Speaking yesterday at the ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, King Charles listed as victims of the Holocaust, along with the six million Jews, “Sinti, Roma, disabled people, members of the LGBT community, and political prisoners.”
A number of Poles, including the former ambassador to the United States, have complained that he left out their compatriots. And it was an odd omission, especially when you consider that Poles make up one of the largest immigrant groups in England. But the king is not a politician dependent on votes. Which makes his statement, or its wording, even more curious. In the 1940s, there were homosexuals – and they were targeted by the Nazis – but there was no “LGBT community.”
Forty-three years ago today, General Wojciech Jaruzelski imposed martial law in Poland:
“The news on television was now being delivered by a man in a military uniform. Tanks and soldiers patrolled the streets. Schools were closed until after the holidays; theaters, cinemas, and concert halls were closed indefinitely. Telephones throughout the country had been disconnected; the borders closed to citizens. Solidarity’s leaders were being interned; General Jaruzelski jokes were being minted.” – from Falling into Place: A Story of Love, Poland, and the Making of a Travel Writer.
Mark F. Brzezinski, US ambassador to Poland, spoke last night at the University of Miami. The tone of his talk was upbeat: In a world of bad news stories, he said, Poland is a good one. He told of the nine million Ukrainian refugees who arrived in Poland after the Russian invasion, and how they were taken in by Polish families. One million remain, most of them now with their own apartments, as they’ve integrated into Polish society. Except for the right to vote, they enjoy all the rights of a Polish citizen.
There are now, he said, 10,000 American troops in Poland, working alongside the Polish military. He described Putin as “a KGB agent who’s the son of a KGB agent. He’s not a politician like Yeltsin and Gorbachev.”
He talked about Poland’s progress with regard to energy: the fact that it no longer relies on energy from Russia, and is less and less dependent on coal. The country just signed a deal with an American company to build a nuclear power plant.
The talk was so positive he didn’t speculate on his fate under the new administration.
September 1st marked the 85th anniversary of the German invasion of Poland that began World War II. I was in Warsaw on August 1st, when the city commemorated the 80th anniversary of the start of the Warsaw Uprising. The Old Town was alive with musicians singing old war songs and actors reenacting street battles. At five o’clock, the official start time of the uprising, a huge crowd filled the square in front of the Royal Castle. After a moment of silence, sirens wailed and flares were lit. Then everyone sang the national anthem: “Poland is not yet lost,” it begins, “as long as we are living.”
Yesterday was the 45th anniversary of John Paul II’s first return to his homeland as pope. I was back in Poland on a two-week tourist visa, after more or less being expelled from the country four months earlier, and Hania and I watched the pope’s motorcade as it arrived in Warsaw and, later that day, attended the mass on Victory Square. A religious service on the main square of the capital of a socialist country was unprecedented, historic, and, of course, much more than religious. It was obvious, as people listened intently to their pope’s homily, who the real leader of Poland was. And, surrounded by thousands of their like-minded citizens, they had irrefutable proof that they made up a powerful majority.
Today is Polish Constitution Day (commemorating the document adopted in 1791) and yesterday was Polonia Day (Polonia is the term for the Polish community abroad). As I write in my memoir, the fact that the diaspora has been given a name testifies to its long and significant history.