Kaia Heroine of the 1944 Warsaw Rising

Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm

KAIA, HEROINE OF THE 1944 WARSAW UPRISING
Lexington Books, 2012, photos, notes, bibliography, 195 pp.

Lanham-Boulder-New York-Toronto-Plymouth,UK

ISBN     978-0-7391=7270-4
e-book:  978-0-7391-7271-1

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A moving and compelling account of what heroism entails and what suffering can be endured for the sake of a higher cause.

— Zbigniew Brzezinski, John Hopkins University and Center for Strategic and International Studies


In the clutter of books arguing the propriety of the Warsaw Rising, whether it should have taken place or not; in the avalanche of statistics and strategies, the flesh and blood people who lived through the heroic trauma are often overlooked. Ziólkowska-Boehm is a fine writer in the grand tradition of reportage established in Poland by her mentor, Melchior Wankowicz and her friend, Ryszard Kapuscinski. This sensitive and moving portrayal of Kaia deserves a place on the same shelf with Miron Bialoszewski's inimitable Memoir of the Warsaw Uprising.

— Charles S. Kraszewski, Kings College and The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences


In pages of striking contrast, Kaia moves from a colorful, nearly idyllic life by Polish exiles in southern Siberia earlier in the last century to the graphic horrors of Nazified Poland—and then to the moving aftermath of loss and recovery.

— Stanley Weintraub, author of "The Last Great Victory: The End of World War II, July–August 1945"


Kaia’s memories, excellently recorded and commented on by Aleksandra Ziólkowska-Boehm, give the story of her happy childhood and early architectural work in interwar Poland; her active resistance to Nazi occupation; Soviet imprisonment; and of her part, as an architect, in the rebuilding of Warsaw in postwar communist Poland. It is also the story of her husband, Marek Szymanski, deputy to Major 'Hubal,' commander of a Polish Army unit, who refused to surrender in September 1939. Hubal’s Cross of Military Valor served Kaia both as a talisman for survival—and as a key link to her marriage. This is a 'must read' for all those interested in the history of World War II as it played out in a country fatefully placed between Germany and Russia.

— Anna M. Cienciala, University of Kansas


I read Kaia, Heroine of the 1944 Warsaw Rising, I always believed that Siberia was only a terrible place of suffering and dying, where very few of the expelled people survived the primitive conditions and harsh climate. For me, it was an eye opener to read about the role played by exiled Poles in places like Irkutsk and other Siberian cities and about those who went there voluntarily to participate in the building of the trans-Siberian railroad, as well as numerous Poles who became prominent Russian scientists, engineers, and writers. Kaia’s description of her heroic actions is so lively and masterfully presented that I felt like I was going with her from place to place, witnessing the wounding and death of several fighters and following Kaia through the underground canals. I liked very much the large number of photographs of participants.

— Karl Maramorosch, Rutgers University
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“In the extraordinary, finely detailed story of  Cezaria (“Kaia”) Iljin we see Poland’s history in personal microcosm.  Like Alex Haley’s Roots, this is much more than a personal memoir. It is the story of a people. For this reason, Kaia has received a wide readership and warm reviews in Poland, where the oral history of World War II and events that Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm describes are well-remembered. People there understand innately certain things that bear explaining to an American audience, even, sometimes, to the many Polish-Americans who have been “Americanized.”

(…) First, the scale of the horror and suffering will strike many Americans like a blow. Some of us may recall a glancing reference from a movie, perhaps The Pianist. Poland, a primary field of battle in World War II, left about a quarter of the nation’s population dead. Americans as a whole lack personal references to such a holocaust – perhaps the Cherokee Trail of Tears, during which a quarter of a nation (4,000 of 16,000) also died, multiplied several hundred times (about six million Poles died) or the accumulated suffering of slaves shipped from Africa for more than two centuries, a quarter of whom also died in the Middle Passage. 

Kaia’s story is full to the brim with the essentials of diaspora – of many peoples’ lives being directed by events larger than oneself from home to temporary home, with prison camps between.  Warsaw was ruined three times during World War II – by the German blitzkrieg moving eastward in 1939, then again as the front moved westward in 1945, and, in between, by the Germans in retribution for the two-month-long Warsaw Rrising of 1944, as the Gestapo also carried out Hitler’s orders to eradicate the carriers of Polish knowledge and culture.  This followed the razing of the Jewish ghetto of Warsaw (once home to half a million people) during May, 1943, following its own uprising on the eve of Passover.

            Secondly, anyone who knows the least about the history of Poland knows that the Poles have been victims of arrogant and militaristic neighbors – most notably the Russians, and, during World War II, the Germans under the Nazis. This, plus the fact that Poland is a nation of poets and musicians (who else has named its largest airport after a composer, Frédéric Chopin?) This may have left an impression that the Poles have been passive through centuries of oppression.  This is not true in the least. The Germans forbade the playing of Chopin, fearing that the music would, as Ziolkowska-Boehm remarks, “stir up the Polish spirit.” The playing of Chopin was punishable by death. The death camps were for Poles (and other non-Germans), as well as Jews. Kaia’s brother Modest died in Auschwitz during 1941. Before that, when one German soldier demanded his documents, Modest had announced: “I am a Hubal partisan, you Kraut!”

Kaia’s story belies the stereotype of Polish passivity. She witnessed the obliteration of Warsaw while maintaining a safe house for insurgents during the war, in memory of  Henryk Dobrzanski (who assumed the nom de guerre Hubal, perhaps the most exemplary of early anti-German Polish insurgent leaders during World War II). While this name requires explanation to an American audience, Poles have named many schools and parks after him. A movie has been made about Hubal and his underground army.  Once inside Kaia’s safe house, insurgents could always find delicious soup to eat and a welcoming mattress.  Between times, Kaia and her cohort sometimes sought solace in the countryside, where “They drank goat’s milk and read Voltaire” – and, no doubt, played recordings of Chopin.

Ziolkowska-Boehm writes that Kaia and her compatriots moving under Warsaw in the sewers, watching and waiting for the Gestapo, listening for boot-clicks above, as Germans dumped hand grenades into manholes.  The author remarks at one point that if the Warsaw Rising had not been organized, the Poles would have exploded in rage: “The atmosphere in the city was pregnant with revolt.”  If the Polish Home Army – the insurgents – killed one German soldier, the Nazis would shoot ten Polish passersby at random.

My first host in Poland, Jakub Piechota, during 2005 greeted my naïve description of Poland’s peaceful transition from Soviet-imposed socialism with a forbearing smile, and then reminded me, with dates, Poles in the thousands who had given their lives during the country’s many journeys to freedom. Each sacrifice spilled someone’s blood --  personal, painful, and searing in memory – as with a friend of Kaia’s, Jurek Pujkiewicz, crushed to death during the last days of World War II in the collapse of the bombed-out Warsaw Stock Exchange, surviving in agony for several days. After a Canadian fighter plane was shot down above Krasinski Square, “The pilot burned along with his machine. [Kaia] helplessly watched it in pain, powerless to do anything.” She watched as another man’s head, severed by a tank’s shell, bounced down a flight of stairs.

            The third aspect of this story that will surprise many Americans is the attachment of the Poles to the Roman Catholic Church, which over centuries became a refuge from oppression and a conduit of culture and language that was being repressed by outsiders whose nations wiped Poland from the map. Once again, Americans have no historical parallel – our founders warned against oppression by churches intertwined with state power. Our diversity demands tolerance for a world of faiths.

Many Americans, even some Catholics, disagree with the policies of a church that prescribes personal behavior vis a vis abortion, birth control, and other matters. Appreciate Poland in Polish terms, however, to understand the role of the Church, and the continuing popularity of John Paul II, the Polish Pope. Understand that, alone among the Soviet bloc, the churches never closed in Poland, even under Stalin. I once asked Jakub why the Soviets never closed the churches. “They would not have dared,” was his reply.  I was teaching as a guest at the Catholic University of Lublin at the time, John Paul’s academic home for a quarter century before he was called to Rome. Alone among universities under Soviet influence, “the KUL” had retained its independence.  Stalin once asked, in an attempt to demonstrate his power, how many troops the Pope commanded. John Paul II answered him.

            Hubal’s Virtuti Militari Cross demonstrates this unique union of church and state in Polish history. Kaia carried the cross throughout her life after it was left with her during May, 1940, after Hubal was killed in combat, and at times shielded it with her life, once in a hollow of her boot heel while marching to a Soviet prison camp after the war, where her weight dropped to 84 pounds. The Poles now were faced with occupation by the Soviets, their new Constitution edited by Stalin himself. Churches often hosted schools that were forbidden under both the Germans and the Soviets. The independent Catholic University of Lublin also was a center of resistance to occupation – and, to this day, part of its budget is allocated from tax money. Most Poles see nothing wrong in such an arrangement, which would be illegal in the United States. Most are, in fact, proud of it.

Reading Kaia’s personal story weaves these historical threads into one cloth, with powerful narrative and imagery. It is at once tender and taut. Poles remember her – and Americans should, as well. Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm will take you there, put you down on the streets of Warsaw, and open your eyes.”

Prof. Bruce E. Johansen, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Author.  Introduction

REVIEWS:

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Ziolkowska-Boehm has provided a fascinating biography of a young woman, beginning with her simple childhood in a small town of Djungaria, near the Russian-Chinese border of the Altai Mountains. People have lived there for centuries, still in yurts, drinking camels’ milk or delicious tea flavored with sheep grease. Kaia spent much of her time roaming in their large estate and extended family.

