(Photo: -Kenzie-/flickr)

The second in a two-part series.

NEW YORK – The last few years have seen an increase in Poles entering the U.S. illegally from Canada. This comes at a time when a growing number of undocumented Polish immigrants are leaving the U.S.  The faltering U.S. economy and Poland’s recent membership in the European Union – which allows Poles to works legally in many European countries – has enticed them to try their luck on the other side of the Atlantic.

The rise in illegal entries from Canada can be traced back to March 2008 when Canada lifted visa requirements for travelers from Poland.   Some see it as an opportunity to try to work their way into the U.S. yet one more time.  Many are desperate to return despite the weak economy and strong anti-immigrant sentiment, said people familiar with the issue.

Most of those who decide to cross from Canada have been denied a U.S. visa or were previously deported from the U.S. Many still have family and friends on the American side, others have property and belongings left behind after they were deported.

For Jarek (not his real name) the main reason to risk an illegal crossing was work. “I’m coming from a poor region of Poland where salaries are extremely low. I don’t even know how people survive being paid that little,” he said,.

Jarek previously lived in the U.S. for several years after overstaying his visa. All that time he kept sending money to his wife and children who stayed in Poland. “Back then, even though I was undocumented, I had a very good job in construction. I was able to make really good money and my boss valued my work. But after a few years I couldn’t stand being so far away from my family any longer. I was depressed, so I went back to Poland. It was my own choice to get a one way ticket.”

Jarek lived in Poland for 2 years. During that time he considered immigrating to another European Union country. “But I didn’t have any connections there. While in the U.S, after so many years there, I knew that if I come back I’ll have a job the next day.” Last summer he decided to try to return.

His decision was not unique.  “Poles have been crossing the Canadian border illegally for many years but the “traffic” definitely intensified since Canada lifted visa requirements for Poland, making it easy for its citizens to enter the country,” said Jerzy Sokol, an immigration attorney who serves Poles in the New York area.

“Another factor that makes Poles choose the Canadian border is intensified security over the Mexican border,” Sokol added.  In recent months Sokol has been working with a couple of clients who were caught by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents in upstate New York.

It’s impossible to determine the exact numbers of Poles crossing the border.  But consul Piotr Janicki of the legal section at the Polish Consulate General in New York claims it’s “a seasonal phenomenon.”

“People usually don’t cross in winter. They don’t want to struggle through Canadian forests in the snow. In summer it’s much easier.”  Janicki said he had noticed the problem in the summer of 2008 and since then it has recurred every year.

“In the summer months I start receiving notifications from Border Patrol about the arrests of Polish citizens, usually a few every month. Then in winter it’s quiet.”  In June this year he received 4 such notifications.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol statistics obtained by Feet In Two Worlds confirmed that the number of Poles apprehended while crossing the northern border has recently increased.  In the first half of this year the Border Patrol stopped 50 Poles along the northern border, most of them in New York, New Hampshire and Vermont. In 2008 there were 63 such cases. For comparison, in 2007, before Canada’s decision to waive visas for Poles, 31 Poles were apprehended, in 2006, the number was 37.

Some Poles, use accurate maps try to cross by themselves. Others enlist the help of organized groups. “It seems to me that some people living along the border turn smuggling into their way of living,” said Jarek who didn’t have any trouble finding people who offered to take him across the border. He claims some groups were run by Poles, others by Russians, Canadians as well as Native Americans.

“Some people cross on foot, others decide to go by boats. Some allegedly look for shallows in the Saint Lawrence River and try to cross there,” he said.  He and his “guide” crossed on foot. A car was waiting for him at a previously arranged location on the American side.

According to people familiar with the issue, smugglers charge anywhere between $2,000 and $5,000, depending on whether they are simply helping people cross the border or delivering them somewhere to be picked up by family members or friends. There is no guarantee of success.  The car Jarek was riding in was soon stopped on the New York State Thruway.

“Once they realized I had no papers, I was immediately taken into custody,” Jarek recalls.

“Border Patrol agents can stop anybody that they see in between the ports of entry. They also monitor areas that have direct egress from the border as well as anything that has a nexus to the border, like transportation hubs, bus and train stations,” said Steven Cribby, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. “Agents have authority throughout the country so there is no limit on where they can and can’t be.”

Jarek paid the smugglers $4 000. But he claims it cost him much more, and the real price did not come out of his wallet. “It was so much stress and humiliation. The uncertainty of what’s going to happen with me was the worst. Being in jail is an awful experience, too.  I would advise anybody who considers doing it not to.”

According to Jerzy Sokol, getting caught in the Northern District of New York may result in more than deportation proceedings. “It happens that the district attorney there also charges people for illegal entry with criminal charges. This is rarely practiced in other states. As a consequence, they have to pay a fine and are sent to jail where they usually spend at least 20 to 30 days. Only then they are being transferred back to Immigration.”

Jarek was detained for almost 5 months. Eventually his friends managed to post bail. Since then he has been living in New York. “My deportation case is on. I’m just waiting to see what’s going to happen. In the meantime I work in construction trying to send as much money home as possible.”

This article is based on a story Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska originally wrote for Nowy Dziennik/Polish Daily News.

A portrait of Frederic Chopin by Delacroix

Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska produced this radio piece on the Chopin Bicentenary celebrations among the Polish community in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, for WNYC.

[Visit post to listen to audio]

This year, fans of classical music are celebrating the 200th anniversary of Frédéric Chopin’s birth. Thousands of events honoring the composer are planned around the world, many of them in renowned New York venues, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to Carnegie Hall.

One immigrant community is especially touched by the anniversary. Polish immigrants see this year as an opportunity to remind the world that–despite having a French father and spending two decades in France before his death–Chopin was in fact a Polish composer. As part of the tribute, almost all Polish community centers and institutions in the city are holding Chopin concerts, lectures and exhibits. They may be on a smaller scale and less formal than other New York events, but they gather Poles of all backgrounds. For them Chopin’s music can be very personal.

At the Polish and Slavic Center in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Polish immigrants gathered to honor their greatest composer. Candles were lit and the mood was solemn. As the music plays some in the audience have tears in their eyes, others can’t help swaying their bodies. Sitting close to the stage is Andrzej Jeziorski, an elevator mechanic. When he arrived in the U.S. 20 years ago he managed to fit records of Chopin’s music in his suitcase.

“One image that I always see when I listen to Chopin are weeping willows, because I used to live in the Swietokrzyskie mountains area, and this music brings images of the place I come from. When I listen to his music, right away I see willow alley in my mind. I go back to my childhood, to Poland, to the place I came from, to my youth,” Jeziorski says, speaking in Polish.

“One time Arthur Rubinstein said Chopin is the soul of the piano. All moods and all human emotion are his… he is heroic, poetic, demonic, everything that the human being can feel is in Chopin’s music,” said David Dubal, American pianist and broadcaster. “Who would even want to live without Chopin?”

