Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America

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History

The Polish Institute in Historical Perspective: 1942-2005

(A Polish version of this paper was presented at the “1 st Congress of Polish Learned Societies Abroad” on September 9, 2005 at the Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland)

The Polish Institute of Arts & Sciences of America (PIASA) was founded in 1942 during a time, as Pope John Paul II recalled “when our civilization was in crisis and terrible conflicts embraced the entire world; evil seemed to prevail against goodness and hatred was dominant over love; when Poland was condemned to extermination and filled with ruin and death”. 1 In the sixty three years that followed the Polish Institute went through many phases and changes in response to forces over which it had little or no control. But in spite of many difficulties and challenges it was able to achieve an enviable record that assures for it a secure and prominent place in the history of Polish America and the Polish diaspora.

1942-1945

In this period PIASA was in reality the “Polish Academy of Arts & Sciences in exile” (Polska Akademia Umiejetnosci (PAU) na wygnaniu). It was founded by six members of the Krakow Academy (Bronislaw Malinowski, Oskar Halecki, Jan Kucharzewski, Waclaw Lednicki, Wojciech Swietoslawski, and Rafal Taubenschlag) who were fortunate enough to find haven in the United States. Their intention was to assure the continuity of Poland's intellectual and cultural development by organizing an American station of PAU, the most prestigious Polish learned institution that had been closed down by the German Nazis. Great care was taken to assure that PIASA would be an autonomous scholarly organization unburdened by any propaganda or political assignments. This concept was supported by General Wladyslaw Sikorski's Polish government-in-exile in London which allocated funds for the Polish Institute which made its existence possible. Between May 1942 and July 1945 $106,000 was a made available to the Polish Institute at a time when funds were very scarce. The Polish London government did expect that PIASA would objectively inform American public opinion about Polish issues and serve as a liaison between Polish and American scholars. 2

Professor Oskar Halecki, the first Executive Director and its “spritus movens” expressed the view that the future cultural reconstruction of Poland “needed the help of our American friends and especially of the American Polonia”. 3 It was under Halecki's phenomenal leadership that PIASA engaged in intensive scholarly activities, which were dully recorded in English in the quarterly Bulletin of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America. Books were published; conferences and lectures were organized with the participation of American and Polish elites as well as scholars of various European backgrounds. 4 Just before his forced resignation on July 31, 1945 as Consul General of Poland in New York City, Sylwin Strakacz paid tribute to PIASA, “for fulfilling the responsible mission of representing the truth about Poland and strengthening the traditional friendship binding our nation with the American people and maintaining a spiritual bond with the learned world of the West”. This period ended tragically for PIASA and Poland when the Allied powers transferred recognition from the exile Polish government in London to the provisional communist government of “national unity” on July 5, 1945. 5 It was clear that Poland suffered “Defeat in Victory”. The end of World War II did not bring what was expected; independence and democracy for Poland, instead it brought a communist dominated government under firm Soviet Russian tutelage. Any scholarly activity would have to be subordinated to communist ideology. Under these circumstances Halecki as well as most Institute members openly expressed their opposition to communist rule in Poland and refused to place PIASA under the jurisdiction of PAU in Krakow which began to function in January 1945. Halecki declared that he preferred to face serious financial difficulties rather than give up PIASA's full freedom and independence. So on June 22, 1945 PIASA amended its charter in the State of New York and became an independent American corporation. 6 From that point on PIASA was no longer formally affiliated with PAU, and instead became an independent learned society, unwilling to subordinate itself to a communist regime. As a consequence in 1949 PAU succumbing to pressure from the communist government officials, expelled the following PIASA members from its ranks: Oskar Halecki, Jan Kucharzewski, Alfred Tarski, Henryk Arctowski and Antoni Zygmunt. 7 Henceforth, the Polish Institute scrupulously avoided any official contacts with the “Polish Peoples Republic” so as not give it any semblance or recognition or legitimacy.