This childhood was soon destroyed, when Djungaria was overtaken by the Bolsheviks in 1921. Some of the Polish families returned to Poland, others stayed. Kaia and her family began their year-long journey, first to Barnaul, then Moscow and finally Bialystok. The family settled on a vast property on the outskirts of town, with two wooden houses, gardens and vast fields. Many ethnic groups lived side by side, with Polish organizations, such as the Falcons, and colorful festivals held throughout the year. By 1933 Kaia had graduated from school in Vilnius and entered the Architecture Department of the Warsaw Polytechnic School, where her brother was already a student.

During the 1930s Poland was just beginning to develop its Second Republic and identity. Erased from the map for more than 100 years, the task was daunting. By 1939 Kaia had completed her studies and written her thesis, but was unable to progress further, when her academic advisor died as war broke out. Poland was attacked on both sides, and soon the Soviets had prepared a list of compulsory removal of Poles. Kaia and her friend, Dzida, were able to escape to a railroad station and eventually Zamosc. She was told Polish military officers were being arrested by the Germans. Papers needed to be prepared and civilian clothing found. Thus began Kaia’s life of the underworld, preparing ID cards with seals and photographs, switching to sewing pajamas whenever the Germans approached. Shortly after, the girls returned to Warsaw and to the school apartment, now in shambles. She was able to obtain work with a company helping with the reconstruction of destroyed buildings. Underground schools were established when Polish was banned from the German controlled schools. The Polish secret educational network was a unique form of resistance seen nowhere else in Europe. Kaia’s apartment became a meeting place for resistance workers to gather. There was always a pot of warm soup for the exhausted workers.

Kaia was able to visit her parents, Bronislawa and Modest Iljin who were ordered to move to the small village of Ostashki, which was taken over by first the Soviets and Germans, and lastly, the Soviets again. Modest was arrested and sent to Auschwitz, where he died in February, 1941. In 1943 Kaia was assigned to monitor the covert training in sabotage techniques. It included providing explosives, maps and other instructional materials. She was responsible for the safety of the instructors and cadets, and safe escape for the participants.

At the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising Kaia provides a vivid description of the valor, fright and bravery of the workers. For 63 days they fought, avoiding death at all costs. Some were not that successful, with many slaughtered on the streets or tortured in jail. These interviews were provided to the author many years later, but still vivid in Kaia’s mind. She is even able to provide humor in the grotesque conditions.

The People’s Republic of Poland was established in 1945, but a state subordinate to Soviet Russia. Many trials were held, in full mockery of justice, resulting in deaths or life imprisonment.

This book provides a personal view of the struggle of Poland and its people to overcome the horrors of war. Kaia is a symbol of hope for the future of Poland—her undaunted faith in the freedom of man, her bravery in helping others and her love of life. A heartfelt book.

Florence Waszkelewicz Clowes,  A Vivid Description Valor and Bravery, Books in Brief, POLISH AMERICAN JOURNAL, September 2012, pg. 15

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“The book opens with Kaia’s childhood in Siberia, and here the reader is in for a surprise. Siberia, it is revealed, is more than a land of prisons and slave camps. It is a vast country of great beauty, rich in natural resources, and many Poles went there when Poland was still partitioned in search of a better life. Better educated than the local population, they established thriving communities, owned successful farms and other enterprises, and many Polish engineers worked on the Trans-Siberian Railway. True, for decades, the Tsarist regime had exiled thousands of Poles to this distant land and the exiles, once freed from confinement and still not permitted to return to Poland, found solace among their fellow countrymen.

The violence and ideology of the Russian revolution put an end to all that and the Poles fled back to their homeland, freed by Piłsudski’s Legions at the end of WWI. The weeks-long train journey home is an adventure in itself, and finally Kaia’s family settles near Wilno (Vilnius). Families are reunited, adults establish new homes, children resume school. Kaia gifted both academically and artistically, chooses architecture for her career. A bright future awaits her and her interesting, animated, highly motivated friends.

In September of 1939 all that came comes to an end. The double invasion by Germans and Russians, the cruelty under occupation, the dangers of underground resistance, and finally the horror and brutality of the 1944 Rising. Finally? Their ordeal was far from over. As the Germans retreated the Soviets entered, bringing their second reign of terror with them. Both occupiers focused on destroying the best and brightest, and so it continued. Kaia, and her surviving friends were once again hounded, arrested and sent to the gulag. And yet, she and her husband, Marek Szymanski, returned to a Warsaw in ruins and set to work to rebuild it. They had time for neither hatred nor self-pity. They worked, they traveled, and they enjoyed life, remembering everything but living very much in the present.

(…) Note also the social history implicit in the narrative. The friendships and the collegiality of the young men and women, the unquestioned equality, their mutual respect and affection; the value attached to education; the high spirits combined with a strong will; the love of freedom and the commitment to their society. It was a very special generation and Kaia is an inspiring example of it.

Irene Tomaszewski, COSMOPOLITAN REVIEW 2013 Vol 4 Np.1-2 –Winter/Spring/Books

http://cosmopolitanreview.com/kaia/

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„This is almost z detective story, based on a real event. One of the heroes of Polish Resistance in the Second World War received a Virtuti Militari Cross. In Soviet occupied Poland the protector of this Cross went to jail. The book narratives how the Cross survived Rising “44, the Soviet Gulag, and the Soviet occupation of Poland, the resurface fifty years later”.

SARMATIAN REVIEW, April 2007, pg 1314 
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This is a very personal book, first published in Polish in 2006. The author, Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm, tells the story of Cezaria Ilyin Szymańska, a personal friend who participated in the Warsaw Rising of 1944. Kaia is the name under which the heroine is known to her friends. The idea of writing about Kaia’s life can be traced back to conversations and an exchange of letters between the author and her heroine.

The author has combined quotes from letters with passages in which she retells what she heard from Kaia herself. The author uses a collage technique (following the example of Ryszard Kapuścinski) and a ‘mosaic method’ developed by her teacher, the Polish writer Melchior Wańkowicz. Ziolkowska-Boehm also makes use of quotes from other testimonies and from historical literature. The book has 37 chapters, many of them only a few pages long. The chapters consist of thematically arranged stories and reminiscences or summaries of Kaia’s impressions of places she lived at or visited during different periods of her life. A considerable part of the book does not deal with the Warsaw Uprising but with Kaia's life, family and friends before and after the war. These chapters contain numerous comments by the author and sometimes include extensive quotes from books on Polish history.

Kaia’s story – as unusual as it appears to be at first glance – is a typically Polish story. She was born on 2 April 1916 in the small town of Zaysan (today in Kazakhstan) in the western part of Djungaria not far from the Altai Mountains. She and her family were not the only Poles in the region. In the 19th century the Russian government deported many Poles to Siberia or Central Asia as a punishment for socialist or patriotic activities. After the turn of the century a growing number of Poles also had economic motives for emigrating to the north and east of the Russian Empire. One of these economic emigrants was Kaia’s maternal grandfather Bolesław Szemiot, who found employment in Djungaria as an engineer building roads and bridges. Kaia’s father, Modest Iljin, was a student at St. Petersburg University who was sent to Siberia because of his underground activities. Kaia’s parents married in 1908 and Cezaria was born as their second child.

After the October Revolution the family continued to live in Djungaria and lived out the years of the First World War and the Russian civil war there. Ziolkowsa-Boehm recounts a few anecdotes from Kaia’s early childhood during these troublesome times. By 1922 life under Bolshevik rule had become unbearable and the family decided to leave for Poland. This was easier said than done and it proved to be a very long journey. The family travelled by train and it took almost a year before they arrived in Białystok where they settled. The following chapters tell of Kaia’s experiences at school and include reminiscences of Kazakhstan and her youth together with a short chapter on animals and their importance in Kaia’s life and that of her family. How these stories are remembered many decades later gives an interesting insight into the processes of remembering and forgetting. Childhood memories are often very vivid while memories of later events often fade away quickly. This can also be seen here. The reader learns much more about Kaia's early years than about her life as a young adult.

The main part of the book deals with the Second World War and the German occupation of Poland. Ziolkowska-Boehm does not offer any deep analysis of the reasons and consequences of the Warsaw Uprising. The author quotes some of the research literature but there is a greater focus on quotes taken from the testimonies of participants of the Uprising and linking these comments to Kaia’s own recollections. Kaia’s resistance initially consisted of attending courses held by the underground university. Later she participated in the Uprising and worked as a messenger, a very dangerous role as it entailed helping the different groups of insurgents to keep in contact with each other. Always at risk of being shot by German soldiers or caught in crossfire she risked her life more than once, and all the stories show her to be a very brave woman. These chapters do not exclusively focus on Kaia. They also attest to the heroism of her fellow insurgents, also containing a portrait of Kaia's later husband Marek Szymański and descriptions of friends and acquaintances, interspersed with anecdotes demonstrating the commitment of the insurgents. Marek Szymański had been a captain in the unit of Major Henryk Dobrzański (code name: Hubal) who commanded the last regular unit of the Polish Army still fighting Nazi Germany in the autumn of 1939. Hubal also formed the first underground unit which resumed the fight against the occupiers. Ziolkowsa-Boehm praises the heroism of this unit and of its leader Major Hubal who died fighting against the German occupiers on 30 April 1940. Marek Szymański took over the command of the Hubal partisans until the unit was dissolved in June. Szymański was later highly decorated for his role in the Polish Army and in the resistance against Nazi Germany. One leitmotif of the book is the story of the Virtuti Militari order previously awarded to Major Dobrzański. It was Kaia's task to guard the order and she managed to keep it safe during the Uprising and during her time as a Soviet prisoner.

After the defeat of the Uprising Kaia fled Warsaw but she was soon arrested by agents of the Soviet People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (abridged in Russian as NKVD). She was brought to NKVD Camp 41 in Ostashkov where she remained imprisoned until 1946.