Some of Chopin’s pieces like the Funeral March have become so widely known that people all over the world consider them their own. “People don’t even have to know Chopin was Polish,” says Dubal.

But Poles say they have a special connection to the composer’s music. They say he captured Poland’s soul and when they listen to his music they feel emotional and nostalgic for their country.

A Celebration of Chopin at the Polish and Slavic Center in New York. (Photo: Marcin Zurawicz)

Born in ŻelazowaWola, a tiny village west of Warsaw, he returned to the Polish countryside throughout his childhood. There, he encountered peasants playing folk music and dancing traditional Polish dances–mazurkas and polonaises. These memories inspired many of his later pieces. “He put Poland in his music,” says Janusz Sporek, a musician and the Chopin event organizer.

“Chopin’s music may be universal, but I feel very lucky to have had access to those places where Chopin used to go to, like Zelazowa Wola where he was born and various places in Warsaw where his music was created,” said Rafal Blechacz, one of the most famous Polish contemporary pianists who played at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York earlier this year. “Definitely various dancing rhythms which are present in mazurkas and polonaises, we Poles can understand easier.”

Bozena Konkiel, a music teacher from Greenpoint, even uses dancing techniques in her classroom. “Because I am Polish and I know all these dances I can explain to my students what Chopin thought when he wrote this or that accent or he finished a phrase this way or another.  And I dance for them.”

Polish immigrants also relate to the composer’s life of exile. In Chopin’s time Poland did not exist as a state. It was a territory partitioned by three powerful neighbors: Russia, Prussia and Austria. In 1830–while the composer was touring Europe–an uprising broke out in Warsaw. It was brutally suppressed by the Russian Empire, which forced many Polish artists into exile. The composer settled in Paris.

“Unfortunately, he never got a chance to go back to his country, seeing his family, his friends,” Sporek says. “So he was being convicted to stay out of his loving country with no chance of coming back. This is probably why we hear the music–so dramatic sometimes–that he composed.”

After moving to France in 1830, Chopin remained there until his death in 1849. Some French claim that the composer became part of their culture. But Poles like to say that Chopin may have lived in France for a while but his heart stayed in Poland forever. And, in fact, after his death his heart was actually removed from his body and brought to Warsaw, where it has been preserved in Holy Cross Church.

Irena Naglowska, a home attendant, has been living in New York for two years. With no family around she gets homesick. In Chopin’s music she finds company.

“His compositions are filled with nostalgia, longing for his country, at least that’s how I feel it. I miss my country a lot, and that makes us very close, connects us,” Naglowska says in Polish. “I think that this Polish-Slavic soul is there, we are able to grasp it, understand the depths of it. I feel that I was born with it. Every Slavic soul is so plaintive and tearful, that’s why I said I may start crying.”

The emotions that his compositions evoke in Poles have always been powerful. When the country struggled for its independence in the 19th and 20th centuries, Chopin’s music was almost considered a weapon. The composer Robert Schumann said it was like “cannons buried in flowers.” Years later, the Nazis must have heard those metaphorical gunshots, because they banned Chopin’s music during their World War II occupation.

Today Chopin remains a national icon in Poland.

“Each child in Poland knows who Chopin was and they might not even know kings, Polish kings, and the other politicians, but they know, 100 percent, who Frédéric Chopin was,” says Bozena Konkiel. A piano teacher back in Poland, Konkiel now teaches music at a Catholic school in Greenpoint, several blocks away from the Polish and Slavic Center. For her, introducing Chopin to children comes with a mission.

“I think we’re very proud of him and we all in the United States try to be his ambassadors,” Konkiel says. “I’m working in American school, and in this school I already have introduced Chopin’s 200th anniversary. We had a concert, we had a PowerPoint presentation about Chopin, and children in this school, American, Irish, whoever they are, they know who Chopin was.”

All year long Poles in New York have been organizing events commemorating Chopin’s anniversary – at their community centers and various Polish institutions. They also dream about organizing a grand finale of celebrations in the Big Apple. “We are working on bringing the Szczecin University Academia Chamber Orchestra here in December,” said Jerzy Stryjniak, founder and president of The Chopin Society of New York.

When Chopin died at 39 he was remembered around the world as one of the great geniuses of classical music.  Today, many Poles still carry his music and his memory in their hearts.

Over 150 Polish immigrants go to the Krakus Senior Center for lunch each day, which costs $1.50. (Photo: Marcin Zurawicz)

Part 2

BROOKLYN, New York —Marcin and Kamila Majewski know that the recession has forced other long-time Polish immigrants in New York City to apply for food stamps and other public assistance, often for the first time. Despite their own financial strain, they still resist what they see as the humiliation of seeking government aid.

“We didn’t fall that low,” said Kamila, 65, who holds a masters degree from a Polish university and works part time at an after-school program. They say they feel almost embarrassed by a situation they never expected to experience.

The Majewskis, who have lived in the United States for 23 years, speak good English and have been involved in many community activities. But in 2007, Marcin, 60, lost his job as a desk clerk.

Getting Food Stamps Would Feel Strange

Kamila volunteers at a church where she serves a low-income and homeless population. One of her duties is helping other people fill out food-stamp applications. “I would feel so strange doing it for myself. I still consider our situation temporary. We have to be happy with what we have,” she said.

But for many months Marcin has been checking job listings at local employment agencies where he only finds “some offers for women but nothing for men.”

At one point he got a job as a home attendant, but was given very few hours of work per week. “For a few months I was earning sixty to eighty dollars a week. At the same time this was blocking my rights to unemployment benefits,” he said.

Recently, Marcin got hired for the 2010 U.S. Census, but that will only last until early July.

Experts say recession layoffs will have many long-term effects. “There is a pretty robust body of evidence showing that if you lose your job during a recession it takes you 15 to 20 years before you catch up to where you would have been had you not lost your job,” said Aaron Terrazas, Associate Policy Analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, in Washington, D.C., who called this phenomenon economically “scary.”

“If you think about the population of immigrants in their late 40s, upper 50s, it’s unlikely that they are going to find another job soon. This population of upper-middle-aged immigrants won’t even have time to catch up,” Terrazas said.

“We’ve Been Good Citizens”

The Majewskis have been falling back on their savings for a long time, and their finances are significantly depleted. “We had to cut all extra costs,” Kamila said. “We don’t have a car anymore, we don’t have cell phones, we stopped traveling.”

On top of their financial problems, Kamila has not felt well recently and had to give up some of her hours at work. “I used to get $1,000 a month, and now it’s $600,” she said. It’s almost a relief that their three children, who live in Poland, are adults and financially independent.

“We’ve been good citizens, kept paying taxes from the beginning, worked hard,” Kamila stated. “It’s really frightening.”