1946-1956

This was the most difficult period in PIASA 's history when its very existence was at stake. It was the height of the Stalinist period and the Cold War. PIASA had lost its financial support from the Polish government in London and in addition it had lost the use of its headquarters, a beautiful building on East 37 th Street. Now it was forced to operate out of a small office on East 35 th Street and depend on the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Foundation on East 65 th Street to schedule its lectures and other meetings. For a while until 1951 it received some small subsidies from the Polish American Congress. 8 In his report of 1952 Halecki wrote that PIASA “became a symbol of free Polish culture, connected with the democratic West and representing it in America; it raises its voice against the dangers that face it. Through the organizations of lectures gives evidence of its existence. But from 1951 even these limited activities may come to an end. So there is a real danger that the liquidation of PAU in Poland by the communist regime will be followed by the closing of the Polish Institute which represents its traditions.” 9

In spite of Halecki's pessimism the Institute continued to exist from month to month thanks to the support of Polonia groups whose modes funds were just enough to keep it alive. After the death of Jan Kucharzewski in 1952, Halecki became President and the jurist Zygmunt Nagorski, Sr. became Executive Director. They were close friends who in spite of difficult times, tried to preserve PIASA in accordance wit the PAU model. Literary evening with Poland's great poets, Kazimierz Wierzynski, Jan Lechon, Jozef Wittlin, lectures by noted scholars, Florian Znaniecki, Waclaw Lednicki, Henry L. Roberts, Philip Moseley, etc. were organized. Probably the most significant achievement of this period was the impressive program organized to commemorate the Centennial of Adam Mickiewicz's death in November 1955 at Hunter College, New York with the participation of the great American poets Archibald MacLeish and William Auden and the publication of the book Adam Mickiewicz in World Literature edited by Waclaw Lednicki. 10

1956-1973

The dramatic events of October 1956 in Poland and Eastern Europe had a strong impact on PIASA. In this period the Institute became energized with the help of new pragmatic leadership that was furnished by the journalist Stanislaw Strzetelski and former diplomats like Jan Wszelaki and Jan Librach. These men who became Executive Directors of PIASA had good contacts with the Free Europe Committee Inc. where they were formerly employed. So they were able to arrange grants from 1955 to 1970, which totaled over $590,000. Over $200,000 were allocated for scholarships to students from Poland and for laboratory equipment to Polish universities. 11 The rest was designated for the support of PIASA's activities. Strzetelski with the help of Rudolph Rathaus, a former officer in the Polish Foreign Ministry, was able to secure the financial support of a wealthy Polish émigré entrepreneur, Alfred Jurzykowski, who actually bought a five story townhouse on the elegant East 66 th Street in Manhattan to serve as the Institute's headquarters and a location for its library and archives. This immediately increased the Institute's prestige and made it possible for the Institute to increase its activities. It was also Director Strzetelski who spearheaded fund raisers among Polonia especially among its more affluent members like Tadeusz Sendzimir, that made it possible for PIASA to establish its quarterly academic journal, The Polish Review in 1956. 12 This journal has been published without interruption and will celebrate its 50 th anniversary next year. No doubt, it is one of PIASA's most important achievements. The first editor of the journal was Stanislaw Skrzypek; he was followed by Ludwik Krzyzanowski, Stanislaw Baranczak and presently by Joseph Wieczerzak.

Stanislaw Strzetelski's eagerness to establish contacts with Poland and his visits to Poland aroused fears among the more conservative leadership namely Halecki and Nagorski. They feared that his policies would sooner or later lead to direct or indirect dealings with Communist officials and thus compromise PIASA's principles by implicitly giving legitimacy to the “Polish Peoples Republic”. A serious disagreement arose that ended with the resignation of Strzetelski in late 1961 together with other members of the Board. 13 He was succeeded by a prominent economist and diplomat Jan Wszelaki (l963-l965), who focused on building up PIASA's library and expanding its membership. Wszelaki decided that it was time to end the fiction that PIASA was still an academy and eliminate the distinction between active and corresponding members. PIASA's by laws were changed in 1963 opening the membership to “Professors, Educators, Scholars, Writers and Artists”. This expanded PIASA's membership but incoming members still had to met specific rigid criteria and be elected by the Board of Directors. 14 Wszelaki was followed by the engineer, Damian Wandycz (1965-1969) and former diplomat Jan Librach (1969-1973) who were faced with the loss of grants from the Free Europe Committee by 1970. To offset this subsidy, PIASA's directors managed to save the situation by securing financial support from wealthy Poles and especially from the Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation. This was augmented by various fund raisers like book fairs, social events, etc. 15