The last part of the book covers life in Communist Poland. After she was released Kaia returned to Warsaw where she worked as an architect on the reconstruction of the city. She wanted to lead a normal life, and the book tells about her travels and her work, but also shows how badly former non-Communist resistance fighters were treated. Their resistance against Nazi Germany was marginalised, although it survived in the memory of those who had lived through those difficult times. Kaia’s husband Marek remained loyal to Major Hubal even in Communist Poland. He saw it as his task to preserve Hubal’s memory.

The book includes a number of black-and-white photographs, many of them from Kaia's personal collection. There are two appendices at the end of the book. Appendix one consists of short quotes about Siberia by people who were there but also by Americans who were asked what they knew about Siberia. It is not clear how these quotes or the subsequent quotes about the Warsaw Uprising were collected. The quotes from Americans without Polish roots indicate the lack of historical knowledge about Poland’s fate during the Second World War.

The book tries to preserve as much of Kaia’s life as possible for posterity and is also a celebration of Polish heroism and a testimony to Polish suffering. The decision to start the Uprising is not criticised but is presented as the result of a decision taken by the resistance fighters themselves. Like Kaia, the author does not question whether the Uprising made political or military sense but views the Uprising as a natural event, not unlike a volcanic eruption. She is right to point out that a posteriori criticism often does not take contemporary circumstances and the explosive mood in Warsaw sufficiently into account. There are some good arguments in support of the opinion that the Uprising would have happened anyway, with or without the approval of the local command of the Home Army and without the consent of the government-in-exile. This, however, misses the point. One of the main problems of the Uprising was its timing – it came too early. The German forces were still too strong. Starting the Uprising in August 1944 was also a political decision. The command of the Home Army and the government-in-exile wanted to liberate Warsaw before the arrival of Soviet troops as they hoped to improve the Polish position in the negotiations with Britain, France, the USA and the Soviet Union. However, the aim of the book is not to participate in these historiographical debates. Ziolkowska-Boehm has created a moving testimony to her friend, whose biography is woven into the history of Poland in the 20th century. The Polish original won the literature prize of the Association of Polish Writers Abroad (London) in 2007.

Dr Christoph Mick, REVIEWS IN HISTORY, University of Warwick, University of London, March 21, 2013

http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/1398

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ON  INTERNET:

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Every so often, a true story is better than fiction. This is one of them. Born with an indomitable spirit, courage, determination and will to make the best of circumstances, Kaia was able to go through life accepting all challenges. A challenge did not phase her or deter her…she overcame it. Her strengths carried her through any and all obstacles…the harsh winters of Siberia, achievement of an architectural education, soldiering gallantly against the German occupants of her country, twice wounded heroine of the 1944 Warsaw Rising, rebellious prisoner of the Russian NKVD, and a participant in the rebuilding of Warsaw. After a lifetime of challenge, Kaia lived to see Poland free and independent. Any reader will come away from this book with an admiration for a woman who was a true patriot of Poland ready to sacrifice her life for her country. Kaia’s story could make a great movie!

Robert R.Robinson from Annapolis, MD, June 19, 2012. overstock.com

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I read Kaia, Heroine of the 1944 Warsaw Rising to help me in my research with an historical fiction novel I'm writing about the scouts in Warsaw who helped during the RIsing. Kaia helped provide more first-hand information on the Rising. For those interested in this time period, and in reading about people who lived through it, Kaia provides a good resource. I also appreciated the pictures in the book. These were pictures I hadn't seen before online or in other books. I also appreciated the fact that Kaia was written by someone who lived and studied in Poland, and understands events from a Polish point of view, but who has also lived and worked in the United States. Writing about cross-cultural events always rings more true when written by someone who has experienced life in both cultures.

Mesontag, 25 September 2012 Amazon.com

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KAIA HEROINE OF THE 1944 WARSAW RISING shows an extraordinary life under extreme and harsh circumstances. I am surprise I have not heard about the Warsaw Rising 1944 - that was so bravely and so costly. All I have heard was about the year earlier Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Thanks to the book, I am aware of this special heroic event in Polish history.
This is real life history that flows like is happening now. The book is costly but worth every dollar of its cost.

John Mensch. Powell's Books, March 6, 2013

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Amazing story

The book was purchased by the library I belong to and I just read it. I am Polish origin a few generations back and I find more and more interest in European history. The difference between the author of the book and her heroine is around 35 years, so it is amazing how the young friend described her elderly friend in the book - with kindness and dignity. Also amazing in the end of the book are voices of many about the 1944 Warsaw Uprsing. The majority of people know about the Jewish Ghetto Rising in 1943, not knowing about 1944. In my opinion it is why the title was stressed, to be not confused.

1marco2, Overstock, Miami, Florida, Mar 6, 2013

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The most interesting

This is real life history that flows like it is happening now. I started the book and could not stop reading. The book is worth every dollar of its cost. Justin Shore

Justin Shore, Books my Passion, Overstock, Tampa, Fl, April 22, 2013
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I read KAIA HEROINE OF THE 1944 WARSAW RISING.  She would have had a fascinating story even without the war! Imagine the changes in Poland to which she was a witness over her remarkable live span. A remarkable story well told!

Patrick Wahl, Amazon, com

Prof. dr hab. inż. Marek Tukiendorf Politechnika Opolska LEPSZY DZIEN NIE PRZYSZEDL JUZ

List od Rektora Politechniki Opolskiej
Prof. dr hab. inż. Marek Tukiendorf

Kanada Kanada Dreams and Reality Polish Canadian Identities

Aleksandra Ziółkowska - Boehm

KANADA, KANADA..., Warszawa 1986

ISBN 83-7021-006-6

DREAMS AND REALITY
Polish Canadian Identities

Toronto 1984

ISBN 0-9691756-0-4

“Bohaterami trzydziestu paru relacji (mikro opowiadan, mini-reportazy) sa Polacy w Kanadzie, od prostych robotnikow poprzez wszelkie mozliwe zawody, az po prezesa Kongresu Polonii Kanadyjskiej. (...). Autorka nie unika przedstawienia najbardziej tragicznych i okrutnych doswiadczen (...). Suma tych relacji sklada sie na obraz przekonujacy swoja szczeroscia, rzeczowoscia a zarazem umiejetnoscia operowania celnym skrotem z reguly nosnym sytuacyjnie i umyslowo (...). “Kanada, Kanada...” dowodzi swietnego zmyslu obserwacyjnego autorki i niewatpliwej drapieznosci przy wszystkich cechach pisarstwa eleganckiego i nieco jakby sciszonego”.

Ignacy Rutkiewicz “ODRA” Nr 6. 1987

“Fakt, ze rozmawiala nie tylko z prominentami, ale takze ze zwyklymi ludzmi, czesto nieszczesliwymi, sprawia, ze podany przez nia obraz emigracji jest pelniejszy. Opowiada wiec zarowno o imigrantach dzialajacych w organizacjach, jak i nie majacych z nimi zadnego zwiazku, i tkwiacych silnie w Polsce, posiadajacych wiezy z krajem urodzenia oraz o innych, ktorzy wrosli w nowy kraj i otoczenie. (...). Ziolkowska tropi przede wszystkim polskosc swoich rozmowcow, nie ogranicza sie tylko do znanych postaci imigrantow, nie ominela i ich potomkow (...). Galeria bezimiennych bohaterow z opowiadan Ziolkowskiej jest bardziej zroznicowana pod kazdym wzgledem. Proces usadowienia sie przebiega dlugo i trudno (...). “Kanada, Kanada..” nie jest historycznym, ani socjologicznym studium o imigrantach powojennych, natomiast prezentuje ich zycie. Ziolkowskiej nie interesowaly polityczne motywy emigracji,lecz jej losy w nowym kraju, proces adaptacji, rola i znaczenie zrzeszen i stowarzyszen polonijnych, nastawienie otoczenia gospodarzy i osiadlych rodakow. Roznie, roznie to bywalo i jest.   Ziolkowska nie generalizuje ani tez nie wyciaga wnioskow. Nie ocenia , tylko prezentuje. I na tym - obok walorow literackich - polega wartosc tej ksiazki(..).”.

Benedykt Heydenkorn “Sylwetki niektorych imigrantów w Kanadzie”, “KULTURA”(Paryz) nr 9/504 /1989, str 147-150

"Recenzowana ksiazka stanowi polska wersje wydanej przez Autorke po angielsku pozycji "Dreams and Reality" (Century, Toronto 1984). Autorka stawia siê w roli przekaznika slow emigrantow, czasem pytaniem pobudza ich do dalszej wypowiedzi, ale pozwala mowic im samym. Mowia szczerze.  Az zaskakuje, jak szczere sa ich mysli - o Kanadzie, Polonii, ale takze o Polsce, komunizmie, latach 1980-1981, stanie wojennym – mozna w tej ksiazce wyczytac.(...) 

Nie ulega watpliwosci, ze badacz przeczyta ksiazkê z pozytkiem. Przypomni mu ona raz jeszcze, ze za wszystkimi statystycznymi srednimi, za wszystkimi zasadnie poszukiwanymi typowosciami i tendencjami kryje sie ogromna roznorodnoœæ zjawisk realnych. Na konkretnych, mniejsza ze indywidualnych przykladach zwroci ksiazka jego uwage na zjawiska dla procesow migracyjnych wazne (badz dostarczy ich ilustracji). Moja uwage np. przyciagnal np. material pokazujacy grupe etniczna jako kanalu wejscia do spoleczenstwa globalnego (watek wracajacy w ksiazce wielokrotnie). Takze mysl, ze przesadne dazenie do zapomnienia o wlasnym pochodzeniu i pelnej asymilacji ze spolecznoscia lokalna moze miec skutki nie tylko przeciwne od zamierzonych, ale nawet negatywne dla rownowagi psychicznej. (...)

