2 Worlds reporter Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska produced a radio piece about the museum from Warsaw that aired Tuesday on PRI’s The World.
You can listen to the story here or you can visit The World‘s page.
[audio:http://64.71.145.108/audio/0825095.mp3]
A cantor at the ceremony. (Photo: Krzysztof Slomka)
You can see more pictures at the Feet in 2 Worlds Flickr page.
A Polish citizen votes in the European parliamentary elections in New York – Photo: Marcin Zurawicz
Polish immigrants have historically shown more interest in elections in their home country than in U.S. politics. But now the tables may have turned. At two polling sites in New York on Saturday, only 872 people cast their votes in the European Union parliamentary elections, according to consul Przemyslaw Balcerzyk of the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in New York. That is approximately 10 times fewer than the total number who went to the polls in New York to vote in Polish parliamentary elections two years ago. Last November voters in the heavily Polish neighborhood of Greenpoint, Brooklyn turned out in large numbers to vote in the presidential contest between Barack Obama and John McCain.
This was only the second time that Poles participated in an EU election, which typically attracts little attention even in countries that have been members of the European community for a long time. Only around 43% of the EU citizens voted this year, the lowest turnout since this type of election was first held in 1979.
In Poland the turnout was about 24.5%, which was actually more than 5 years ago, when approximately 20% of eligible Poles voted. But among Poles living in the U.S. the election stirred even less interest.
Rep. Mike Quigley (D.-Ill.), a newly elected congressman from Chicago, has wasted no time in addressing a key concern of the Polish community in Illinois’ 5th district.
Last Friday, Quigley called on President Barack Obama to support Poland’s plea for inclusion in the Visa Waiver Program — a matter we reported on last week.
“Poland has proven to be an indispensable ally in the global campaign against terrorism,” wrote Quigley in a press release.
Including Poland in the Visa Waiver Program will have positive security, economic, and bilateral effects.
In addition, there are thousands of Polish-Americans in my district alone who would benefit by making it easier to have a loved one visit them, not to mention the local businesses that would benefit from tourism dollars.
We owe it to a country that has stood by us, and to the people who would like to visit the United States.
Quigley, a former member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, won the special election held on April 7, 2009 to replace Rahm Emanuel after he vacated the seat in order to serve as Obama’s White House Chief of Staff.
One of Quigley’s rivals in the race was Victor Forys, a Polish immigrant who, despite the large percentage of Polish Americans in the 5th district (17% of all residents), ended up fourth in the special Democratic primary.
In recent years, the Polish government stood by the U.S., strongly supporting President Bush’s war on terror by sending troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, and agreeing to install parts of an American missile defense system in its territory.
As a demonstration of U.S. gratitude, Poland hoped to be included in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which would allow Polish citizens to enter the U.S. as tourists or for business purposes for up to 90 days without having to first obtain a visa. But despite extensive negotiations between representatives of both governments Poland’s dream has not come true, and the chances of Poland joining the program anytime soon are very slim.
Biometric systems to verify travelers' identities could help Poland's chances of entering the Visa Waiver Program. (Photo: E. Kern-Jedrychowska/Polish Daily News)