It’s still six years before Marcin can get full Social Security retirement benefits. But he is considering taking early retirement at age 62, if he does not have a permanent job by then. Kamila will work one more year, at which time she will get full Social Security benefits.

Marcin takes his situation especially hard. “I’m trying not to show what’s bothering me and keep up a positive attitude. But I used to be the head of the household. Not being able to support the family is very frustrating. I feel like a parasite sometimes,” he said.

According to psychologist Krystyna Piotrowska-Breger, who works with Polish immigrants, “in communities with a traditional perception of a man’s role in the household, a situation of this kind may pose emotional challenges. For men, more than for women, work provides identity and meaning. Men who lose their job may feel like psychologically they are losing their masculinity.”

Many seniors have been forced to come up with various strategies to cope with financial hardship. Bozena Nowak, a social worker at the organization Polonians Organized to Minister to Our Community, based in Queens, N.Y., said some try to get odd jobs to make financial ends meet. Others rent apartments with their family members or fellow seniors.

Wojciech Zebrowski comes to the Krakus Senior Center almost every day. (Photo: Marcin Zurawicz)

Wojciech Zebrowski, 72, and his wife live with their 30-year-old son in a city-subsidized apartment. In the past, living with him was a choice. Now, it’s a necessity.

When Zebrowski arrived in the U.S. he was 52. A teacher in Poland, he first worked in this country as a lathe operator and later as a building superintendent. Today his Social Security retirement income is about $550 per month, and his wife’s is $600.

Their son helps them pay for the apartment and other everyday expenses. “Everything goes up, from food to medications,” Zebrowski said. In May, their rent increased to $830. “Even my monthly subway card went recently up from $36 to $45. We have been spending money very carefully for a long time, but now there is nothing else to cut from our expenses,” he said.

Help at the Krakus Senior Center

Major help for Zebrowski’s family comes from the Krakus Senior Center at the Polish Slavic Center in Greenpoint, where a hearty lunch costs only $1.50. Every day around 11 a.m., approximately 150 seniors—most of them Polish immigrants—arrive for a meal subsidized by the U.S. Older Americans Act.

Lunch at the Krakus Senior Center costs $1.50. For many senior Polish immigrants, it's a huge help. (Photo: Marcin Zurawicz)

Yet the lifeline provided by the city’s senior centers is in peril. Amid a deteriorating budget crisis, New York City plans to close 50 of its more than 300 senior centers by July 1. Depending on the state budget, which is still not finalized, the city’s cuts could be even more severe. The Krakus center is not currently on the list, but seniors in other parts of the city are worried.

Numerous other senior programs will be affected by budget cuts as well. “For example there are plans to eliminate funding for people who are victims of elder abuse. There are so many cuts you can’t win it all back. We’re taking huge steps back,” stressed Bobbie Sackman, director of public policy for the Council of Senior Centers and Services of New York City.

Christopher Miller, public affairs director at the NYC Department for the Aging, assured that even if some senior centers are closed, elders won’t be left without help. “What we’re planning on doing is to somehow bus seniors from their current center to a local nearby center so they can still get their meal. We’re working on a contingency plan at the moment to figure out how to do it.”

But in addition to meals, neighborhood senior centers provide often-isolated elders an opportunity for socialization, health care screenings and other activities. At the Krakus center, for instance, Polish immigrants attend English classes, have a theatre group, recite poetry and even have a band.

Wojciech Zebrowski goes there almost every day and says he cannot imagine life in New York otherwise.

But his financial situation worries him. Like many other Polish elders, sometimes he considers going back to Poland, where one of this sons still lives. “Life is very expensive here,” he said. “It’s hard when you have to count every dollar.”

This is the second of two articles written by Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska of the Polish Daily News in a project for New America Media’s Ethnic Elders News Fellowship, supported by The Atlantic Philanthropies. To read Part 1 of this story, click here.

Ryszard spent a year living on the street, now he is preparing to return to Poland. (Photo: Marcin Zurawicz)

Part 1

Brooklyn, NY—Ryszard, 63, can breathe a little easier now. Becoming homeless was an unexpected turn of events after living in the U.S. for almost a decade, but he finally got some long overdue money from a former employer—enough to rent a place at last.

Ryszard (who withheld his last name because he is undocumented) is among the growing number of older Polish immigrants hit especially hard by the recession, regardless of their legal status in the United States.

Polish community-based organizations have been swarmed with elders seeking help. “A lot of our senior clients just come and ask if there are any assistance programs they can apply for,” said Bozena Nowak, a social worker at Polonians Organized to Minister to Our Community (POMOC), a nonprofit organization based in Queens, N.Y., which helps mostly Polish immigrants.

“Many of them came to the U.S. as adults and worked at low-paid jobs. For that reason their monthly Social Security retirement benefits can be as low as three or four hundred dollars. Supplemental Security Income, if they qualify for it, may increase that amount by a few hundred dollars. But in New York it’s still very hard to survive on that,” Nowak said.

Supporting Family Back Home

Ryszard can only afford the middle room in a railroad apartment in Greenpoint, a Polish neighborhood in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Furnished merely with a bed and a wardrobe, Ryszard’s space is separated by a thin curtain from the rest of the apartment and its two other tenants. But after he spent almost a year on the street, Ryszard said this $280 a month space feels like a luxury.

Ten years ago he overstayed his visa hoping to make enough money to support his family, who remained in a small town in northeastern Poland where the unemployment rate was very high. During most of his time in America, Ryszard worked as an electrician or at demolition sites.

But the economic slowdown made jobs scarce, if not impossible to get.

For those immigrants without legal status, like Ryszard, job hunting is especially challenging. “I could possibly do jobs like truck driving, but in New York State undocumented immigrants can’t obtain a drivers license,” he said.

“All of a sudden everybody also started to ask me for Social Security number, and I don’t have one,” Ryszard complained. With no legal status, he is ineligible for unemployment benefits or any other form of federal or state help. Without a safety net, Ryszard’s situation became increasingly perilous.

Winter on the Streets

Around a year ago, he could no longer afford to pay rent and had to give up his apartment. “I asked my friends to store my stuff,” Ryszard said.

“Winter was the worst. Sometimes I slept in a shelter. Other times in a basement of one church in Greenpoint that opened its doors for the homeless during the coldest nights. I survived,” he recalled with a nervous laugh.

Ryszard wasn’t alone in his struggles. Several Polish men in the Greenpoint area have ended up on the street because they lacked an occupation and income.

Unemployment has risen a small but significant amount more for immigrant elders than for native-born elder Americans, said Aaron Terrazas, associate policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, in Washington, D.C.

Terrazas, who analyzed the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, added that the immigrant employment gap is “kind of a similar story to what we see among the total working age population.”