Kolejna okolicznoscia, dla ktorej badacz zapozna sie z recenzowana ksiazka z pozytkiem, jest wystepowanie w niej drobnych realiow emigranckiego zycia.(..) Last, but not at least, recenzowana ksiazka jeszcze raz uswiadomi badaczowi Polonii dramatyzm decyzji emigracyjnych i emigranckich losow.(...)

Przewija sie jednoczesnie w ksiazce - jakis kontrast miedzy owym dramatyzmem emigracji a latwoscia podejmowania decyzji emigracyjnych badz podejmowania ich na podstawie bardzo niepelnych informacji...(...) Ta warstwa ksiazki jest juz materialem do refleksji nie tylko nad procesem migracyjnym, ale takze nad rzeczywistoscia kraju emigracyjnego. Co czyni, ze chyba zawsze funkcjonujacy w spoleczenstwach ludzkich mit Eldorado jest tak silny tu i teraz? (...).

Takze wrazenia emigrantow z Kanady stanowia material do refleksji nad Polska, jak w lustrzanym odbiciu widac w nich problemy kraju, z ktorego wyjechali.(...). Nie uwazam sie za eskperta od spraw wspolczesnej Polonii. Nie zylem w jej srodowisku, malo ja widzialem. Jedyny moj tytul do pisania tej recenzji to studiowanie historii niektorych skupisk polonijnych. Zdaje mi sie jednak, ze Ziolkowska przedstawila ksiazke rzetelniejsza niz wiele prac pokazujacych zycie emigrantow w konwencji przygody, badz wychwytujacych, jak sie to okresla, wklad Polakow do cywilizacji swiata.

Marcin Kula, “PRZEGLĄD POLONIJNY”, rok XIV-1988, Nr.2, page150-153

(...) “Choc ksiazka opowiada o Polakach, ktorych los rzucil do dalekiej Kanady, ale po przeczytaniu kazdy potraktuje ja jako bliska, bo swoja bezposrednioscia i wrazliwoscia zwyczajnie wzrusza”.

 (t) “KRAKÓW”, Nr 6/7 1987 

“W sposob niekonwencjonalny przedstawila autorka dramat Indian Kanadyjskich, ktorych malomiasteczkowe getto wypycha na margines kanadyjskiego spoleczenstwa obywatelskiego. Za znanym pisarzem kanadyjskim W.P.Kinsellâ pisze o niekompetencji kanadyjskich konsultantow zajmujacych sie sprawami Indian.  Anonimowa rozmowczyni autorki, p.Irma przedstawia interesujaca interpretacje filozoficznych aspektow emigracji. Koszty psychologiczne utraty zrodel dotychczasowego zycia sa olbrzymie (...). W drugiej czesci szkicow Ziolkowskiej dominuja zbeletryzowane relacje o losach emigrantow napisane z talentem literackim (...). Zastanawiajac sie nad walorami metody prezentacji wspolczesnych losow Polonii Kanadyjskiej dochodze do wniosku, ze mowiâ one bardzo wiele o bolesnych drogach kanadyjskiej akulturacji. (...)”.

Prof.dr Marian M.Drozdowski “Polonia Kanadyjska” {W:] “DZIEJE NAJNOWSZE”. Kwartalnik poswiecony historii XX w”. nr 3-4, 1988. Ossolineum.

(..)Forma przedstawionych tekstow jest rozna – od opowiadan pisanych w trzeciej osobie, przedstawienia obrazu, poprzez monolog, relacje utrzymana w pierwszej osobie, az po laczenie swego opisu z bezposrednią wypowiedzią bohatera”. (...).

aga, W ksiegarni, POLITYKA, Nr 20, 6 maja 1987

“W swojej ksiazce zastosowala rozne techniki literackie. Uderzylo mnie, ze w stosunku do emigrantow zolnierzy z lat II wojny swiatowej, z bohaterskimi zyciorysami, ktorym pozostanie za granica podyktowaly przede wszystkim wzgledy patriotyczne – zastosowala forme mininoweli z anonimowymi bohaterami (...). Poruszyla tez kapitalna sprawe wielokulturowosci. W ramach jednego panstwa, odkrycie typowo kanadyjskie. Jest to zagadnienie podwojnej wolnosci, ktore znosi rozterki “bycia Kanadyjczykiem” i np. “czucie sie Polakiem” bez rozdwojenia jazni. Jest to bardzo subtelna, niezwykle trudna sprawa o palacej aktualnosci”(...).

Anna Kornacka, “Polacy w Kanadzie”, “EXPRESS WIECZORNY” 06/03/.Warszawa

Wyroznia sie rozdzial mowiacy o rodzinie Brzezinskich. Na stronach ksiazki przewija sie zycie tych, ktorzy z roznych powodow szukali mozliwie normalnej egzystencji za oceanem. Jednym sie udalo, inni przegrali (...).

Janusz Paluch, “STUDENT” Nr 22(114)- 01/06/1990

“Autorka przedstawia ludzi z roznych srodowisk, o odmiennym bagazu doswiadczen osobistych, zawodowych i kulturowych, o zroznicowanych swiatopogladach. Tych wszystkich ludzi laczy jedno - nowe miejsce osiedlenia, wybor nowej ojczyzny dla swoich dzieci i wnukow. (...). Ziolkowska w sposob obiektywny stara sie przedstawic problemy, dramaty ludzi, ktorym nie mozna zarzucic niezaradnosci czy lenistwa.(...).

Anna Mieszkowska: “Kanada, Kanada...”, “ODRODZENIE” nr 32. 09/10/1988

“(...) A jak przebiega proces przystosowania? Na to pytanie odpowiada ksiazka. Jest ona pomyslana inaczej niz zrodlowe, historyczne dzielo - pokazuje Ziolkowska indywidualne losy przedstawicieli Polonii, dawnej i nowej emigracji. Ziolkowska spokojnie i obiektywnie przedstawia ich wrastanie w Kanadê, ich trudna czesto droge z nizin spolecznych do sukcesu, do znalezienia wlasnego sensu w nowych warunkach. Jest to bardzo wciagajace “czytadlo”, mnostwo realiow calkowicie prawdziwych, zadnej stronniczosci - widzimy ludzi ratujacych sie psychicznie silna wiara w chrzescijanskiego Boga, widzimy czlowieka ratujacego sie od koszmaru wspomnien wojennych przez uprawianie sztuki, widzimy Polakow, Zydow, Ukraincow. Konglomerat obyczajow i tradycji stapiajacych sie w jedno - z jednoczesnym zachowaniem roznic, co chociaz wydaje sie niemozliwe, to przeciez w Kanadzie jest rzeczywistoscia.

Ksiazka Ziolkowskiej mowi o przemianie swiadomosci, o szerszym otwieraniu sie na innych, odrebnosc swiata (...). Jest to w glebszym sensie ksiazka o tolerancji, o nauce wspolzycia (...)”.

Andrzej Brycht “Double Canada, please” “KULTURA” Nr 11, 15 marca 1989

.

“Przeczytalem te interesujaca i madrze napisana ksiâzke (...). “Kanade, Kanade...” zalecalbym jako lekturê obowiazkowa wszystkim, ktorzy udaja sie na emigracje. Ziolkowska opowiada o ludziach i zdarzeniach prawdziwych, stosujac rozne techniki narracyjne (monolog, relacja, bezposrednia wypowiedz”.

W.N. “KULTURA”, Nr 25, 06/22/ 1988

“Kanada jest tylko jakby tlem, miejscem, gdzie rozgrywa sie czesto polski dramat (...).  Ksiazka zmusza do weryfikacji naszych stereotypow o dobrych i bogatych wujkach z Kanady, ukazuje losy emigrantow z cala ostroscia, bez zadnego kamuflazu (...) Jest to ksiazka smutna, a jednak nie do konca, bo clayt czas wyczuwalna jest w niej fascynacja Kanadą, ale i sama utorka zdaje sier moweic: mimo wszystko Kanada jest piekna.(..) ”.

Roman Daszewicz “Kanada, Kanada...:”KONTRASTY”, Nr 6 1987

“Tom ten jest wielostronnym obrazem srodowisk polonijnych w Kanadzie, obrazem dosc reporterskim, a rownoczesnie nie wolnym od elementow znamionujacych zapaly pisarki - beletrystki (...). Kanada rysuje sie w tej ksiazce jako kraj ciekawy, ale tez trudny dla emigranta (...)”.

Jozef Szczypka “Opowiesci zza Wielkiej Wody”, “KIERUNKI” 10/11/1987

“Ksiazka ta jest rezultatem wielu interesujacych bardzo osobistych obserwacji i refleksji autorki nad zyciem Polakow w Kanadzie”(...).

T.L. “POLSKA” Nr 12, 1987 str. 16

“Autorka potrafila nie tylko oddac mysli i odczucia czlonkow Polonii, ale takze zrozumiala zycie spoleczenstwa Kanady. Na tle indywidualnych przezyc Polakow, widzimy rowniez problemy kanadyjskich Indian, problemy swiata teatru kanadyjskiego, swiata artystycznego, swiata dziennikarzy, radia i telewizji”.

Zdzislaw Przygoda “Dreams and Reality”, “ZWIĄZKOWIEC” (Toronto) 04/11/1985

„(...)Autorka nie kierowala się ani zewnetrznymi uwarunkowaniami, ani tez nie zwracala uwagi na „salwe” dzialaczy polonijnych. W ksiazce znajdujemy opisy sukcesow, rozczarowan i psychicznych nastawien imigrantow”(...)

