Liquid identity, or Poles in America
How did Polish inventors contribute to Allied success during World War II? Was Polish poetry of interest to American workers of Polish descent and why did “impossible names” hinder the integration of Poles in the United States? – About this and many other interesting questions concerning the Polish American community, we talk with prof. dr. hab. Joanna Wojdon, author of Polish American History after 1939, published by Routledge.
The monograph is part of a three-volume series for the first time presenting the history of the Polish American community in such a comprehensive manner – from the beginnings of its presence in the US to the first decade of the 21st century.
Ewelina Kośmider: Have you managed to arrange this mosaic – as you write about the Polish American community – consisting of several million different pebbles into a pattern?
Prof. dr hab. Joanna Wojdon, Historical Institute of the University of Wrocław: It’s not for me to judge, we’ll see what readers and critics say. I tried to make the book show the post-war social advancement of the Polish American community and its evolution from a group that has to fight for its place in American society to a group that is generally satisfied with its status.
What was the identity of the Polish American community in the 1940s based on, and was language a part of it?
In the book, I write that this identity is very fluid and it is impossible to determine a single canon on which it was based or relied. It can manifest itself in different ways for individuals. Mostly, however, for those who grew up in the US, language is not its material. The overwhelming majority of U.S. children, not just in the Polish ethnic group, use English in everyday communication – with peers, siblings, and often with parents. At the same time, the lack of proficiency in Polish does not at all mean that these people do not feel a connection with Poland. Studies show that Americans of Polish descent, for example, know better than others who Chopin or Copernicus, Kosciuszko and Pulaski were, where Warsaw is located and what pierogi are. Cuisine is an important determinant of ethnic identity, independent of language. Knowledge of Polish is also not required to cultivate holiday customs, such as Christmas Eve with a wafer or Easter food holy day. What’s more, psychologists say that even if someone is not aware of his or her ethnicity, this background manifests itself in certain behavioral patterns, approaches to raising children, attitudes toward the elderly, and ways of dealing with stress. A person of Polish descent will approach such matters differently than, for example, an Italian. Ties to Polishness can also change over the course of an individual’s life. Someone who was born Polish may take on an American identity as a result of the turn of life, but we also know of cases of people who discovered their Polish roots only as adults. The impetus for this may have been individual experience or a certain fad for ethnicity that took hold in the 1970s. The events of the 1970s, but also, for example, events such as the election of the Polish Pope and the Solidarity era. At that time, the willingness to identify with Poland increased a lot and a positive stereotype of the Polish community was created, and conversely, when Poland – for example, under communist rule – had to be ashamed of itself, then the popularity of Polish identity was lower.
In the 1940s, very few young people of Polish descent graduated from good American high schools, social advancement was quite slow compared to, for example, the Italian minority. Why was this happening?
A little disturbed by the negative stereotype of the Polish community or the difficult-to-pronounce Polish names – impossible names, as the Americans called them. But the Polish mentality also played a part. Our ethnic group was often focused on quick financial gain. She did not want to invest in education. She showed little respect for education. Both new immigrants from Poland and Polish teenagers were expected to begin gainful employment as soon as possible. It was only when it became apparent that the laborer’s job was not so much worse paid as less stable: threatening unemployment or downtime, that parents began to urge their children to educate themselves and not follow in their own footsteps. As for immigrants, Barbara Burstin showed that immediately after World War II, the Jewish community provided material support to its new members for at least a few months, so that they would learn the language, settle down and only then seek gainful employment consistent with their qualifications. The Polish group, on the other hand, demanded that immigrants take a job, any job, even the worst, within a few days, as long as they could start supporting themselves as soon as possible. At that time, as well as during the communist era, it was a common phenomenon among fresh arrivals from Poland that even those with higher education performed manual labor to earn a living.
However, there were Poles who achieved success in the US?
Yes, and as far back as the 19th century. For example, Erazm Jerzmanowski, who lit up New York and became one of the richest Americans, or Jan Smulski, who had a bank in Chicago.
Poles with significant achievements are also not lacking during World War II. In the monograph, you mention at least a few Polish scientists who contributed to the military success of the Allies.
Such as Tadeusz Sędzimir, for example, who developed metallurgical technologies. It was he who replaced Lenin as the patron saint of the steelworks in Krakow in free Poland.
What surprised me most was that the first twin-rotor helicopter was invented by a Pole, Frank Piasecki. There was also the Polish-educated Roman Szpur, who created a bomb that destroyed communication lines, or Jozef Konderla, the creator of a folding runway for airplanes.
And then there’s Walter Podbielniak, who invented the so-called Podbielniak Contactor, or POD for short, which allowed for faster and more efficient production of penicillin, thus curing many more wounded American soldiers.
What was the American Polish community living on the threshold of the outbreak of World War II? Did she care at all about what was happening in Poland, or was she solely focused on her American daily life?
She seemed to be living the American life. It was recovering from the effects of the Great Depression, which hit it hard, because at the time it consisted mostly of unskilled workers who could be laid off overnight. However, when World War II broke out, what was happening in Poland began to integrate Polonia again. Humanitarian aid for Poles scattered around the world as a result of the war was organized very quickly.
