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AN ENDURING LEGACY
Guy Billauer
FORUM - Christian Culture Foundation
ZNAK
www.forum-znak.org.pl
Much has happened since terrorists
crashed airliners into New York's World Trade Center
and Washington's Pentagon building last year, changing
forever the world, as we know it. For Poles and Jews,
the heart-wrenching events of the last ten months were
intensified by the untimely passing of the best our
respective communities could produce - George Szabad,
an American Jew and Professor Stanislaus Blejwas, a
Polish American.
Guy
Billauer |
Genuine voices for reconciliation
and understanding, both Szabad and Blejwas dedicated
their life to not only leaving a legacy full of inspiration
and motivation for future generations of Poles and Jews,
but also to reminding us that a person's actions could
make a difference in the world.
Born in Russia and raised in Poland, Szabad emigrated
to America in the mid-1930's, fleeing mounting European
anti-Semitism. A graduate of Columbia University Law
School, Szabad pledged to defend the weak and protect
the unfortunate. In 1947 he joined a New York law firm
where he argued cases before Federal Appellate Courts,
including the U.S. Supreme Court. He also worked with
the Polish Mission for Relief and Reconstruction in
America and traveled to Poland on behalf of the United
Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency.
Szabad was instrumental in the fight against Communism,
tyranny and anti-Semitism, and was personally involved
in securing the release of Solidarity and Polish intelligentsia
leaders in the early 1980's, including the release of
former Polish foreign ministers Wladyslaw Bartoszewski
and Bronislaw Gemerek, as well as renowned Polish scholar
and writer Adam Michnik.
Among his numerous public and voluntary activities,
George was a leading member of the American Jewish Committee
since the early 1960's, working tirelessly to enhance
the Jewish community's cooperation with ethnic and religious
minorities in the America.
Although a generation separated them in age, Szabad
and Blejwas shared a their vision and moral convictions
that virtually indivisible.
A son of Polish Catholic immigrants, Stanislaus Blejwas
grew up in post-World War II New York City. He attended
the same Columbia University Szabad went to, only to
receive a doctorate degree in Polish and Polish American
History, on the way to a distinguished academic career.
His devotion to public life was as inspiring as his
prolific scholarly achievements. As member of the United
States Holocaust Memorial Museum Council, former director
of the Polish American Congress, and president of the
Polish American Historical society, Blejwas always pursued
leadership roles, standing for historical truth, open-ended
dialogue, and uncompromising integrity.
Professor Blejwas taught Polish history at Central Connecticut
State University, where he became the first Endowed
Chair of Polish and Polish American Studies. In 1994,
he joined a special committee of Eastern European experts
to advise then-President Clinton who was about to make
his first presidential visit to Eastern Europe. In 1995,
Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski awarded Blejwas
the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic
of Poland for his contributions to the Polish-American
community and for developing his university's Polish
Studies Program. In 1999, Professor Blejwas was the
winner of the 1999 Joseph Swastek Prize for the best
article in Polish American Studies.
Often in the midst of considerable criticism, Szabad
and Blejwas always stood firm in their commitment to
do the right thing. Their persistence and passion for
Polish-Jewish reconciliation have become beacons of
hope and inspiration for a growing number of Poles and
Jews in America. Courageously and admirably, they pushed
us to engage us in a process of self-examination and
soul searching of our shared history and shared tragedy.
When Blejwas pleaded with his community to come to terms
with Polish responsibility for the 1941 Jedwabne massacre
last year, Szabad worked determinedly to tell Jews the
numerous stories of Polish heroism - as well as suffering
- during the Nazi occupation. Szabad and Blejwas were
also instrumental in demanding that Polish and Jewish
suffering should neither be compared nor contrasted.
Both nations, they argued, have unique stories and narratives
that should never be regarded as mutually exclusive.
Poland is the place to which most American Jews would
trace their familial and historical roots - a place
Szabad evoked with warmth and charm. Polish Americans
proudly and intuitively regard Poland as their beloved
motherland -- a passion Blejwas expressed with equal
warmth and pride. Regrettably, several generations after
the Second World War, instances of stereotyping and
misunderstanding dominated the relationships between
Poles and Jews. Some of those emanated from the pain
and agony of their parents and grandparents. Few have
any clear notion of the other's history or point of
view. Thanks to Szabad and Blejwas, the leaders of the
two communities are now, at the very least, closer in
recognizing the importance and substance of an ongoing
interchange between Poles and Jews.
While the dialogue is mainly at the leadership level,
the remarkable achievements of the past two decades
in building bridges should not be overlooked and will,
in time, filter down to the larger communities. For
the past two years, I have had the privilege of coordinating
National Polish American-Jewish American Council, a
practical realization of Szabad and Blejwas' shared
vision. For over two decades, the Council modest but
ambitious agenda has been to bring together leaders
from both communities to promote constructive cooperation
and interaction between Poles and Jews in America. Through
meetings, publications and statements, we bring together
the leadership of both of these significant communities
to grapple with their shared past and to shape better
future relations, both in the United States and Poland,
and to wrestle with the conflicts that inevitably arise.
The Council membership amounts to nearly 80 members,
spanning from academics, local and national community
leaders, and representatives of several generations
of Poles and Jews in America.
Unresolved matters stemming from 60 years of foreign
occupation of Poland will undoubtedly remain a part
of the Council's agenda. Those include property restitution
for Poles and Jews, preservation of Auschwitz-Birkenau
and other sites of martyrdom, improving Catholic-Jewish
relations, and combating anti-Polish and anti-Semitic
sentiment in America, Poland and Israel. Increasingly,
the Council is discovering that its moral voice on issues
beyond the Polish-Jewish prism is not only welcomed
but also requested.
Those who knew and those who did not have the extraordinary
fortune to meet Szabad and Blejwas will miss them for
their compassionate leadership and intrinsic sense of
justice they imparted among members of the Polish-Jewish
family. They may have left us, but not before they built
a solid framework for dialogue and cooperation that
will endure for many years to come.
Guy Billauer is a program specialist at the American
Jewish Committee, and executive coordinator of the National
Polish American - Jewish American Council, a national
group representing the leadership of the Polish and
Jewish communities in the U.S., committed to improving
relations between the two communities in America and
throughout the world.
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