George Jason, Dreams and Reality, ZWIAZKOWIEC, (Toronto) Nr 84, 22 pazdziernika 1984,

„Na polonijnym rynku wydawniczym ukazalas się ksiazka Aleksandry Ziolkowskiej pt. „Dreams and Reality”. Praca wydana przez Fundacje im.A.Mickiewicza przy hojnym zasilku Ministerstwa Kultury prowincji Ontario z okazji dwustulecia tej prowincji, zawiera szereg ciekawych opowiadan o zyciu Polakow osiadlych w Kanadzie. Rozni ludzie, rozne sylwetki, zyciorysy smutne i wesole, z powodzeniem i bez sukcesu. Calosc interesujaca, dajaca swiadectwo wkladu Polakow w te prowincje i w cala Kanade. Sa tez ciekawostki, jak np. dane z zycia Tadeusza Brzezinskiego, bylego konsula generalnego R.P. w Kanadzie, znanego dzialacza spolecznego, oraz wywiad przeprowadzony przez autorke z czolowa postacia swiatowej polityki – Zbigniewem Brzezinskim, bylym doradca prezydenta do spraw bezpieczenstwa Stanow Zjednoczonych. (...)

Wojciech Krajewski, A zycie polonijne biegnie, ZWIAZKOWIEC (Toronto) Nr 84, 8 listopada 1984.

"A. Ziolkowska nie jest naukowym badaczem problematyki polonijnej, emigracyjnej, ale reportazystka, literatka zainteresowana losami Polakow na swiecie. (...) Niektore opowiesci zdaja sie byc li tylko relacja z rozmow z "bohaterami", podczas gdy inne to misterne opowiesci utkane z epizodow dziejow "bohaterow". Autorka jest zywo zaangazowana w dzieje niektorych postaci i one tez sa najciekawsze. (...) Poznajemy szczesciarzy i pechowcow. Autorka szukala niejako dwoch watkow: polskiego i kanadyjskiego. (...) Pyszna jest wrecz jest "Krystyna" - ironiczny epizod pobytu w Kanadzie; za to po trudnych poczatkach dobrze i ciekawie ulozylo sie zycie bohaterow "Kolorowych fotografii". Autorka opisala postacie z roznych srodowisk, zawodow, itp. (...) Slady polskosci Ziolkowska znajdowala u wszystkich, ale tylko czesc imigrantow wykazywala w jakiejkolwiek formie zwiazku ze srodowiskiem, spolecznoscia polonijna lub z Polska. A zylo sie, zyje sie i dzieje w Kanadzie roznie. Niektorzy niemal poplakuja, albo prawdziwie tesknia za Polska, do Polski.

Benedykt Heydenkorn, Dwie publikacje polonijne, "DIALOGI" - kwartalnik Kongresu Polonii Kanadyjskiej, okreg Alberta. lipiec/wrzesien 1985, tom 1 Nr 4.

(...)”Twórczosc Ziolkowskiej róznorodna w tresci i w formie, której wspólnym mianownikiem jest prezentacja losów ludzkich, czlowieka w róznych sytuacjach, okolicznosciach, warunkach. Interesują ja jednostki, nie problemy spoleczne, polityczne. A ze czlowiek zyje nie w prozni, wobec tego wiele roznych czynnikow na niego wplywa, ksztaltuje go.

Bohaterowie jej opowiadan i reportazy, podobnie zreszta jak dwu dziel monograficznych „Senator Haidasz”, „Diecezja Lodzka i jej biskupi” – to wybrancy, postacie, ktore ją, z jakiegos powodu zaintrygowaly czy tez zafascynowaly. Nie sposob oprzec sie wrazeniu, iz jakis rys charakteru, epizod w zyciu czy tez pracy spotykanych ludzi sklonil ja do zajecia sie nia, raczej czescia, wlasnie tylko tym rysem, tym, czym sa w przeswiadczeniu Autorki wyroznia sie od innych. Obojetnie czy pozytywnie czy negatywnie, a to znow w odczuciu bohaterow (...)

Benedykt Heydenkorn, Opowiesci z zycia Polakow, „ZWIĄZKOWIEC” (Toronto), 27 lipca 1969

(...)W dziedzinie publikacji o Polonii kanadyjskiej przoduje Aleksandra Ziółkowska.(...)”.

Benedykt Heydenkorn, Nie tylko o Polonii, ZWIAZKOWIEC (Toronto), r 57, 15 liopca 1993, str.57

(...) Autorka spisujac swe relacje oparla się na rozmowach, na licznych dokumentach w postaci pamietnikow i wspomnien”(...)

Edward Zyman DREAMS AND REALITY po polsku, GLOS POLSKI (Toronto, tygodnik), Nr 26, 2 lipca 1987

„Kupilam zbior losow polskich emigrantow Aleksandry Ziolkowskiej pt. „Kanada, Kanada”. Dostrzeglam w tym opracowaniu realia kanadyjskiego zycia, staralam się wylowic jak najwiecej charakterystycznych dla niego rysow. Naturalnie moje pozytywne nastawienie wyodrebnilo glownie te obiecujace informacje, ale i negatywne obrazki nie były niezauwazone”.

Rozne oblicza Kanady. Ale i slaby nie zginie. Canadian Polish Research Institute Toronto 1990, str. 79

Noty w PRZEKROJ, NR 1831. 11 MAJA 1980.; STOLICA, Nr 44, 28 X 1980/2 XI 1980.; TYGODNIK POWSZECHNY, 10 maja 1987

„Autorka zawarla w tej ksiazce (było wczesniej wydanie angielskojezyczne) swe obserwacje, doswiadczenia i wiedze o Kanadzie po przeszlo dwuletnim pobycie. Choc nie tylko – wiele uwagi poswieca kanadyjskiej Polonii, ktorą łacza z krajem bliskie stosunki. (...)

PRZEKROJ, Nr 2173, 1 luty 1987

(...) Autorka nie stara się narzucic odbiorcy zadnych swych tez, ani tym bardzierj przeprowadzac ich dowodow. Niczego nie sugeruje, ani nie ocenia, jest calkowicie neutralna. (...) Autorka stara się ustrzec od zbyt jednostronnego i uproszczonego patrzenia na sprawy emigracji/ (...)Kazda z pokazanych miniatrurek jest okruchem znaczacym samym w sobie – dojrzaly czytelnik i tak odczyta to, co należy, bez zbednych komentarzy i sugestii”.

Zbigniew Gorniak, Kuszaca Kanada, TRYBUNA OPOLSKA 27-28 czerwca 1987

„Angielski jej tytul „Dreams and Reality”, czyli marzenia i rzeczywistosc, sam mowi za siebie (...)”.

Wieslaw Rogowski „NOWE KONTRASTY”, styczen 1998

„Here is another important addition to the history of the human side of immigration to Canada. This book by Aleksandra Ziolkowska, translated by Wojtek Stelmaszynski, contains 31 narratives about Polish immigrants in Canada. The stories depict the difficult beginnings of these immigrants, some ending in disappointment, some leading to an outstanding success. All the profiles in this volumes describe real people and actual events. The author’s goal is to give a true cross-section, an honest representation of attitudes, personalities, careers and ways of thinking”.

George Bonavia, Books Noted For You, NORTHERN MOSAIC. Dec-Feb., 1985

„In her 1984 short-story collection „Dreams & Reality”Polish Canadian Identities”, published in Polish as „Kanada, Kanada”, Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm chronicles the daily struggles of postwar Polish immigrants in Canada. With characters such as Maciej, a recently arrived laborer in Canada, who finds himself employed by a miserly farmer who refuses to take him to the doctor after he injures his arm, and Stefan, a shoe factory janitor, who gives his address to an ill-mannered priest in hopes of getting a job at the parish’s Polish school, only to receive Sunday offering envelopes instead, the stories capture the daily tempests weathered by many postwar displaced-persons. With a well-trained eye and concise writing style, Ziolkowska-Boehm, a recipient of the Kontrasty and Zloty Exlibris awards, allows the reader to experience the uncertainty, joy, and discrimination endured by the masses of twentieth-century Polish immigrants to North America”.

Charles R.Kaczynski, THE POLISH REVIEW, New York, No 4, 2004.

“Information concerning cultural maintenance is provided in William Makoski "The Polish People in Canada: A Visual History " (Montreal, 1987), which also includes an extensive bibliography of commemorative publications on the cultural life of Polish Canadians. Anna Zurakowska, ed., "The Proud Inheritance Ontario's Kaszuby" (Ottawa, 1991) describes the oldest surviving Polish rural settlement in Canada. Polish identities are the topic oa an article by Henry Radecki,"Ethnic Identities in Contexts,", "Laurentian University Review, volk 13, no 1(1980), while Aleksandra Ziolkowska presents thirty-one individual views of self-identity in "DREAMS AND REALITY: POLISH CANADIANS IDENTITIES" (Toronto, 1984).”