PIASA was not oblivious to the disappointing events that were transpiring in Poland. It publicly supported in 1964 the thirty-four Polish writers and intellectuals who in their open letter criticized Gomulka's regime.16 In April 1968 PIASA's general assembly supported the “scholars, writers, intellectuals, and university students for their courage and resolute defense of freedom of thought, expression and human dignity”. To counter the negative images and stereotypes about Poles and Poland, that the 1968 anti-Semitic campaign produced in the American media, PIASA helped to translate and publish Wladyslaw Bartoszewski's and Zofia Lewin's book, The Samaritans: Heroes of the Holocaust. 17 Poland's Milllenium in 1966 was not ignored. Under the leaderships of Damian Wandycz a major three-day Congress was organized in November 1966 at Columbia University in New York with over 500 participants and with 135 paper presented. 18

1974-1989

PIASA began shedding its image of a Polish émigré society in this period. In 1974 an American born, Polish American, Dr. John A. Gronouski, was elected President. Previous presidents Bronislaw Malinowski, Jan Kucharzewski, Oskar halecki and Zygmunt Nagorski, Sr. had died and Stanislaw Mrozowski retired. A distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of Wisconsin, he was also the former Postmaster General in President Kennedy's cabinet and Ambassador to Poland under President Johnson. Dr. Gronouski openly advocated a shift in emphasis “inward to America” by paying more attention to Polonia, its natural constituency and being more concerned with issue in American society. His views found support from Dr. Thaddeus V. Gromada, a Polish American historian at New Jersey City University, who studied under Halecki at Fordham University, and in 1971 was elected Secretary General of PIASA. They also had the support of the sociologist from Brooklyn College CUNY, Feliks Gross who was elected Executive Director in 1975. 19 Both men agreed that PIASA must be preserved as an academic institution but at the same time it should endeavor to play a positive role in America's pluralistic society by encouraging contact and cooperation among America's ethnic groups. In addition they believed that PIASA should have a greater impact on mainstream American academic circles. This partnership, mutual understanding, and division of labor that lasted until Prof. Gross' resignation in 1999, produced many good results. 20

• Since 1972 PIASA has become affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS) and has participated in its Annual Conventions organized in the major cities of the USA. PIASA has organized book exhibits and meetings at these national gatherings. 21

• PIASA received a substantial grant from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1974 for a “Sociological-Historical Research Project on the Polish American Ethnic Group” which resulted in a few publications.22

• Following the American model of such organizations as the AAASS and the American Historical Association, etc. Annual Meetings of PIASA since 1978 have been transformed into major scholarly multi-disciplinary conferences on Polish and Polish American studies held at major American Universities, eg. Georgetown University, Fordham University, American University, etc. Average participation 300 with 25 to 30 sessions.23

• PIASA participated in the “New Pluralism/New Ethnicity” movement in the 1970's and collaborated with various ethnic groups (Jewish, Italian, Hispanic, African-American, etc.) and government (Department of Education) sponsored projects. 24

• Joint conferences were held on “Strategy of Peace and Freedom in East Central Europe” in the 1980's with the American Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies, Shevchenko Scientific Society, Czechoslovak Society of Arts & Sciences, Byelorusin Society of Arts & Sciences. 25

• From 1978 onward, PIASA's officers were invited to White House and State Department briefings. The practice began when Zbigniew Brzezinski became National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter. 26

• PIASA's officers participated in the activities of the American Council for Polish Culture, Kosciuszko Foundation, etc. For a time they served das advisors to the President of the Polish American Congress, Aloysius Mazewski.27

• PIASA's archives were expanded to include materials on the history of Polish Émigré Political and Social Thought since the end of World War II. A research project was initiated on the topic that resulted in the publication of several volumes of source materials.28

• A stream of eminent Poles visited PIASA and at times presented lectures and authors evenings. The visit of Karol Cardinal Wojtyla in 1976 was among the most memorable. 29

The dramatic events in Poland associated with the Solidarity movement in 1980-1981 profoundly affected PIASA. Once again Poland was on the center stage. At such times the American media centered in New York City turn to PIASA for authoritative, objective information and comments. When the martial law of December 13, 1981 dashed all hopes for a better future and closer ties with Poland, PIASA publicly condemned the action and urged appropriate sanctions against the Polish and Soviet regimes. Stranded Polish scholars and students received help from the Institute with the cooperation of IREX and the Rockefeller Foundation. A special PIASA “Committee to Aid Polish Scholars” functioned until 1988. It was also in this difficult period that the Polish Institute cooperated with the National Endowment for Democracy to aid persons in the Solidarity movement. 30

