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History and People

Czartoryski Boosted Dupont’s Fortunes

    E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company has been one of the world's largest industrial companies for more than a century. Its beginnings date back more than 200 years when the Dupont family immigrated to America from France. And it was the family patriarch who owed a debt of gratitude to Poland.

    Pierre Samuel Dupont was born in Paris in 1739 into a family neither rich nor poor. He received a decent education and after he left home he lived a hand-to-mouth existence while deciding on his life's calling. He began writing about economics and society and his theories drew the attention of influential people. Soon he was recognized as a serious thinker who could contribute to the betterment of French society.

Read more: Czartoryski Boosted Dupont’s Fortunes

 

On the Wrong Site of the Frontline

This is the third article devoted to World War II in Poland for a series started in the September edition on the anniversary of the war. Read the first article Long Shadows of War - Poland and World War II . This is also a first part of mu Uncle Franek memoirs.

As I already pointed out in the previous article, the majority of Poles in the regions annexed to Germany during World War II, especially in Upper Silesia, were treated like second-class German citizens. The whole Silesian population was divided into four categories - the first two included people who were members of German political, cultural or sport organizations or had pure German blood. The third category, so-called "volksdeutch" (folk Germans or country Germans) were people of mixed blood and mixed culture who spoke either German or Silesian at home. The Silesian language is just a Polish dialect, mixed with some German and Czech words. These people, according to Nazi standards, were not completely germanized but had lived in the region of Silesia for generations. Originally, there was an idea that all of these people should be sent to the Reich in order to germanize them, but this task was simply impossible since there were so many people who would need "germanization." They therefore received temporary German citizenship for a period of ten years. Commonly, people who belonged to this group had all the duties of the first and the second categories: they were required to send their men to Wehrmacht, but they were denied the special privileges of the two higher class.

Read more: On the Wrong Site of the Frontline

   

Lenin in Poland

Vladimir Lenin led the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. For the next 70 years the U.S. would spend billions of dollars and sacrifice the lives of thousands of young men to contain the USSR and communism.

Lenin wanted his system to dominate the world. He tried to push westward, but Polish forces turned him back in 1920. Then the Allies after World War II handed Poland to Stalin, Lenin's successor. But in the 1980s Poland again saved Europe from communism, this time led by a shipyard worker's peaceful opposition. How ironic, then, that Polish soil had once given Lenin refuge and solace, if only for a brief time.

Under the czar in Russia, Lenin was a known agitator and he was kept under surveillance by the authorities. So in 1907 he and his wife moved to Switzerland, then Paris, home to many Russian socialist exiles. These men plotted revolution, spread propaganda and bickered. Though he emerged as leader of the communist movement, Lenin had enough of the infighting, so he and Mrs. Lenin moved to Kraków in June 1912 to be closer to Russia.

Read more: Lenin in Poland

   

“The Peasant Prince” Author - Alex Storozynski - Arrives at Polish Embassy

     Washington, D.C. // The intriguing question of "So just who was Thaddeus Kosciuszko anyway?" has now been definitively answered by author Alex Storozynski into the foreseeable future. He rediscovered the heroic and tragic story of a great Polish and American revolutionary patriot who bravely answered the clarion call to arms for freedoms' fight on two continents.

Storozynski - polish prince

 Kosciuszko Book Generates Great Interest. Alex Storozynski (pictured above seated at right) is the author of a new book entitled "The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Age of Revolution." Storozynski is speaking to, and signing his book for, Zuzanna Falzmann - Washington Correspondent for Poland's POLSAT News TV.   

   Storozynski's book - The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and The Age of Revolution - unearths many previously unknown important details and historical facts that enlightens, and even delights, the reader delving into Kosciuszko's amazing life.

Read more: “The Peasant Prince” Author - Alex Storozynski - Arrives at Polish Embassy

   

Charles Lee of Britain, Poland & America

Charles Lee    When Englishman Charles Lee was denied a military appointment by King George III in 1773, he left for America to seek adventure. Lee was not a stranger to the 13 colonies, having fought alongside Washington in the French and Indian War, and having accumulated vast land holdings in North America.

    When he arrived here, he immediately began courting and schmoozing the leaders of the independence movement, eager for action. Lee had always been an advocate for personal liberty and he greatly admired the American leaders and their ideas. When the Revolutionary War broke out, he became second in command to Washington. But the two men did not get along. Eventually, Lee was relieved of his command for insubordination, courtmartialed and released from duty in 1780.

Read more: Charles Lee of Britain, Poland & America

   

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