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CANADA'S PEOPLES by Paul R. Magocsi, Multicultural History Society of Ontario, University of Toronto Press, 1999, pg 1075, ISBN 0-8020-2938-8

„Kanada zajmuje miejsce szczególne w pisarskiej biografii A. Zółkowskiej-Boehm. Na początku lat 80-ych od września 1981 r. do grudnia 1983 r. przebywała tu przez kilka lat na stypendiach, które udzieliły jej: Ministerstwo Kultury prowincji Ontario, Kanadyjsko-Polski Instytut Badawczy w Toronto, Fundacja im. Adama Mickiewicza w Toronto oraz Unwersytet Torontoński. Hojnie odwdzięczyła się za to Polonii Kanadyjskiej i Kanadzie pisząc następujące książki: “Senator Haidasz”, “Dreams and Reality”, “Kanada, Kanada…” oraz “Kanadyjski senator”. Ostatnio , Kanadyjsko-Polski Instytut Badawczy wydał jej książkę pt. “The Roots Are Polish”. Jest to niezwykle cenna pozycja dobrze służąca budowaniu prestiżu Polonii w Ameryce Północnej. Zawiera ona wywiady z osiemnastoma wybitnymi Polakami żyjącymi na tym kontynencie. Są wśród nich, między innymi, trzej laureaci Nagrody Nobla, Zbigniew Brzeziński oraz czterogwiazdkowy generał US Air Force. Z Kanadyjczyków polskiego pochodzenia są: S. Haidasz, J. Flis J. Zurakowski i Z. Przygoda.(...)”.

Edward Soltys” Troskliwy powiernik, GONIEC, Toronto, 30 czerwca 2005

www. Amazon.com

Madra i piekna ksiazka!, August 12, 2001

Reviewer: A reader from Zakopane, Polska

Polecam te ksiazke wszystkim, ktorzy chca wyemigrowac z Polski. Nie zeby zniechecic, ale aby zrozumieli, na jaka wchodza droge. Cenie w tej ksiazce obiektywizm, cenie dobor bohaterow, cieplo i madrosc bijaca jakby podskornie. Podoba mi sie szacunek do pokazywanych ludzi. Krotkie opowiadanka z zycia dawnych emigrantow uderzaja talentem, mistrzostwem piora. Po lekturze tej ksiazki w sumie ciesze sie, ze jestem w swoim kraju. Ale jednoczesnie szkoda mi, ze nie moglem sie sprawdzic w warunkach nowego kraju. Interesowala mnie zawsze Australia, i sadze, ze emigracja tamze bylaby podobna do przedstawionej kanadyjskiej. Moze nawet bardziej cenie to, co mam, co osiagnalem w Polsce po wlasnie lekturze tej ksiazki. To duze osiagniecie, bo rodzice nigdy nie mogli mi tego wpoic. Moze dlatego, ze robili to w sposob emocjonalny i porywczy. Patriotyzm i takie podobne slowa sa teraz malo uzywane. Jakos przychodza mi na mysl, gdy skonczylem czytac te ksiazke. Jakze kocham nasze polskie Tatry i swoje miasto.

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Very touching and true stories!, January 13, 2001

Reviewer: Michael Kopacky (see more about me)  rom Washington, D.C. USA

The talented writer shows her interest in Polish immigrants to Canada - their life and struggles, their hopes and disappointments. It shows the achievement and happiness they found in a new country and a new environment. The book is true, touching and very well written. The original title in English "Dreams and Reality".

Realia emigrantow, May 27, 2000

Reviewer: Leonrad Ratajczyk (see more about me) from Schaumburg, Illinois, USA

Ksiazka ta stanowi bardzo dobra kontynuacje TWORZYWA  M. Wankowicza. Ukazuje bowiem, podobnie jak Wankowicz, pozniejsze, powojenne losy polskich emigrantow na ziemi kanadyjskiej i Kanadyjczykow polskiego pochodzenia. Ponadto ksiazka rozprawia sie skutecznie z mitem Kanady "mlekiem i miodem plynacej" i ukazuje faktyczne realia kraju emigrantow, ciagle sie cywilizujacego, dzieki rowniez polskim emigrantom, ktorych wklad w rozwoj Kanady nie moze byc kwestionowany.

Talent of observations, August 12, 2001

Reviewer: A reader from Toronto, Canada

The book is written beautifully and I learned about my fellows Polish immigrants a lot. I can be proud of them. It is written with genuine talent of observation, showing interesting details, thoughtful thoughts, impressions. I recommend the book for everyone who wants to immigrate, not to scare him/her, but to appreciate the circumstances the others had to go through. This book helps to appreciate the new adopted country, and... to love the old country - Poland.

Very touching and well written!, January 13, 2001

Reviewer: Michael Kopacky (see more about me) from Washington, D.C. USA

The talented writer shows her interest in Polish immigrants to Canada - their life and struggles, their hopes and disappointments. It shows the achievement and happiness they found in a new country and a new environment. The book is true, touching and very well written.

Depiction of Polish immigrants in Canada with a great talent, March 20, 1999

Reviewer: from San Francisco, CA

In the monthly magazine published in Paris "Kultura"(9. 504 1989), a review of the book "Dreams and Reality" was published. Benedykt Heydenkorn stressed that the author of the book, Aleksandra Ziolkowska, a young Polish writer, depicted the Polish immigrants in Canada in an interesting way, with a great talent, but also in a very objective way. He remarked that she didn't want to prove anything, she only wanted to share all kinds of stories of people's lives, their views on Canada and their views on the old country Poland. He stressed that she didn't generalize anything.

In the quarterly Ossolineum "Dzieje Najnowsze" ( 3-4 1988), Prof. Marek Drozdowski wrote that the stories are written with talent and understanding. He asserts that the reader can learn about the painful episodes that immigrants faced in establishing themselves and finding their own place in a new society in Canada. He liked the philosophy of immigration shown in one story about Irma, and he also liked the way Ziolkowska portrayed the Canadians Indians.

Professor Marcin Kula , the well recognized historian at Warsaw University, wrote in the Krakow scientific magazine "Przeglad Polonijny" (NR 2, 1988 ) that the book "Dreams and Reality" teaches more about the problem of immigration than the scientific essays about that subject. The book gives material for reflection about the myth of a "gold Eldorado" that was so popular among the people leaving Poland.

FRAGMENTY LISTOW:

(...) I was delighted also to receive the books, and I have already started reading my copy. It is written with genuine feeling for the very special circumstances that the Polish immigrants encountered upon setting in Canada and I’m certain that it will give the Polish reader a new appreciation of what the Polish settlers have accomplished. Needless to say, I was particularly gratified by the chapter regarding my father.

I would be happy to send you copies of my most recent books, provided there was some way of making certain that they reach you. If you have a suggestion, please let me know.

With kind regards.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, January 5, 1987, Washington, DC

(tlum) “Ksiazka jest napisana ze wspanialym wyczuciem tych wielu przypadkow, ktore doswiadczali polscy emigranci przybywajacy do Kanady, I jestem pewien, ze da polskiemu czytelnikowi nowe zrozumienie tego, co polscy osadnicy osiagneli. Nie musze pisac, ze szczegolnei wdzieczny jestem za rozdzial poswiecony mojemu ojcu”.

Zbigniew Brzezinski

„Gratuluje pieknie wydanej „Kanady”. Swietnie Pani odczula tamten klimat.”

Danuta Mostwin, 5 stycznia 1987, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

„(...)Trudno mi opisac, jak się wzruszylem, i jakie wrazenie rozdzial o mnie wywarl na mnie – te polskie  slowa, które przylecialy do mnie z tego innego swiata... mimo ze tekst był znajomy. Fakt, ze w wydaniu ksiazkowym ukazal się tam, gdzie zylem, przechodzilem przez wstrzasy, cierpienie i radosc, które tylko mlodosc rozumie...(...).

Marion Andre, Toronto, Kanada, grudzień 24, 1986

(...) Czytam namietnie jak kryminal te zwierzenia Rodakow. Rozeslalismy znajomym naszym do Anglii, Argentyny, i kilku tytejhszym zjadaczom kanadyjskeigo chleba, mam już nawet nader uprzejme komentarze. (...)”.

Tad Stelmaszynski, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Kanada

„Dziekuje bardzo za „Kanade, Kanade..” pachnaca wieloma moimi bliskimi znajomymi. Wreszcie cos do czytania”.

Andrzej Chilecki, Kolonia, Niemcy 11 maja 1987,

„Ksiazka jest bardzo interesujaca i to nie tylko moje zdanie, bo była „w czytaniu”. To inne zupelnie spojrzenie na Kanade. Masz styl powsciagliwy i oszczedny.(...)

Xenia Popowicz, Katowice, 15 grudnia 1987

„Czyta się lekko i z wielkim zaciekawieniem, bo czyta sie prawde”.

Jozef Alicki (Hubalczyk), Ilawa, 16 grudnia 1986

„Pani „Kanade” przeczytalem z zainteresowaniem i ze smakiem”.

Marian Brandys, Warszawa 15 maja 1987

„Przeczytalem „Kanade” z duzym zainteresowaniem. Ciekawe i wartosciowe sa sylwetki przedstawionych Polakow na obczyznie (...)Masz ladny styl, piekne sformulowania, dobra polszczyzne”.

o.Marian Lubelski, Paulin, Czestochowa

„(...) Interesujaco ujawnia się problem narodowosciowy, sprawa utrzymania polskosci. (...)Ksiazka pozwolila mi zrozumiec w pewnej mierze problemy wynaradawiania się obecnej emigracji, gdy dawna, zarobkowa, potrafila przez wiele pokolen w duzo ciezszych zyjac warunkach utrzymac poczucie polskosci”(...)

Boleslaw Waszul, Warszawa 1987

„Ksiazka opowiada o ludziach, którym sie powiodlo, niestety zabraklo tych, którzy wiaza koniec z koncem. Ja bylam w 7 krajach i pisze calym sercem – ze dla artystow, pisarzy najlepsza jest Polska.(...)