1989 to present

It was not until the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War that permitted PIASA to have normal and direct relations with Poland. From 1990 onward the Polish Institute under the leaderships of Professors Gross, Gromada and Wandycz, have placed the highest priority on developing and maintaining close relations with leading Polish academic and cultural relations. 31 In 1992 President Gross and Director Gromada paid a formal visit to the newly restored Polska Akademia Umiejetnosci in Krakow where they were warmly received. A few years later a symbolic station of PAU was dedicated in PIASA's townhouse in New York in the presence of Prof. Kazimierz Kowalski, President of PAU. The 58 th Annual Meeting of PIASA took place in Krakow in 2000 with the cooperation of PAU and the Jagiellonian University. It was hailed as a triumphant return to PIASA's Krakow roots. 32

PIASA has also developed and maintained close cooperation and contacts with the Warsaw based academy, Polska Akademia Nauk (PAN), Naczelna Dyrekcja Archiwow Panstwowych (National State Archives) Fundacja Na Rzecz Nauki Polskiej (Foundation for Polish Science), and Biblioteka Narodowa (National Library). With scholarships provided by the Kosciuszko Foundation, PIASA has been able to arrange for Visiting Research Archivists and Librarians from Poland since 1999. The future promises even closer and more vigorous interaction between PIASA and Poland's many institutions. Much depends on available resources and creative energy to take advantage of these opportunities. 33

Clearly the end of communism in Poland and Europe does not put an end to PIASA's mission. It is only the beginning of a new era full of challenges and opportunities. PIASA's essential mission of advancing knowledge about Poland's cultural and intellectual heritage in the United States, will not change. Today, more than ever, it is important for Poland and Polonia that American society , understand the issues that affect them. As a prestigious institution which has among its members Nobel Prize winners like Dr. Frank Wilczek of MIT and distinguished political scientists like Zbigniew Brzezinski, PIASA can have a greater impact on mainstream American culture and help elevate the image of Poland and Polish Americans. Through its activities of publishing the quarterly journal, The Polish Review ; printing books within the PIASA BOOKS publishing program edited by Charles Kraszewski, organizing lectures, conferences, authors evenings, maintaining a rich library and archives for research, PIASA has succeeded in establishing an admirable center of learning and culture in the capital city of the world, New York City. It provides the moral support and inspiration to the Polish American community , who needs to be fully conscious of its heritage to become a more effective and influential group in American society.

The achievements of PIASA have received recognition from official Polish circles. In September 2000, the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Poland, Wladyslaw Bartoszewski in the presence of two Polish Ambassadors, Przemyslaw Grudzinski (Ambassador to U.S.) and Janusz Stanczyk (Ambassador to UN) declared, “The promotion of knowledge about Poland's historic achievements is one of the most important Polish foreign policy aims. I am pleased to acknowledge that we can always count on the Polish Institute's valuable experience and professionalism in our activities in the U.S.A.” 34 On the 40 th anniversary of the Polish Institute, Pope John Paul II wrote that “the Institute has gained full rights of citizenship in the field of learning and culture in the United States as well as in the world. It has won respect and many friends and has become one of the important points where the Polish spirit and Polish thought have come into contact with the spiritual heritage of the nations of the world”. 35

Notes

The Polish Institute of Arts & Sciences of America in Historical Perspective
Submitted by Dr. Thaddeus V. Gromada

1 Pope John Paul II to Director Feliks Gross, April 28, 1982. A photographic reproduction of the letter was published in Thaddeus V. Gromada, PIASA 50 th Anniversary Album (New York: PIASA, 1993), pp. 3-5.

2 Stanislaw Strzetelski, Polish Institute of Arts & Sciences in America:Origins and Development (New York: PIASA, 1960) p. 5; Damian Wandycz, Polski Instytut Naukowy w Ameryce: W trzydziesta Rocznice 1942-1972, (Polish Institute of Arts & Sciences of America: 30 th Anniversary 1942-1972), (New York: PIAS, 1974) pp. 12-18.

3 Oskar Halecki, “Polish Institute of Arts & Sciences in America; Its Purposes and Objectives” Bulletin of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America, Vol. 1, January 1943, No. 2, p. 224.

4 Wandycz, Polski Instytut Naukowy, s.20-21; Strzetelski, Polish Institute, pp. 9-11.

5 “Report on the Activities of the Institute 1945-1946”, Bulletin of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America, Vol. IV, 1945-1946, pp.114-115.