The charitable aid given to Poland and Poles at that time was indeed enormous, and a very large number of Polish organizations of various kinds joined in, but as for the political potential of the American Polish community, it seems that it was not used for the Polish cause. Why was this happening?
Two approaches can be used to evaluate the realization of the potential of the Polish community – on a variety of issues, not just political lobbying during World War II: either evaluate according to dreams and expectations, examining what was missing to make them come true; or take inaction as a benchmark and compare real achievements to it. During World War II, the reception of a delegation of the Polish American Congress by President Roosevelt at the White House can be considered a major success for the Polish community, while the fact that the Polish community failed to change the president’s decision on Polish issues can be considered a failure. The question is whether ethnic groups have been able to influence American foreign policy at all, and therefore – whether even better-organized lobbying of the Polish community would have made a difference.
Polonia was treated very instrumentally before the 1944 presidential election. Roosevelt and his entourage tried to keep the results of the Tehran conference secret from her for as long as possible, counting on the votes of Polish Americans.
Yes, Roosevelt managed not to lose the support of the Polish community, and he was very much afraid of this. This raises the question of whether, if the Polish community had learned of the Tehran arrangements, they would actually not have voted for him. Perhaps social issues, such as New Deal policies, were key anyway.
And what challenges did the so-called “new emigration” – those of World War II and the postwar era – face in terms of integration into the “old” Polish community and into American society? You write about the conflict between the two groups of Polonia.
Several things are building up here. First, most of the post-war emigration has integrated quite well both into American society and into the “old” Polish community. The elites, who are in the minority but appear in public, and therefore set the tone for the narrative that also found its way into historical studies, had problems with integration. It shines through, especially class differences. The core of the so-called “old” Polish community was the rural emigration of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which in the United States mainly populated the layers of workers in the cities. Postwar emigration, on the other hand, was more sociologically diverse. At the beginning of the war, it was mainly made up of scientists, politicians and other elite people, that is, people who had enough social and financial capital to get to the US at that point. Later, emigration began to take a more mass character, but even so, these were on average better educated people, and carried the heritage of the Second Republic. Meanwhile, the “old Polish community” was much more Americanized, so, for example, they did not speak Polish, or spoke it poorly, arousing laughter among the “new emigration.” To the disappointment of the immigrant elite, due to both language and class differences, Polish workers were not interested in the poetry of the new Polish immigrants. They did not share their wartime traumas and did not recognize war experience or education as reasons for special treatment, much less as a mandate authorizing “newcomers” to act on behalf of Poland. “Old Polonia” also believed that it did not owe the “new” anything. She even suggested that they should take the plunge and start building their own American lives.
How did the American Polish community change in the 1950s?
The Polish community at the time was undergoing the same processes as the American public in general. It started with the fact that war veterans could get very low-interest loans for college. Education caused an increase in wealth and status in life, which slowly translated into a change in mentality. Polish-Americans were equally involved in mass culture and mass consumption. The increased mobility associated with these changes, meanwhile, was causing the erosion of existing Polish neighborhoods in industrial cities. But how much more comfortable and pleasant it was to live in houses in the suburbs!
Did the American Polish community have an impact on the democratic transition in Poland, and were post-war emigrants the inspiration for the change?
Ideological inspiration rather not. Quite consistently, the principle was adhered to that activities in Poland are decided by Poles, while Polonia can support them financially or by lobbying, but not by creating programs or action plans. On the other hand, the financial and logistical support of the Polish community for various Polish political or cultural endeavors, both at home and in exile, was considerable. Millions of dollars were donated through organized charity in the 1980s, as well as through the most private channels – in the form of parcels, or dollar bills tucked into letters. Support from the Polish community went to individual recipients, but also to organizations, such as Solidarity, or other opposition groups, for example, ROPCiO, KPN, Solidarność Walcząca, which had their contacts in the United States. Considering additionally the ratio of the zloty to the dollar, even nominally small amounts of money were a considerable financial boost for them.
And how does Polonia manifest its identity today?
Polish holidays are celebrated, such as the May 3 parade in Chicago, which I myself participated in twice. All of downtown Chicago is then red and white. October is Polish Heritage Month. Various major and minor Polish centers then organize Polish Days with lectures, film screenings, meetings, picnics, parades – with the largest, the Pulaski Parade in New York. More and less lavish Polish events are also held on other dates, such as Polish Fest in Milwaukee, and Dyngus Day in Buffalo, which has declared itself the Dyngus capital of the world. Of the more enduring forms, Polish student clubs function, and studies in Polish literature or culture are developing. Some are co-sponsored by Polish entities, others exclusively by Americans of Polish descent who have been successful and are creating foundations to maintain these studios. The Polish community also takes care to commemorate its contribution to American history and heritage – in the form of monuments, memorial plaques, place and street names, for example. Incidentally, this activity is something I want to take a closer look at as part of new research, under the working title of diasporic public history. It seems to me that the Polish ethnic group in the U.S. today has no complexes or special “Polish duties.” Polish roots, on the other hand, can be an object of pride and joy for her, and manifesting them is a free choice.