In general, seniors are struggling with the consequences of the recession, said Bobbie Sackman, Director of Public Policy for the Council of Senior Centers and Services, which represents more than 200 nonprofit senior service agencies in New York.

“If you use the national criteria for poverty that the federal government uses, one of five seniors in this city lives below poverty,” she said. The federal poverty line for the fiscal year 2009-2010 is a scant $10,830 for a single person. Established by the government a half century ago, many say the U.S. poverty-line formula doesn’t include the rising costs of housing and health care.

Even Food Hard To Afford

More seniors have been going to the POMOC pantry to pick up food donations, Nowak said. “The biggest jump in the number of people collecting food was in 2008. In June that year we gave provisions to 20 people who were 60 or older. Then only a couple of months later we were already serving 80 of them.”

Nowak has assisted many seniors with applying for food stamps, which can provide up to $200 per person per month in New York.

State food-stamp statistics do not reveal the age of recipients, but in the past two years, there’s been an almost 30 percent jump in the number of people needing the stamps. Data from the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance show that in February 2010, the last month for which statistics are currently available, there were 2.7 million food-stamps recipients in New York State, and1.66 million of them were  in New York City.

The recession seems to have forced a change in common attitudes among Polish immigrants. “In the past they would feel too proud to apply for food stamps or to get help from our food pantry. Now some people really don’t have a choice,” Nowak said.

Meanwhile, Ryszard has decided to return to his wife and three adult children in Poland before the money from his former employer runs out, forcing him to live on the street again.

“I don’t think the U.S. economy will improve any time soon,” Ryszard said. “Now at least I’m able to get a plane ticket. And I will have a little money left to take back with me. It would be horrible to go back after 10 years with absolutely nothing in my pocket.”

This is the first of two articles written by Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska of Polish Daily News as a project for New America Media’s Ethnic Elders News Fellowship, supported by The Atlantic Philanthropies. To read Part 2 of this story, click here.

Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska on CUNY TV

FI2W’s Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska, along with fellow Polish Daily News reporter Aleksandra Slabisz, was featured this week on CUNY-TV’s Independent Sources, a television series about New York’s ethnic, independent and community media. In a report, produced by Zyphus Lebrun, the two Polish journalists talked about how they are covering one of the biggest tragedies in their native country’s history—the death of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and many high level officials in April 10th’s plane crash.

Broadcast on April 15th, 2010 on CUNY-TV’s Independent Sources

Feet in Two Worlds Reporter Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska was a guest on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show this morning. She talked about the changing demographics of the Polish community in New York, immigration patterns, the effects of gentrification, and what will be revealed when the results of the 2010 Census come in.

The Feet in Two Worlds project on the Census is made possible thanks to the generous support of the 2010 Census Outreach Initiative Fund at The New York Community Trust and the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund.

The Warsaw Village Band. (Photo: Kayax)

Can traditional Polish music sound funky? Or Asian? Or bluesy? The members of the Warsaw Village Band think it can. When the six-piece band was founded 12 years ago, its young members visited Polish villages to gather vanishing songs from elderly musicians. Later these melodies became the inspiration for a new modern and eclectic style of music.

Today the Warsaw Village Band has fans all over the world. They call themselves barbarians playing hardcore folk. Recently the American magazine PopMatters named the band’s latest CD “Infinity” the top World Music album for 2009.

But while American audiences welcome the band’s innovative ideas, New York’s Polish immigrant community has had a mixed reaction.

Young Poles are enthusiastic, but older immigrants are skeptical, seeing the Warsaw Village Band’s innovative mix of styles as a blow to traditional Polish folk music.

Feet in Two Worlds and Polish Daily News reporter Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska recently produced an audio portrait of the Warsaw Village Band.  Click “play” below to hear her story.

[Visit post to listen to audio]

Female day laborers in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. (Photos: Marcin Zurawicz)

Feet in 2 Worlds and Nowy Dziennik/Polish Daily News reporter Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska portrays the daily struggle of Latina and Polish women who wait for domestic work daily at a longtime day laborer pickup spot in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in her latest story for The New York Times’ “City Room” blog.

Ewa narrates how the spot’s demographics have changed over the years, as more Poles choose to settle in European Union countries instead of the U.S. and more Latina workers are laid off in the garment, manufacturing and other industries.

“Two, three years ago, I used to get a job every day within a few minutes of waiting here,” said a woman named Krystyna, 45, who lives nearby in Greenpoint. “Now I get it two, three times a week at best. And I have to wait at least one and a half to two hours.”

The story was published Thursday in City Room.

Nowy Dziennik/Polish Daily News reporter and Feet in 2 Worlds contributor Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska had a story this week on The New York Times’ City Room blog, about city comptroller-elect John Liu’s outreach to local ethnic media.

Ewa had covered Liu’s close relationship with the newspapers aimed at the city’s immigrant communities in a previous post for this blog, after Liu became New York’s first Asian-American citizen elected to citywide office.

On the Times’ blog, Ewa wrote:

“A politician shaking hands at a gathering of reporters? That is hardly news. But these are ethnic journalists, who find they get far less attention than their mainstream media competitors, often feeling like second-class citizens — except when Mr. Liu is involved. He has aggressively courted immigrant journalists ever since he was elected to the City Council in 2001.”

Read Ewa’s City Room story.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski meets with reporters in New York. Photo Karolina Szczepanska

Last fall then-President-elect Obama expressed doubts about the system, and members of the Polish community in the U.S. anticipated that he wouldn’t feel obligated to respect agreements signed in 2008 by the previous administration.

“The US has its own problems now and they do whatever is best for them,” said Grazyna Bulka, east coast director of a Chicago-based shipping company, Polamer Inc. Bulka feared the system would have infuriated Russia, and was relieved to

learn that it had been abandoned.

“Poles love America so much and the U.S. really doesn’t care about us much,” lamented Emilia Sroczynska, a small business owner from Brooklyn, who favors the anti-missile system. “They remember us only when they need us, but they abandon us as soon as they don’t. To me it’s just another disappointment.”

Whether they supported or opposed the Bush plan to place ten ground-based interceptors on Polish soil, many agreed that Obama’s decision to scrap the deal proved that the U.S. considers Poland a second-class ally.

But what truly embittered Poles was the timing of the announcement, widely interpreted either as ignorance or insensitivity to Poland’s history by the Obama administration.

“President Obama could not have picked a worse date to announce his decision. September 17 is the anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, the stab in the back that led to the Soviet-German dismemberment of Poland and the loss of Polish sovereignty for nearly a half century,” stressed professor John Micgiel, Director of Columbia University’s East Central European Center.

“Sadly, for a politician with years of experience in a large Polish town – Chicago – and with a chief of staff with similar experience there, President Obama has proven culturally insensitive on this occasion, and was ill-served by his staff. Some might say stupendously so.”