Tatmara Hetmanska, Toronto, 7 listopada 1988

„Dla mnie jako czytelnika ksiazka ta stanowi bardzo dobra kontynuacje „Tworzywa” M.Wankowicza. Ukazuje ona bowiem troche pozniejsze, powojenne losy polskich emigrantow na ziemi kanadyjskiej i Kanadyjczykow polskiego pochodzenia. Poniewaz liczba emigrantow wzrosla bardzo slusznie i Pani zwiekszyla liczbe opisywanych losow. W ten sposob otrzymalismy szersza panorame losow polskich emigrantow wrastajacych w srodowisko kandyjskie.

Wazne jest takze (a zwlaszcza dla Polakow nie znajacych Kanady), ze ksiazka rozprawia sie dosc skutecznie z mitem o Kanadzie mlekiem i miodem plynacej, i ukazuje faktyczne realia kraju emigrantow ciagle sie cywilizujacych dzieki rowniez polskim emigrantom. Ksiazka urealnia moje poglady na Kanade, panujace tam stosunki i losy polskich emigrantow – za co serdecznie Pani dziekuje. Kanade znam raczej z ksiazek i opowiadan (...) Nie rozumiem tylko, czym wytlumaczyc taki jednoznacznie negatywny stosunek niektorych kanadyjskich emigrantow do USA? Skad sie wzielo uwazanie USA za kraj gorszy, opanowany przez „ubostwianych chciwcow”? (s.240), podczas gdy ksiazka akurat ukazuje, ze takich chciwcow nie brakuje rowniez i w Kanadzie. Chciwosc jest typowa w calym swiecie kapitalistycznym, nie sadze, aby byla powszechnie ubostwiana” (...)

Prof.dr Leonard Ratajczyk, 8 stycznia 2000, Schaumburg, Illinois

„Jim [James Thompson, profesor wydzialu statystyki na Rice Univ.] zaczytuje sie „Kanada”. Mowi, jak swietna jest Pani pisarka i dziennikarka, ile ma Pani talentu w tej dziedzinie, i jak madrze i prawdziwie pokazuje Pani straszliwe warunki, w ktorych tak wielu Polakow zaczynalo w Kanadzie po drugiej wojnie swiatowej. Ksiazka w tlumaczeniu dopiero sie sprawdza – a wiec mialam chyba racje mowiac, ze Pani Kanada jest „swietna ksiazka”.

Prof dr Ewa Thompson, Houston, Texas, 21 maja 1997.

“I have read over 100 pages of  “Dreams and Reality” finding it interesting and absorbing. The personal stories and opinions of the characters make it worthwhile reading (…)

Erik Boehm, November 11, 1992, Layton, Utah

“Aleksandra’s book is very interesting and I like the fairness of her reports. One gets a very good impressions about the difficulties and the life as it was at that time. Many people nowadays could learn from the ones who had to rebuild their existence in a foreign country”.

Christa Kraft, 5 December 1994, Bad Kissingen, Germany

“Rozlecialem sie na drobne kawalki, gdy przeczytalem wiersz “I Am”. I to nie tylko przez ten poemat, nigdy w zyciu nie przypuszczalem, ze ktos, kogo nigdy nie znalem, moze pomyslec- tak jak Pani pomyslala o czlowieku, ktory nosi taki ciezki krzyz (...).

Marcus B. Leuchter, 9 stycznia 2001, Houston, Texas

“Z duza przyjemnoscia wrocilam po 10 latach do Pani ksiazki “Kanadea, Kanada”. Wszal to moja kanadyjska Biblia. Na niej, albo może z niej uczylam sie swojego zycia w Kanadzie”.

Bożena Szara, Montreal, Kanada

.

Fragmenty listow do Radia Polonia, które przeslalo ksiazke jako prezenty gwiazdkowe dla swoich sluchaczy:

“Niektorzy moi znajomi pod wplywem ksiazki zabrali sie z zapalem do pisania o wlasnych przezyciach wojennych i na emigracji”

Paulina Lemke, 31 stycznia 1988, Dusseldorf, Niemcy

„Pozsytywne i negatywne opisy zycia osob, które opuscily Polskie z roznych powodow, można przeniesc także na innew kraje, do których emigruja Polacy”.

Dr inz. Armand Dreger, Mannheim, Niemcy, 23 maja 1987

„Ksiazka jest bardzo ciekawa zwlaszcza dla ludzi wciagnietych w prace spoleczna wśród Polonii.”

Nina Komar, Boom, Belgia, 3 maja 1987

“Co za bogactwo sylwtek, zdawaloby sie czasem banalnych, przecietnych, ale każdy z nas, to niepowtarzalna kopalnia do odkrycia. Trzeba umiec to odkryc, zglebic się w psychike, nie kazdy to potrafi. Autorka robi to z prawdziwym talentem. Ksiazka porywa stylem, bogactwem obserwacji, obiektywizmem, brakiem tendencyjnosci”. Uderza dojrzalosc duchowa pisarki”.

Nina Michalska, 4 maja 1987, Wlochy

„Ksiazka ta powinna być czytana w Polsce, aby rodacy zrozumieli, ze tu nie sa ulice zlotem wysypane, a tutejsi ludzie nie maja litosci. W Polsce ludzie sa bardziej litosciwi”.

Gwidon, Julia i Dawid Chelmonscy, Toledo, 19 maja 1987

 .

„Ksiazka jest napisana wspaniale i odzwierciedla trudnosci tych, co tam osiedli”.

S.Kwiatkowski, Scotland, 25 kwietnia 1987

 .

„Wydaje mi sie, ze każdy emigrant po przeczytaniu ksiazki znajdzie miejsce, gdzie moglby siebie porownac do opisywanej osoby. Losy niektórych emigrantow powojennyvch bywaly podobne. (...) Ksiazka pobudza do myslenia, u niektorych wywoluje napiecie, u innych przypomina jego koleje zyciowe. Autorka pragnela czytelnikowi przedstawic obraz wielosci spojrzen na zjawisko emigracji i ten cel zostal osiagniety. Ksiazke te zalecalabym do przeczytania wszystkim tym, ktorzy interesuja się emigracja”.

Pola Orlowska, Enscheck, Nederland, 15 czerwca 1987.

.

"Pani Aleksandro, przeczytałem kolejną Pani ksiązkę. Kanada Kanada. Czytałem jednym tchem w podrózy pociągiem do Zielonej Góry i z powrotem. Zacznę od niebywale konsekwentnej metody pisarskiej, która tak mnie ujęła podczas mojego pierwszego zetknięcia z Pani twórczoscią podczas lektury "Lepszy dzień nie nadszedł już". Kanada Kanada była pisana dużo wczesniej i już w tej książce pokazała Pani siłę swojego pisarstwa polegającą na przekazaniu ogromu informacji w niezwykle oszczednej formie. Takie swoiste MaxMini. Maksimum treści w zminimalizowanej formie. Jednak za tą oszczedną formą wyczuwa się ogrom pracy dokumentacyjnej, godziny rozmów, z których wyłowione nieraz pojedyńcze zdania mówią tak wiele, że zaczynamy odczuwać emocje wobec Pani bohaterów. Jedni mnie irytowali, inni wzruszali, jeszcze innych chciałbym spotkać na swojej drodze i uscisnąc serdecznie.

Pani Aleksandro, w mojej rodzinie jest wiele historii emigranckich. Odległych z początku XXw. i tych z lat szescdziesiątych, siedemdziesiatych i osiemdziesiatych. Emigrowali kuzyni i przyjaciele. Emigrowali z rodziny mojej babci i ze strony dziadka. Lepszego miejsca na Ziemi szukali bardzo mi bliscy kuzyni i przyjaciele. Kierunkiem były Stany Zjednoczone i Kanada.

Znam historie tych wyjazdów i odkrywam, że w wielu wypadkach są one jak doświadczenia Pani bohaterów przepisane przez kalkę . Jest coś powtarzalnego w motywacjach emigracyjnych, doświadczeń "nowego" życia, motywach pozostania, z mojego punktu widzenia "tam", z ich punktu obserwacji "tu", pomimo wielkich kosztów takiej decyzji.

Kiedyś w latach osiemdziesiatych rozmawiałem z osoba, która odwiedziła w USA krewnych z nowej emigracji. Była zachwycona tym wszystkim co oni osiagnęli, a w ówczesnych warunkach powszechnego niedoboru w Polsce mogło byc tylko marzeniem. A więc wyposazone bogato mieszkanie, co prawda na kredyt ale było. No i najwazniejsze z tamego punktu widzenia, ogromna zamrazarka wypełniona zywnosciowym zaopatrzeniem. Czego chcieć więcej. Ja zapytałem Pani Hani, która znała sytuację tej rodziny w Polsce przed emigracją i po zagospodarowaniu się w Stanach, czy obecnie mają mniej problemów niz mieli w Polsce. Pani Hania zamysliła sie głeboko i po dłuzszej chwili powiedziała: "Wie Pan, nie mają mniej problemów tylko zupełnie inne".

Pani Aleksandro, genialnie pokazała Pani te inne problemy emigrantów.
Czy zamierza Pani kontynuowac ten temat z nowej perspektywy? Pamietam odkrywanie Polski przez emigrantów po 1990 r. Kiedy puste sklepowe półki jak za dotknieciem czarodziejskiej różdżki wypełniły sie produktami w kolorowych, kuszacych opakowaniach. Mój przyjaciel Jurek Kamiński osiadły w Kanadzie, był oczarowany handlem ulicznym, wesołym gwarem ulicy wypełnioninej tłumem ludzi pełnych optymizmu. Rodzace sie zawrotne kariery biznesowe. Nie wszyscy z emigrantów odwiedzających Polskę w latach dziewięcdziesiatych dobrze znosili tą olsniewajaca przemianę "starego kraju". Nagle okazało się, że ta siła dolara już nie jest tak przemożna. Zmieniał się kierunek zazdrosci. Zawodowe kariery "krajowców" przynosiły refleksje czy warto było? Był taki przypadek wśród znajomych, ze Polak, który prowadził firme budowlaną w USA, i popadł w tarapaty finansowe w okresie dekoniunktury, o ile pamietam gdzieś na poczatku lat dwutysięcznych, przyjechał do Polski i tu prowadząc też firme budowlana zarabiał na spłate amerykańskiego kredytu.