6 “Introduction”, Ibidem , p. 7.

7 Piotr Hubner, Sila przeciw Rozumowi…Losy Polskiej Akademii Umiejetnosci w latach 1939-1989, (Power Against Reason … The Fate of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences 1939-1989) (Krakow: PAU, 1994) s.103-104.

8 Joanna Wojdon, W imieniu szesciu milionow …Kongres Polonii Amerykanskiej w latach 1944-1968, ( In the Name of Six Million…The Polish American Congress 1944-1968) ( Torun: Adam Marszalek, 2005) pp. 312-313.

9 This document was published in Gromada, PIASA 50 th Anniversary Album, p. 29.

10 Wandycz, Polski Instytut Naukowy, pp. 30-31; Strzetelski, Polish Institute, p. 15

11 Gromada, PIASA 50 th Album, p.32; Strzetelski, Polish Institute, pp.18-19

12 Wandycz, Polski Instytut Naukowy, p. 34; Strzetelski, Polish Institute, pp. 20-22.

13 Wandycz, Polski Instytut Naukowy, p. 39

14 “Protokol posiedzenia Zarzadu dnia 3 kwietnia 1963”(Minutes of the Board, April 3, 1963) PIASA Collection nr. 17, PIASA Archives, New York

15 Wandycz, Polski Instytut Naukowy , pp. 41-43.

16 Gromada, PIASA 50 th Anniversary Album, pp. 39-40.

17 Ibidem

18 Wandycz, Polski Instytut Naukowy, pp. 52-53.

19 Gromada, PIASA 50 th Anniversary Album, p. 44

20 Ibidem, p.48.

21 “Annual Report of the Secretary General, Prof. Thaddeus V. Gromada 1976-1977” PIASA Collection nr. 17, PIASA Archives, New York

22 Gromada, PIASA 50 th Anniversary Album, p. 43

23 “Annual Report of the Secretary General, Prof. Thaddeus V. Gromada 1978-79” PIASA Collection nr. 17, PIASA Archives, New York

24 Ibidem; Gromada, PIASA 50 th Anniversary Album, p. 50

25 Ibidem, p.52

26 “Annual Report of the Secretary General 1978-1979”

27 Gromada, PIASA 50 th Anniversary Album, p. 52-53.

28 “Report of the Vice President and Executive Director, Prof. F. Gross 1978-1979” PIASA Collelction nr. 17, PIASA Archives, New York.

29 Gromada, PIASA 50 th Anniversary Album, p. 50

30 “Annual Report of the Secretary General 19981-1982” PIASA Collection nr. 17

31 Tadeusz Gromada, “Dzialalnosc Polskiego Instytutu Naukowego w Ameryce w okresie od czerwca 1996 do czerwca 1997 (Activities of PIASA from June 1996 to June 1997 ) Rocznik Polskiej Akademii Umiejetnosci /Rok 1996/1997 (PAU Annual 1996/1997) (Krakow, 1997), pp.176-181.

32 Jerzy Wyrozumski, “LVIII Doroczny Zjazd Polskiego Instytutu Naukowego w Ameryce” (58 th Annual Meeting of PIASA) Rocznik Polskiej Akademii Umiejetnosci/Rok 1999/2000 (PAU Annual 1999/2000) (Krakow, 2001)pp. 202-203; Tadeusz Gromada, “Dzialalnosc Polskiego Instytutu Naukowego w Ameryce w okresie od czerwca 1999 do czerwca 2000” (Activities of PIASA from June 1999 to June 2000) Ibidem, pp. 196-198.

33 Stanislaw Flis, Polski Instytut Naukowy w Ameryce: Przewodnik Po Zbiorach Archiwalnych, ( PIASA; Guide to Its Archival Collections), (Warszawa: NDAP, 2004) pp. 9-24.

34 Tadeusz Gromada, “Dzialalnosc Polskiego Instytutu Naukowego w Ameryce w okresie od czerwca 2000 do czerwca 2001” (Activities of PIASA from June 2000 to June 2001) Rocznik Polskiej Akademii Umiejetnosci/Rok 2000/2001 (PAU Annual 2000/2001 (Krakow, 2002) pp. 219-220.

35 5 Quoted in Gromada, PIASA 50 th Anniversary Album, pp. 4-5