Polish president Lech Kaczynski, attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York, tried to present an upbeat assessment of the situation. “Poland and the US remain allies as they both belong to NATO and have bilateral relations,” said Kaczynski during a meeting with Polish-American leaders at the Polish Consulate in Manhattan on Tuesday evening.

But at a press conference held Wednesday at the UN, Kaczynski also stated that Polish-American agreements should not be dependent on Russian-American relations.

Russia strongly opposed the Bush plan. Some conservatives in Congress have accused the Obama administration of handing Moscow a victory with its scaled back plan to deploy missiles first aboard ships, and later on the ground in southern and central Europe.

Many members of the Polish community feel this is not the only example of Poland being treated unfairly by the U.S. Some mentioned the fact that Poles are still required to apply for visas to visit the U.S, despite the fact that Poland supported the US in Iraq and Afghanistan and is a member of the European Union and NATO.

Some have suggested that it’s time for the Obama’s administration to show some respect for Poland and the Czech Republic. Mark Brzezinski, who served on the National Security Council in the Clinton administration and is a son of Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Adviser to President Jimmy Carter, said the US could support investment in renewable energy in the region, or at least waive the visa application fee for Poles which currently costs $100 and is non-refundable even for those rejected.

This way, as Brzezinski put it, after resetting relations with Russia, the US could now “reset” its relationship with Poles and the Czechs.

“While there are anti-Semites in this country, there is even a larger number –and that group is growing faster– of people opposing anti-Semites, the anti-anti-Semites.”

[ Rabbi Michael Schudrich ]

Zygmunt Rolat at the ceremony to launch construction of the museum. Rabbi Schudrich is on the right. (Photo: Krzysztof Slomka)

The history of Jews in Poland is long and not without controversy, especially due to their persecution during World War II. The fact is, until that war started Warsaw was a center of Europe’s Jewish community.

Now, construction has started there on the Museum of the History of Polish Jews.

An artist's rendering of the museum. (Image: Museum of the History of Polish Jews)

It will not simply be a museum about the Holocaust. The museum team wants to focus more broadly on centuries of Jewish life and achievements in Poland.

Feet in 2 Worlds reporter Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska produced a radio piece about the museum from Warsaw that aired Tuesday on PRI’s The World.

You can listen to the story here or you can visit The World‘s page.

[Visit post to listen to audio]

A cantor at the ceremony. (Photo: Krzysztof Slomka)

You can see more pictures at the Feet in 2 Worlds Flickr page.

A Polish citizen votes in the European parliamentary elections in New York - Photo: Marcin Zurawicz

Polish immigrants have historically shown more interest in elections in their home country than in U.S. politics. But now the tables may have turned. At two polling sites in New York on Saturday, only 872 people cast their votes in the European Union parliamentary elections, according to consul Przemyslaw Balcerzyk of the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in New York. That is approximately 10 times fewer than the total number who went to the polls in New York to vote in Polish parliamentary elections two years ago. Last November voters in the heavily Polish neighborhood of Greenpoint, Brooklyn turned out in large numbers to vote in the presidential contest between Barack Obama and John McCain.

This was only the second time that Poles participated in an EU election, which typically attracts little attention even in countries that have been members of the European community for a long time. Only around 43% of the EU citizens voted this year, the lowest turnout since this type of election was first held in 1979.

In Poland the turnout was about 24.5%, which was actually more than 5 years ago, when approximately 20% of eligible Poles voted. But among Poles living in the U.S. the election stirred even less interest.

Many Polish immigrants said they were simply not interested.

“I don’t even know these candidates. I stopped following Polish politics years ago and I don’t quite understand the European Union political structure,” said Jolanta Krysowski (50), a bookkeeper who immigrated to the U.S. 16 years ago.

“Besides polling sites are too far,” said Krysowski, who lives in New Jersey.

This year 10 polling sites opened for Poles around the U.S. Some Poles actually believe they have no right to participate in Polish or European elections and that Poles living in Poland should chose their government by themselves.

Andrzej Dobrowolski, a political commentator for the Polish Daily News agrees with this point of view.

“For our community it should be most important to participate in American elections. This way we would be noticed by politicians who can affect our everyday life,” said Dobrowolski, who left his native country over 30 years ago.

But others described voting as an obligation. Jan Milun came all the way from Boston to cast his vote in New York.

“Poland is our real homeland and we should exercise our right to speak out on the issues important for our country,” said Milun, 71, an opera singer and concert organizer, who has been living in the U.S. for almost 40 years. “It’s not important where you live. It’s important which country you feel attached to.”

All together, 3,483 Poles casted their votes in the U.S., wrote the Polish Press Agency. According to the 2000 Census, there are more than 485,000 Polish immigrants in the U.S. It is unclear, however, how many carry a valid Polish passport, a necessary requirement to participate in EU elections.

The majority of Poles who voted in the U.S. chose the conservative Law and Justice party, which in the European parliament is a member of the Union for Europe of the Nations. In Poland, the center-right Civic Platform won. Civic Platform is the largest party in the lower house of the Polish parliament and a member of the European People’s Party.

Last Friday, Quigley called on President Barack Obama to support Poland’s plea for inclusion in the Visa Waiver Program — a matter we reported on last week.

“Poland has proven to be an indispensable ally in the global campaign against terrorism,” wrote Quigley in a press release.

Including Poland in the Visa Waiver Program will have positive security, economic, and bilateral effects.

In addition, there are thousands of Polish-Americans in my district alone who would benefit by making it easier to have a loved one visit them, not to mention the local businesses that would benefit from tourism dollars.

We owe it to a country that has stood by us, and to the people who would like to visit the United States.

Quigley, a former member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, won the special election held on April 7, 2009 to replace Rahm Emanuel after he vacated the seat in order to serve as Obama’s White House Chief of Staff.

One of Quigley’s rivals in the race was Victor Forys, a Polish immigrant who, despite the large percentage of Polish Americans in the 5th district (17% of all residents), ended up fourth in the special Democratic primary.

As a demonstration of U.S. gratitude, Poland hoped to be included in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which would allow Polish citizens to enter the U.S. as tourists or for business purposes for up to 90 days without having to first obtain a visa. But despite extensive negotiations between representatives of both governments Poland’s dream has not come true, and the chances of Poland joining the program anytime soon are very slim.

Biometric systems to verify travelers' identities could help Poland's chances of entering the Visa Waiver Program. (Photo: E. Kern-Jedrychowska/Polish Daily News)

Currently all but five European Union member countries participate in the VWP. In addition to Poland, which joined the EU in 1999, the other exceptions are Greece, Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria.

Many Eastern European countries, such as the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia, were accepted into the program in November 2008. Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said at the time that the decision was “a removal of the last relic of Communism and the Cold War.”

