By Irene Tomaszewski, PitR organizer
Montreal -- October was a lively month for the PitR community. It was Agnieszka Macoch who first used the term, 'community' when writing about us all in an email I received from her a few days after the Chicago alumni screening of Wanda Koscia's film. I think it's very apt. We are a widespread, thriving, dynamic community, its members highly educated, talented, energetic and... a lot of fun. I feel very privileged to be a part of this. It was Agnieszka Macoch who first used the term, 'community'. I think it's very apt
Wanda Koscia's tour, combined with a student conference at the University of Toronto and a zjazd of the Canadian Polish Congress, served to bring together a number of PitR alumni. As you probably know, the screening of The Battle for Warsaw in Canmore was the North American premiere of the film. Wanda's presence was too good to keep to ourselves, however, so PitR arranged a western tour, with screenings in Edmonton, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. Successful gigs, every one, so a return engagement was a must, this time to Montreal, Toronto and Chicago.
Arriving in Toronto on Saturday, October 18, Wanda was picked up at the airport by Margaret Bonikowska, the organizer of the screening at the Mississauga Central Library. Margaret has a long-established link to PitR. As an editor of GAZETA, she featured articles about us back in 2004, a time when "Poland in the Rockies" had no track record and a name that struck many people as exotic, to put it mildly. But Bonikowska believed in our dream and gave us publicity. And, if I remember correctly, her son, Bartek, was our very first applicant to PitR 2004.
Bonikowska is also a fantastic organizer, not the least of her achievements being the Polish Film Festival in Toronto. With her customary drive, she quickly got the Mississauga Central Library to co-sponsor the screening of The Battle for Warsaw and did such great publicity that she not only packed the theatre but got Global Television to cover the event, airing film clips and an interview with WK on their Sunday night news program. In the audience were two members of Parliament, the Consul-General of Poland, and a representative of the Senate of Poland who presented Wanda with the Senate's medal in recognition of this important film.
That evening, Koscia met with Eli Rubenstein and staff and volunteers from the March of the Living. A lively and productive discussion followed.
Monday, Koscia's hectic pace continued with an interview on TV Polonia and a screening at the University of Toronto arranged by professor Tamara Trojanowska. She, too, has a strong PitR link, as a speaker in 2004 and 2006. Tamara's ratings as a speaker were stratospheric and we sincerely hope we can persuade her to come back again.
It was a very successful weekend made possible by funding from the Adam Mickiewicz Foundation in Toronto, and helped a great deal by PitR alumni's email campaign.
From there, Koscia went off to Chicago for a screening organized by Justine Jablonska at the Chopin Theatre. More about this event from Justine and Agnieszka Macoch so I will restrict my comments to thank Justine, Katherine Cioch, Agnieszka - who funded the wine for the reception - and other Chicago PitR alumni who helped spread the word. Thanks are also due to Lela Headd and Zygmunt Dyrkacz at the Chopin, simply the most interesting theatre in Chicago and a must visit for everyone, whether visiting the city or living there.
The tour ended in Montreal with a SRO crowd at Concordia University's de Seve Cinema with a screening ably hosted by Anna Kisielewska, who is serving this year as president of the Canadian Foundation for Polish Studies, and helped by Matthew Malacha, currently vice-president. Following the film, Wanda fielded questions and then stayed to meet many admirers at a coffee reception.
All three events brought together three generations and I can't stress how much this meant to the brave veterans of the uprising in attendance. In 1944, they were students themselves, many of them still in high school, and seeing young people in the audience had, for them, a special meaning. At every screening, they got a standing ovation.
To return to Toronto, other events that weekend not only brought a number of PitR alumni together but also made PitR the talk of the town. Would I exaggerate?
The Polish Students' Association at Ryerson University in Toronto organized a meeting attended by PSAs from seven universities, prominent among them - PitR alumni. Tony and I were pleased to have been invited to talk about PitR but the pleasure was that much greater since we had PitR alumni Peter Swiatly, Jenny Ploski, Matthew Malacha, Michal Surkont, Dominik Roszak and Kamil Mroz, among the participants, the best possible advertising. Add to this Eric Bednarski's promo, with its glorious photography of mountains and - yes, a glamorous shot of taking the waters at Sulphur Springs - and at meeting's end students were already asking to apply for 2010.
The zjazd of the Congress provided another venue for much discussion of Poland in the Rockies. If anyone from the Congress had any doubts about PitR, the presence of our alumni, and impassioned endorsements by Michael Surkont and Kamil Mroz, opened many eyes. We were present at Congress meetings, at every screening, and finally, at the Congress's ball where the PitR table rated mention by the emcee otherwise reserved only for VIPs. It was great fun to see everybody, to catch up on news, and to dance with Matthew.
Many thanks to all who came: Dominik Podbielski (04), Jennifer Ploski, Kamil Mroz and Michal Racki (all 06), and from '08, Michael Surkont, Jakub Sawicki, Peter Swiatly, Matthew Malacha , Greg Terlecki and Dominik Roszak, whose job took him away from us from time to time but, duty done, he joined us at the end. CR
Irene Tomaszewski is a writer and founding president of the Montreal-based Canadian Foundation for Polish Studies and program director of Poland in the Rockies. She is the author of Inside a Gestapo Prison 1942-44: The Letters of Krystyna Wituska. She co-authored Żegota: The Council for Aid to Jews in Occupied Poland 1942-45 and wrote the screenplay for a documentary by the same title produced by Sy Rotter for Documentaries International (Washington DC). She was also the Associate Producer and Researcher for the CBC's A Web of War, a documentary about Poland in World War II.
