The winter quarter at the University of Washington brings again courses that can draw people interested in Polish language and culture. As usual, seniors 60+ can register to listen to these courses for a token fee (in range of $10) through the UW Access Program. Notable courses include: More: Registration for the current quarter through the Access Program opens on January 5; the registration window ends on January 19, 2023.
Friends have set up a GoFundMe page to help the Mroz family with the medical and funeral bills. Please contribute to this fund if you can. Andre Mroz fell ill early November and ended up in the ICU fighting for his life. Andre lost his fight on November 19,2022. The family needs assistance with medical bills that accrued during his stay in the ICU and also funeral costs. Memorial and funeral is scheduled for December
Andrzej Mroz, the former Solidarity leader, local community activist and one of the most recognizable members of the Polish community died on November 19, 2022, due to complications after a cardiac arrest. He was 67. Andrzej Antoni Mróz was born on June 21,1955 in Bliszczyce in Silesia, Poland. He obtained a vocational school diploma as carpenter, but he followed in the footsteps of his father who worked at the Wujek coalmine in Katowice, and became
The Seattle Polish Film Festival announced viewers’ choice award for the best movie of the festival. The Seattle Spirit of Polish Cinema Award goes to the following movie: The runners up with the same number of votes were For the best documentary, a Certificate of Recognition went to Congratulations! More: SPFF website
Dear Members and Friends of the Polish Community, Thank you for your incredible support for the grand piano fundraiser in memory of Barbara Strutynski! We have received about $42,000 in donations, which is more than we expected, and donations are still coming in! We appreciate that very much as it makes it possible to buy a better quality concert-class instrument when the sale season starts after Thanksgiving. (a brand-new grand piano costs $80k-$100k or more). If you have
At the annual Recognition Gala at the University of Washington on September 16, Ryszard Kott and late Maria Kott have been recognized among the 2022 UW Laureates for their contributions over the years to the Polish Studies program at the UW Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures. The Slavic Department is currently looking for candidates for the Maria Kott Endowed Professorship of Polish Studies. Applications are accepted till November 15, 2022, and the new Endowed Professor should start his
Barbara Strutynski, an outstanding longtime member of our Polish community died on August 24, 2022, in her home with her family by her side. She was almost 86. Known to everybody as “Pani Basia”, Barbara was a community pilar, active since the early 1960s untill the pandemic. During this time, she founded and directed different performance groups involving children, youth and adults. Her name was most notably connected with the Młodzi Polanie / Young Polanie
The Polish public movie producer, Wytwórnia Filmów Dokumentalnych i Fabularnych (WFDiF), created a movie streaming platform “35mm.online” presenting Polish cinematography. About 4000 fully digitalized and restored movies are now available for viewing. The platform is available on the web, as a mobile application and as a smart TV application. The website works in Polish and English. For now, watching the movies is free of charge; it requires creating an account and logging in. The website
The restaurant and the bar at the Polish Cultural Center have closed for the summer. The summer break this year will last two months, through July and August. Both the restaurant and the bar should reopen as usual on the first Friday after Labor Day, that is on September 9, 2022. More: Polish Cultural Center website
This is your chance to attend a course of Polish during the summer Polish School at the Polish Cultural Center The school offers separate courses in Polish for children and adults in July and August. Classes are at weekly meetings that are 2 hours each, price is $100 a month. Please find detailed info here, or contact the school at polishschool@polishhome.org or 206-775-5039 Washington Academy of Languages at the City University Polish 1 is offered
The University of Washington has established the Maria Kott Endowed Professorship of Polish Studies at the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures. This is the first endowed professorship of Polish Studies on the West Coast of the United States and is in perpetuity, which assures that the Polish language and culture will be taught at the UW as long as the University exists. Recruitment for the position will start in the fall. In December 2021,
James Allen Hicker, one of the pillars of the Polish community of Tacoma, has passed away peacefully on December 1, 2021, after a short illness. He was 88. James was born on May 3, 1933, in Tacoma. He attended Lincoln High School and graduated from the University of Puget Sound in 1955 with a BA degree. He was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. He married Jean Marie Sliwa on November 12, 1955. During James’
Kamila Kanczugowski, the well known and liked chef in the Polish community, accepted a new position at the Polish Cultural Center Dom Polski; for now it is on a temporary basis. She has already started, so you can drop by to enjoy your favorite Polish dishes right away. Kamila is mostly known from Sebi’s Bistro in Seattle, which has been the Kanczugowski family business since 2013, renown for it’s Polish and European cuisine. Kamila is
The local Polish Choir Vivat Musica! presents a recording with a medley of Polish patriotic songs celebrating Poland’s Independence Day on November 11. The date commemorates the anniversary of Poland regaining its independence in 1918 after over a century of partitions. You can listen to this recording on YouTube.
Starting this fall, the J. Słowacki Polish School in Seattle has a new principal. Maria Grabowska, who has led the school since 2014, has retired and Milena Dickens accepted the position. Thank you, Marysia, for your gentle leadership and especially for keeping the school running during the pandemic. The Polish community is grateful to you! Milena was born and raised in Poland and is a professional educator. She is actually both an educator and an
On October 16, 2021, Jarosław Łasiński, Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Los Angeles, honored local Polish-Americans with the following medals: Bogdan Smyczynski of Tacoma and Józef Eugeniusz Kucharczyk of Auburn each has received The Cross of Freedom and Solidarity, awarded to the former Solidarity activists by the President of Poland. Jerzy and Elżbieta Las of Renton have received The Medal for Long Marital Life awarded to couples who have been married for
Kaysy Ostrom has directed a play I Never Saw Another Butterfly, performing live at the main stage of the Studio East theatre in Kirkland, from October 8 to 17, 2021. Kaysy is a granddaughter of Krystyna Balut, who was a child survivor of the brutal WWII deportations of Poles by the Soviet Union and in 1943 escaped to Persia with Gen. Anders’ army. Directing this play has a special meaning for Kaysy, as she performed
Marion Jan “Marian” Ossowski, a longtime member of the Polish community, died on September 13, 2021 after battling COVID-19 for several weeks. He was 70. Regretfully, Marion was not vaccinated; his wife Alicja, who survived COVID-19 and recovered, urges everyone to get vaccinated. Born in Szczecin in 1951 and trained as a railway technician, Marian arrived in the United States in 1981 adapting and learning several new trades in the new country; his latest job
Memories from Polish Scouting in Seattle and with Scoutmaster Martha Golubiec. To honor the 35th anniversary of Polish Scouting in Seattle, the local scout troop Kaszuby is creating a memory book to commemorate the milestone. The troop asks the current and past Polish scouts from Seattle and Tacoma and their families to submit their memories, photographs and the like for this book. As you may know, the scouts have lost recently a very important person
This year will be the 40th anniversary of the imposition of the Martial Law in Poland on December 13, 1981. For all who lived through it, including the Polish News editor, it was a terrible shock. Many people died, thousands of Solidarity activist went to jail, and countless lives were broken. The military coup crushed the first Solidarity movement and pushed the democratic opposition underground for almost a decade before the tables turned and the