Poland was omitted largely because it failed to meet the required rate of visa refusals. This rate is considered an indicator of how many applicants plan to overstay their tourist visas and possibly work in the U.S. without permission. Currently, in order to participate in the VWP, a country’s visa refusal rate has to be less than 10%.

In 2008, Poland had a 13.8% visa refusal rate, which actually was considered a big success since only a year earlier it was almost twice as high. Moreover, nowadays fewer Poles seem interested in coming to the U.S. Instead, some look for employment within the EU, where many countries have opened their job markets to Polish citizens.

For these reasons, it seemed that the visa refusal rate would soon naturally fall below the required 10% percent and further negotiations between Polish and U.S. officials would not even be necessary.

However, starting July 1, the required rate will be reduced to 3%, making it much harder for Poland to reach the goal.

“This change is a consequence of a bizarre compromise reached by supporters and opponents of the expansion of the VWP in Congress as part of the ‘Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007,’” explains Pawel Kotowski, a counselor at the Polish Embassy in Washington, DC.

“The required rate can now only be increased back to 10% if the U.S. manages to install biometric air exit systems which will register all the passengers leaving the U.S.by air, a system now only used upon arrival to the U.S. These two things seem to be entirely independent, but that’s how the Congress wrote the law,” Kotowski said.

It is not certain when the air exit system will be installed. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Anna Hinken says it will be tested at two airports for one month starting in June, and it should be installed around the country sometime next year. Kotowski, however, worries that it may take much longer.

Many members of the Polish American community are upset over the arrangement. After an article on the matter ran recently in Nowy Dziennik/the Polish Daily News, many readers expressed their disappointment at the American policy. Some even called for imposing visas on American citizens who want to enter Poland.

Supporters of Poland in Congress have fought for many years for a more liberal approach.

Some, like Senator Barbara Mikulski (D.-Md.), proposed various pieces of legislation to include Poland in the VWP for its merits and its loyalty to America. But the VWP has many opponents who fear its expansion will make it easier for potential terrorists to enter the U.S.

Without the appropriate legislation it seems unlikely that President Obama will do anything about this issue, even though during the presidential campaign he supported the inclusion of Poland in the VWP.

Department of Homeland Security spokesman Matt Chandler says that efforts are ongoing to gradually solve the issue.

“Countries like Poland, who are seeking inclusion in the Visa Waiver Program, are working with the Department to meet the program’s requirements. This includes lowering non-immigrant visa refusal rates. The Department is also working with Poland to facilitate safe and secure travel through the U.S.,” he said. Chandler would not, however, provide any details about the process.

This is not enough for Polish Americans and supporters of Poland’s inclusion in the program.

“America’s visa policy still treats Poland as a second-class citizen when we tell a grandmother in Gdansk she needs a visa to visit her grandchildren in America,” wrote Senator Mikulski in a statement sent to the Polish Daily News. “The Visa Waiver Program is a critical tool of the ‘smart power’ strategy that President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton have laid out to reinvigorate American foreign policy.”

For Poland, inclusion in the VWP has become primarily a political issue.

“We understand that the legislation sets up the rules. But these rules are archaic and do not reflect our current strategic partnership,” stresses Pawel Kotowski. “We think that the American authorities should consider this little gesture for Poland. It would tremendously improve America’s image among Poles who have always held strong pro-American sentiment. It would also improve the relationship with America’s most trusted ally in Europe.”

Greenpoint, Brooklyn's Polish neighborhood. (Photos: E. Kern-Jedrychowska)

A New Generation of Polish-Americans, a story by Feet in 2 Worlds and Polish Daily News reporter Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska, is the main feature on this week’s NPR show Latino USA (find your NPR station here).

From the Latino USA website:

The history of Poland hasn’t always been pretty.

While historians would say the country was born in 966 when its ruler became Christianized, it’s territorial boundaries haven’t been well-defined throughout the ages. In fact, from 1795 to 1918, Poland didn’t exist as a nation and the territory was divided among the kingdoms of Prussia, Austria, and Russia.

Constantly invaded, partitioned, borders redrawn, and territory occupied, the Poles themselves led a workers’ revolution in the 1980s that threw off the shackles of Soviet-led communism and inspired the world with the word: “Solidarity.”

Throughout most of the 20th Century, however, many Poles yearned for the freedom and security of America. But for the younger generation who grew up after the fall of Communism, those yearnings of their parents and grandparents just aren’t resonating.

You can listen to the story below:

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Or you can listen to the story while watching a photo slideshow at the Latino USA website.

You can read more of Ewa’s Feet In 2 Worlds pieces on Polish-Americans here.

He didn’t win. But Dr. Victor Forys considers his bid to replace Rahm Emanuel in Illinois’ 5th Congressional District a huge success. Fory’s, a Polish immigrant, finished fourth out of a field of 12 candidates in the special March 3rd Democratic primary with approximately 12% of the vote. Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley, who claimed the Democratic nomination, got 22% of the vote and is poised to win the congressional seat in a special election on April 7th

(Photo PolishNews.com)

Forys says his campaign mobilized Polish voters who in recent years have not been very active in politics, both in terms of voting or offering financial support to candidates. “We got them to like American politics, we got them excited about it, so this is not the end, this is just the beginning,” he said in a phone interview the day after the primary. Out of approximately 650,000 residents in the district, more than 17% claim Polish origins.

Forys, a well-known medical doctor, had hoped that low turnout among non-Polish voters combined with the support of his community would be enough for him to win. To a certain degree his plan worked. “I have never seen so many Polish people casting votes,” said Monika Mysliwiec who has worked as a Polish coordinator at the Chicago Board of Elections for the last 9 years. Approximately 300 Polish-speaking callers contacted the Board of Election’s hotline on primary day, mostly looking for their polling site. By comparison, on the day of the presidential election last November, about 100 Poles called. “Some people even called from other districts asking how they can vote for Forys,” said Mysliwiec.

Forys actually won in suburban Cook County where many Polish neighborhoods are located. He got approximately 22.5% of the Democratic votes in that part of the district.

In other areas his task was more difficult. Forys discovered that a tight network of connections and loyalties in Chicago’s political world does not favor outsiders.“Some older Polish Americans living in the city of Chicago have a strong personal relationship with the ward organizations. Moreover, it was an electorate that we couldn’t reach with the Polish media because they watch broadcast TV. We didn’t have enough money,” Forys said.

It also turned out that many Polish immigrants, not having participated in the political process before, didn’t realize they had to register to vote ahead of time. “We received many phone calls from people who thought that they could just go to a polling site with their ID and vote, just like it is in Poland,” said Mysliwiec.

Despite his loss, Poles residing in Chicago are proud of Forys’ attempt. “He changed the dynamics of this race taking away votes from long-time Chicago politicians and beating people like Patrick O’Connor, a Chicago alderman closely affiliated with Mayor Daley,” noted Malgorzata Ptaszynska of 1030 AM, WNVR, a local Polish radio station. “To other Democratic candidates who scored higher than him, like State Representatives Sara Feigenholtz and John Fritchey, politics is daily work, while Forys just walked out of his medical clinic.”