Fortuna jednak kołem sie toczy i znowu mamy w Polsce wielki problem ze znalezieniem pracy, który zmusza młodych ludzi do szukania mozliwosci przezycia, których nie gwarantuje Ojczyzna.
No cóż, Pani Aleksandro. Dziekuje za tą nową dawke przeżyć przy lekturze Kanada Kanada".

Z wielkim uznaniem Jacek Frankowski, Warszawa 16 marca 2013

http://franek.pol.info.pl

.

Wlasnie skonczylem czytac tytul "Kanada, Kanada..." i jestem ta ksiazka zachwycony. Znakomicie opowiada Pani ludzkie historie, z duza wrazliwoscia i subtelnoscia, a zarazem spostrzegawczoscia. Mówiê to bez zbêdnej kokieterii.
Dr Marcin Lutomierski, Torun, 3 pazdziernika 2013

. 

Fragmenty ksiazki drukowano w:

1.     GOOD NEWS (1997, Miami) “Down the Farm” str. 71-73, In English

2.     LANGUAGE BRIDGES  (Richardson, Texas) In English, Summer 1992, pg. 17-20

3.     NORDOST-ARCHIV VIII/ 1999. Luneburg 2001, Germany str..765-787 (In German)

4.     ZWIAZKOWIEC (Toronto), Nr 50, 22 czerwca 1982, str. 6; Nr 56, 13 lipca 1982, str 5; 12 sierpnia 1982 str 6, 8; 24 sierpnia 1982, str. 6; 30 wrzesnia 1982, str 9; 15 grudnia 1982, str. 11-12; 22 luty 1983, str 6; Nr 18, 1 marca 1983; Nr 26/27, 29 marca 1982, str 22; Nr 47, 9 czerwca 1983; Nr 48, 14 czerwca 1983;  14 kwietnia 1983, str.; 19 kwietnia 1983;  26 kwietnia 1983;  Nr 37, 14 lipca 1983, str 57; Nr 4, 17 stycznia 1984

5.     TERAZ (Filadelfia) Decyzja (10 X 2001), Poczatki (19 X 2001),Przeprawa (26 X 2001), Wybieg (2 XI 2001), Obcy (9 XI 2001)

6.     KOBIETA I ZYCIE, grudzień 1982, str 14-15; 26 stycznia 1983, str 14, 31 lipca 1985, str 8, 15;

7.     PIELGRZYM (Toronto) lipiec/sierpień 1990., styczeń/lury 1997, str 22-24;.

8.     SWIATOWIEC, Dwutygodnik, Montreal, Kanada, Nr 5. 1 grudnia 1988 str. 11

9.     KURIER POLSKI I POLONIJNY, 13 czerwca 1983

10. Diamentowy Jubileusz Zwiazku Polakow w Kanadzie, 75 lat ZPwK, Toronto 1982, str 96-98.

11. TYGODNIK POWSZECHNY, 8 grudnia 1985

12. PANORAMA POLSKA, Nr 7/396, lipiec 1989, str. 7, 27-28.

13. KIERUNKI, 15 czerwca 1986

14. PRZEKROJ, 5 sierpnia 1984, str 6-7

15. NASZA RODZINA, Nr 5(543), MAJ 1986,

16. WIEZ 4/5/6 1985, str 126-129

**

   

                    

Aleksandra Ziółkowska

DREAMS AND REALITY
Polish Canadian Identities

Toronto 1984, ISBN 0-9691756-0-4

Introduction   

All the profiles in this volume describe real people and actual events. Most of the subjects immigrated to Canada after the Second World War, and the majority live in Ontario. Their stories are drawn from personal conversations—or memoirs and reminiscences written by Polish emigres in Canada.

I have selected the themes and subjects myself regardless of suggestions from others (for which I beg their forgiveness). My sole guiding principle was to present the widest possible array of people. The book includes those who have achieved success, who have found themselves and their place—along with a deeper meaning to life—in the new homeland; the dissatisfied and the malcotents; and those with whom emigre life has definitely not agreed, those who—despite their material successes—have remained sceptics. A large majority have a positive outlook; they are happy in their new homeland, emotionally attached to it. Nevertheless, I did not want to omit those whose attitudes are, so to speak, unconventional among Canadian immigrants, who should be incarnations of satisfaction and success. I strove for a true cross-section, an honest representation of attitudes, personalities, careers, ways of thinking.

I did not set out to prove any theories or assertions that, for ex¬ample, Canadians of Polish origin are devoted to social causes or do not become involved in them at all, or that they are full of either faith and optimism or doubt and ill will. Polonia's social activists and leaders have already been profiled by Benedykt Heydenkorn (the term "Polonia" refers to Poles living outside of Poland). Those in responsible positions, or specialists in their fields, were presented by Olgierd Budrewicz. My collection deals with a number of different outlooks, degrees of understanding, careers and successes. Quite simply, I am presenting a variety of people because Canadian Polonia is so diversely textured.

I have deliberately excluded the most recent emigres, those who have arrived in Canada since 1980. An appraisal or assessment of their attitudes and achievements at this time would be premature.

My initial stay in this country lasted more than two years. It was full of events - happy, sad, interesting and difficult—which all enriched my life and my experiences. I value each incident in itself for adding to my personal biography as well.

I have travelled extensively in this country—by plane and train, on subways and buses. I was invited to elegant dinner parties and bought hamburgers at McDonald's. I saw many things through the eyes of my son who, while delivering "The Toronto Star" for two years, had his own "career" and experiences. Thanks also to him I became acquainted with the Canadian educational system. I am now a great admirer of the rapport that exists here between teacher and student, as well as its encouragement of independent thinking in Canadian youth.     

I feel I have come to know this country quite well. The longer I live here, the more I appreciate it. I remember what a great impression watching the Conservative leadership campaign on television, the victory of Brian Mulroney, made on me: what a marvellous display of effort, competition and, above all, the free electoral process.

Thanks to Federal MP Jesse Flis, I was able to meet Prime Minister Trudeau. Would it be possible under a different political system to have a chat with the leader of one's country? After my conversation with Trudeau, I realized what charisma meant: this "magus” as Richard Gwyn called him, really has a magic personality.

I marvelled at the vastness of Canada during my trips to northern Ontario. And a though I have visited warm Florida and sunny California, which both fascinated me, I was only truly moved when, en route to the White Dog Reservation for an authentic Indian pow-wow, we had to stop the car to let a she-bear and her cubs cross the road.

I have so many people to thank for so much...

...Marion Andre, for the feeling of gratitude that one is actually here; William Kilbourn for his invaluable nuggets of information on "the making of the nation

...Senator Stanley Haidasz and MP Jesse Flis, who let me in on how the country is run.

...Elizabeth MacCallum and John Fraser, Jack and Ley a Lud-wig, Barbara Frum, and Merle Shain for their openness and sincerity.

...Special thanks to General Bruce Legge. I owe a great deal to Ontario NDP leader Bob Rae, and to Sheila Cirouac. I greatly value the honour bestowed on me by the International Constantinian Order.

... Janusz Dukszta introduced me to the chic world of Toronto Society. With his brother Andrzej, I attended concerts and plays in Stratford.

...I smile when I recall the wonderful stories I learned from Peter Rooper and Charles Nobbe. I made friends with June Chow, a Chinese pianist who loves the music of Chopin. Grace Kopec introduced me to Parry Sound and taught me to love the prose of W. P. Kinsella. Gail Henley showed me the Kaszuby district of Ontario, a kind of Polish oasis in Canada. Mary and Graham Sinclair revealed to me the beauty of Canadian minerals.

.. .My appreciation goes out to Ania and Zenon Jurksztowicz, as well as to Irma Zaleski, Father Edward Ewczynski and Alicja Manterys, all of whom showed me new worlds and feelings I treasure very much.

Dozens of people were sincerely hospitable to me. Thank you to Hanka and Benedykt Heydenkorn for keeping in touch almost daily and helping at critical moments, and to Marina Glista for how warmly her family received me into their home. I recall especially the hospitality of Hania and Leszek Galko, the Kokociński's, the Kotarba's, the Liszkowski's, Albin and Stanisława Malicki, Nina Miaszkiewicz, Alexandra and Tadeusz Stelmaszynski, Tecia Werbowski and the Zieliński's. Special thanks to Zdzisław Przygoda for, among other things, teaching my son to ride his horse, Jolanta.

I would also like to mention two people whose passing my son and I felt most deeply, and whose friendship and assistance are truly missed: Professor Tadeusz Krukowski and Jozef Steinberg.

I would like to thank Adam and Alina Bromke for their affection toward my son.

My gratitude also goes out to Rudolf Kogler for his frank, thoughtful consideration of my plans for writing this book, and to Wojciech Krajewski for overseeing the project.

Above all I would like to thank the Ministry of Culture and the Executive of the Adam Mickiewicz Foundation who helped make this volume possible.

My thanks to Henry Slaby for access to photocopying services, to Kazimiera Budziak for her gracious handling of my business affairs; to my translator, Wojtek Stelmaszynski, for the pleasant, open atmosphere in which this project was carried out.

To all those named and unnamed, my heartfelt thanks for your acts of warmth, sincerity and assistance. I hope you will all find something of interest in these pages.