Ptaszynska is also convinced that Forys “gave Poles hope and made them involved. Polonia was noticed and showed itself as a group that does vote after all.” For her it’s a clear signal that Polish immigrants are willing to participate in American politics if they are educated about the American system and believe that their votes matter.

That theory may be tested in the April 7the special election to replace Emanuel who is now White House chief of staff for President Barack Obama. “I really hope that Poles will go out and vote even though the Polish candidate didn’t make it,” noted Monika Mysliwiec.

As for Forys, he does not rule out running for another office in the future. “I’m a physician and I’m happy with my work. But never say never. And if I run again, I want to run for another significant office.”

He even joked that he would like to try his chances in a presidential bid.

Victor Forys

Rod Blagojevich, the Illinois governor under investigation, may have had the power to pick a replacement to fill President Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat. But the governor does not get to choose a new representative from the 5th Congressional District, a position he once held, and which was left vacant in early January when Rahm Emanuel resigned from his congressional seat to become the new White House Chief of Staff.

A special election will be held on April 7 to fill the seat, after a primary on March 3. One of the 15 Democrats in the race is a Polish immigrant: Dr. Victor Forys, a political newcomer who believes he has a serious chance due to the area’s large Polish-American population.

Numerous Polish-Americans held the seat in the past, including disgraced congressman Dan Rostenkowski who, prior to his conviction on corruption charges, served as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Martin Gorski, who, like Mr. Forys, was born in Poland and came to the U.S. as a child.

Out of approximately 650,000 residents in the district, more than 111,000 (17%) are of Polish descent.

“All we need is 30,000 Polish-Americans to come out and vote and we’ll win,” Forys claimed in a phone interview. The candidate is counting on a very low turnout by the area’s non-Polish residents.

Other candidates in the Democratic primary race include some long-time Chicago politicians, such as Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley and State Representatives Sara Feigenholtz and John Fritchey. There are also some newcomers, including former commercial pilot Jan Donatelli, lawyer Tom Geoghegan, and another doctor, Paul Bryar.

Forys’ candidacy has ignited a lot of excitement in the Polish community in Chicago, especially since many of its members knew him prior to his Congressional bid. In part, this is because of his successful medical practice which, according to his campaign website, serves more than 10,000 patients who live in the 5th Congressional District.

Forys has also appeared frequently on Polish radio stations in Chicago where, speaking fluent Polish, he discussed health issues.

“I grew up in this country and I was proud of the Polish officials that we had,” Forys said. “And I hope other people of our ethnic group will be proud when I’m going to be elected, just like African-Americans were very proud that Barack Obama was elected.”

Many Polish organizations in Chicago support his candidacy. Stanislaw Zagata, president of the Chicago-based Polish Highlanders Alliance of America, said he got to know Mr. Forys when he came to one of the organization’s meetings. Mr. Zagata is sure that Poles from the 5th Congressional District will vote for the Polish candidate.

However, according to Monika Mysliwiec, Polish coordinator at the Chicago Board of Elections, there is no data on how many Poles residing in the district are registered and how many of them participate in elections.

Forys admits that in recent decades Poles in America have not been very active in politics, both in terms of voting and offering financial support to candidates. This attitude is reflected in the low number of federal, state, and local officials who are Polish-American.

“But we’re educating people right now, and we’re getting the message out,” he said. “Even before the presidential election there have been a lot of efforts to register Polish voters in churches. Other organizations have also registered hundreds of Polish voters, even in this district.”

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, in early January the Forys campaign reported having raised $160,000, which made him number two in fundraising among the 5th District candidates, following State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, who at that time had raised $300,000.

Nevertheless, Frank Spula, president of the Polish American Congress, was skeptical about a strategy based mostly on the Polish vote. Spula stopped short of making a prediction about Forys’ chances, especially considering the large number of candidates.

“At this point, I think he has just as much of a chance as anybody else running for office,” Mr. Spula said.

“But the Polish community would certainly like to see a Polish congressman in that particular district,” Spula acknowledged. “It would be very encouraging for us to have a voice in Washington.”

Forys, who graduated from Lane Tech, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and medical school, says politics would be simply another form of public service for him. He vows that if elected he’ll fight for universal healthcare, which he describes as a basic human right. He also supports tax cuts for the middle class, helping small businesses get access credit, and protecting Social Security from being privatized.

He is a strong supporter of giving undocumented immigrants a pathway to permanent residency and later to citizenship.

Forys also promises to focus on some Polish-related issues. Specifically, he wants Poland admitted into the Visa Waiver Program, so that Polish citizens would not have to obtain tourist visas to visit the U.S. for up to 90 days, a privilege enjoyed by most European Union member countries.

This year ends with an unpleasant intervention by Poland’s diplomatic staff at the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw. At issue are recent cases of Poles who were denied entry to the U.S. at the New York area airports.

While no one questions the right of the U.S to bar certain individuals from entering the country, the treatment of Polish citizens was shocking to many, especially since most of those stopped at the border were older women in their 60s and 70s. Many of them were coming to visit their families and friends for Christmas, but instead ended up being interrogated by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and transported in handcuffs to a detention center.

“In my case, they told me I overstayed my visa (when I) worked here between 1989 and 1991,” said Mrs. Janina, 64, who asked not to reveal her last name. “I admitted it was true. But since then I was here again in 2004 after I obtained my new visa, and everything was fine. Why they are giving me troubles now because of something I did almost 20 years ago, I really don’t know?” Mrs Janina was one of 13 Poles, including 11 women, who were not admitted to the U.S. in the month of November at the Newark Liberty International Airport. Some Polish citizens were also stopped at JFK airport. Similar cases occurred in December.

While most of the time the reason for inadmissibility was an old immigration violation, there was also a 60-years old woman, Mrs. Anna, who said she had never overstayed her visa, but still was not admitted. Allegedly, she was told that her visits to the U.S. were too frequent. Her explanation that her son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren are U.S. citizens did not help.

CBP spokespeople are prohibited from discussing specific cases. They list, however, more than 60 grounds of inadmissibility divided into several major categories, including security reasons, illegal entrants and immigration violations, as well as documentation requirements.
Representatives of the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw stress that visas obtained in Poland do not guarantee that the visa-holder will be admitted to the U.S. The decision is up to CBP officers upon arrival to America.

After the interrogation Poles were ordered to return to their home country on the next available departure flight.

However, while waiting, their custody was transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers who transported them to a detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey. During the ride officers put chains around their waists that were also connected with handcuffs. They also had chains put around their ankles. At the detention center they had to undress, and were given jail underwear as well as red uniforms, and were placed in cells. In some cases there were no beds and no blankets, only concrete benches and a toilet bowl. Some women claimed that they had no access to their medication, even though they suffered from various diseases. Mrs. Janina, who has heart disease and high blood pressure, maintains that she was one of them.

According to a note sent to the Polish Daily News after a meeting between representatives of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the U.S. consul general in Warsaw, Mr. Philip Min, these two issues – handcuffing and chaining of the elderly and lack of access to their medication – were the two main complaints that became the subject of the diplomatic conversation.

Women who complained to the Polish diplomatic services described their experience as traumatizing. “Before we left Elizabeth, they chained me again and then took me to the airport where other Poles waiting for the plane could see me. I felt as if I was the worst criminal. Prior to that I saw handcuffs and prison cells only in the movies,” said Mrs. Janina. She claims that after returning to Poland she ended up in the hospital, completely dehydrated and vomiting for hours.

Consul Wojciech Lukasiewicz of the Legal Affairs and Consular Protection Unit at the Polish consulate in New York claims that in the past he had seen cases of handcuffing Poles that were not admitted to the U.S.. “But I’ve never heard about so many cases in such a short period of time and I’ve never seen elderly women being handcuffed,” he said.

In a phone conversation with the Polish Daily News, ICE spokesperson Michael Gilhooly explained that “people are restrained when they are transported for security reasons; for the safety of the public, for the safety of officers and for the safety of other detainees.”

He also assured that all individuals coming from the airport to the detention facility get a medical screening. “They see a health care professional from the Immigration Health Services, and the medical personnel is on hand in that facility 24 hours a day.” The complete change of clothing, including undergarments, Gilhooly described as detention standards.

But the question many Poles are still trying to answer is ‘why now?‘ Has anything specific provoked this kind of reaction or is it just American immigration policy getting stricter? It’s highly improbable that this kind of treatment has a specifically anti-Polish character, since according to Polish diplomats in New York they’ve been receiving similar signals from other consulates. Regardless of the reason, Poles who consider themselves close allies of the United States, feel disappointed.

In recent years Poland proved to be one of the most pro-American countries in Europe. It has supported the wars in Iraq (Polish troops left Iraq in October 2008) and Afghanistan. In August 2008 Poland signed an agreement to install part of the U.S. missile defense system in its territory. It has been a NATO member since 1999.

As summarized in the note sent by the Polish Foreign Affairs Ministry, “Because of particularly close relationship between our countries and traditionally extremely positive attitude of Poles towards the U.S., these cases are highly sensitive for the image of the U.S. in Poland.”
This strict enforcement applied to Polish citizens is even more surprising, considering that with the economic situation in Poland greatly improved, the number of Poles immigrating permanently to the U.S. keeps decreasing. On the other hand, more are coming to travel, to shop, or for business, which could only help the American economy.

A variety of factors have encouraged reverse migration, chief among them is Poland’s admission into the European Union four years ago. EU membership has opened up work opportunities for Polish citizens in a number of European countries. Ewa, who reports for Nowy Dziennik/The Polish Daily News, also noted that some younger Poles have moved to Poland in the belief that their American education gives them a competitive advantage in Poland’s economy. But she also said that like the U.S., Poland is experiencing an economic slowdown, so the benefits of moving to the Eastern European country may not be as great today as they have been in recent years.

Press play below to listen to Ewa on WNYC or click here to visit the show’s page.

[Visit post to listen to audio]

Ewa was recently honored by New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. at a Polish-American Heritage Celebration. Thompson hailed Ewa’s ”truly impressive record of achievement that augurs a great body of work still to come.”

Polish President Kaczynski - Photo: Polish Presidency.

The first phone conversation between Polish president Lech Kaczynski and U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, which took place the Friday after the election, has already caused diplomatic confusion, as apparently they had different understandings of what was said.

The next day, President Kaczynski issued a statement on his Polish-language website saying that Obama “emphasized the importance of the strategic partnership of Poland and the United States and expressed hope in the continuation of political and military cooperation between our countries. He also said that the missile-defense project would continue.”

The last sentence, however, was removed the next day after a quick reaction from Obama’s staff.

“President Kaczynski raised missile defense, but President-elect Obama made no commitment on it,” said Obama’s senior foreign policy advisor Denis McDonough. “His position is, as it was throughout the campaign, that he supports deploying a missile-defense system when the technology is proved to be workable.”

The misunderstanding quickly became fuel for comments in the Polish media.

The second-largest Polish newspaper, left-leaning Gazeta Wyborcza, which is often critical of the conservative Kaczynski, interpreted a memo by Obama’s top foreign policy advisers Tony Lake and Susan Rice as a reaction to that conversation.

As reported by Politico, in the memo sent out to all of Obama’s foreign policy advisers, Lake and Rice wrote: “We ask each of you please do not under any circumstances speak to the press, any foreign officials, or embassies on behalf of the transition or President-elect Obama. (…) It would be highly damaging for foreign government or media to receive information that they believe falsely to represent the views of the President-elect.”

At the same time, the Polish minister of Foreign Affairs Radek Sikorski, who signed the agreement on the missile-defense system with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said recently that in his opinion the chances of proceeding with the installation are currently more than fifty percent.

Some experts point out that the project may never be realized.

One of them is Marek Jan Chodakiewicz, academic dean and professor of History at the Institute of World Politics, and a strong critic of Obama.

“The United states lacks consistency and continuity in its foreign policy because each new American administration endeavors to leave its own imprint on international affairs,” Chodakiewicz said.

On the other hand, each ascendant regime inherits the legacy of the previous U.S. government, including its mistakes, and, to a large extent, becomes its captive. Further, the nature of federal bureaucracy guarantees that past projects continue by the force of inertia for a while before they are scraped by the incoming team. Thus, the missile defense project will plod on until, or if, it is terminated. The question, for both the United States and Poland, is whether the missile defense system is in their national interest.

During his entire campaign, Obama expressed his skepticism over the defense system and as early as January of this year, in an interview with Nowy Dziennik-The Polish Daily News, he questioned the logic of installing the system before its technology is fully tested.

Obama also underlined that even though this initiative posed no threat to Russia, Moscow should be fully informed about the plan.

The Polish government agreed to install U.S. missiles on its territory in exchange for the promise of help with the modernization of its army. The agreement was signed in August. It calls for the installation of ten interceptors against a possible missile attack from Iran.

Earlier this year, the Czech Republic agreed to install U.S. radar on its territory that would also be part of the system. The agreement infuriated Russia. The day after Obama’s victory, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned that Russia may move short-range missiles close to its borders with NATO allies.

President George W. Bush wanted to start the construction of the system before he left office and have it completed by 2012. This seems unlikely considering the financial crisis and the objections of many Democrats, especially the president-elect. Further testing could also delay construction for many years.