The first Poland in the Rockies, an initiative of the Polish Canadian Association of Calgary , took place in August 2004 as a joint project of the Calgary group and The Canadian Foundation for Polish Studies (CFPS), in Montreal. The idea became reality through the immediate, enthusiastic and generous support of the Polish community in Alberta.  As the program took form, support from several Polish organizations in North America followed (See Sponsors.)

 

The Director of Poland in the Rockies is Tony Muszynski, who is also president of the Polish Canadian Association of Calgary. He was ably assisted by the most dedicated group of volunteers one could hope for. Marek Domaradzki, who is the Manager of the Polish Canadian Cultural Center in Calgary and hosts Polska Fala a popular radio program in Calgary, took on the job of communications director for PitR. Ella Rysz created the website and was our official photographer. Grazyna Lukwinska, Andy Bukowski, Maria Skarzynska, Tom Skrzypinski, Barbara Gorzkowska, Krystyna Halor, Peter Albertin, Tadeusz Rysz, and Zygmunt and Wieslawa Potocki contributed countless hours in the many tasks involved in the logistics of putting together a conference for over 50 participants. Irene Tomaszewski, the founding president of the Canadian Foundation for Polish Studies, is the Program Director of PitR, responsible for getting speakers, selecting topics and scheduling events; while current CFPS president, Wanda Muszynski worked tirelessly to raise funds and promote the project, and flew in from her job in Poland to assist in many ways. And finally we thank TV Polonia for sending Halina Hrycko and Orest Sliwinski who filmed a documentary aptly titled Polska w Gorach Skalistych broadcast by satellite around the world..

 

The success of Poland in the Rockies was largely due to the calibre of speakers who agreed to participate in our inaugural conference.

We cannot thank Professor Norman Davies enough for his enthusiastic support and participation. His presence during the entire length of the conference will remain an unforgettable experience for the participants in 2004. Not only did they benefit from his classes but he was always accessible to them for informal conversations at mealtimes, on hikes, at the campfire and other excursions.

Professor Tamara Trojanowska (Dept of Slavic Studies, University of Toronto) captivated everyone with her presentation of Polish literature and art. For many, this was an introduction to the subject, one that made a lasting impression and created a desire to pursue it much further. Professor Trojanowska is returning in 2006, a decision unanimously endorsed by all.

Professor Anna Cienciala, a foremost authority on the tragedy of Katyn, illuminated the often dark world of diplomacy and the difficulty of preserving the truth when great powers wish to suppress it. Her presence was one of the highlights of 2004.

 Lynn Olson and Stanley Cloud, the veteran journalists who co-authored A Question of Honor: the Kosciuszko Squadron, Forgotten Heroes of World War II, spoke with verve and passion about their book, and also took part in a session talking about journalism – how it works, and also how it sometimes doesn’t work.

Acclaimed film director Krzystof  Zanussi showed and discussed excerpts of his films and also took part in several panel discussions on various aspects of Polish culture and identity.

 Professor Thomas Gladsky, author of Princes, Peasants and other Polish Selves, discussed Polish American writers and also the image of Poles in American literature.

 Jagna Wright and Aneta Naszynska presented A Forgotten Odyssey, their moving documentary about the Soviet deportations of Poles during World War II. They also discussed the challenges and the satisfaction of film making.

Irene Tomaszewski’s short drama based on the letters of Krystyna Wituska was performed by student Joanna Topor. She also presented the film Zegota: The Council for Aid to Jews in Occupied Poland 1942-45 for which she wrote the screenplay based on her book by the same title.

Malgorzata Dzieduszycka-Ziemilska from the Polish Ministry of Culture took part in numerous panel discussions adding her experience gained from her years as a Polish diplomat.

Several other documentaries were also shown, among them CNN’s Warsaw Uprising, an event attended by veterans of the uprising, Marta Mankowska and Jadwiga Kociolek, who were kept answering questions far into the evening.

All this comprised a heavy schedule but there was still time for a hike in Johnson’s Canyon and on Sulphur Mountain, a visit to Lake Louise and Lake Moraine as well as a barbecue, a campfire and a couple of trips to Banff.  And, it seems, some energy was left to sample the nightlife in Canmore.

Professor Emeritus, University of Kansas; Her areas of exerptise and special interest are European diplomatic history, 1914-1945, with emphasis on Poland; Polish political hisotry 1918-45; and the history of the Jews in Poland, 1918-1945. She is American editor of the English language Katyn volume to be published by Yale University Press in 2004 in its Annals of Communism series; Dr. Cienciala will present the subject, "Katyn - Why the long silence in the West?"

Historian and author of seveal acclaimed works on Polish hisotry including, God's Playground, A History of Poland (Volume 1 - the Origins to 1795, Volume II 1795 to the Present), Heart of Europe - A Short History of Poland, Microcosm: A Portrait of a Central European City, and Rising 44: The Battle for Warsaw; Professor Davies will conduct a two-day seminar on Polish History.

Director, Polish Ministry of Culture, Department of International Cooperation (European Integration)

Professor of American Literature at the Universoty of Rzesow. He is the author of scores of scholarly essays on postmodernism and American historical fiction on literary ethnicity. Professor Gladsky has published Princes, Peasants and Other Polish Selves; Ethnicity in American Literature, Something of My Very Own to Say: American Women Writers of Polish Descent, and Ethnicity, Gender, Culture: Poles in Urban American. Twice winner of the Oscar Halecki Award, Gladsky is former President of the Polish American Historical Association.

Authors of A Question of Honor - The Kosciuszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II; Stanley Clud, a former Washington bureau chief for Time, was also a national political correspondent, White House correspondent, Saigon bureau chief, and Moscow correspondent for Time. Lynne Olson was a Moscow correspondent for the Associated Press and White House correspondent for the Baltimore Sun.

Irene Tomaszewski is a writer and founding president of the Montreal-based Canadian Foundation for Polish Studies. Her book, Inside a Gestapo Prison 1942-44: The Letters of Krystyna Wituska is scheduled for publication by Wayne State University Press in May 2006. She co-authored Żegota: The Council for Aid to Jews in Occupied Poland 1942-45 and wrote the screenplay for a documentary by the same title produced by Sy Rotter for Documentaries International (Washington DC). She was also the Associate Producer and Researcher for the CBC’s A Web of War, a documentary about Poland in World War II.

Tamara Trojanowska received her MA from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, and completed her PhD at Oxford and the University of Toronto where she is currently head of Polish Studies at the Department of Slavic Literatures and Languages. In this her second appearance at Poland in the Rockies, Professor Trojanowska will direct the cultural segment of Poland in the Rockies, presenting an overview of Polish literary and cultural history that is as interesting for those familiar with the subject as for those just being introduced to it. Together with Professor Johnston, she will address issues of identity – in literature and in contemporary life.

British documentary film makers of Polish descent; They will present, A Forgotten Odyssey, dealing with the deportaion of 1.7 million Poles to the Soviet Union in 1940-41 as well as two new films coming out in 2004 dealing with the Warsaw Uprising and Polish-Jewish history and relations;

Filmmaker, writer and producer; a major figure in European cinema. Major Films: The Structure of Crystals, Family Life, Behind the Wall, The Illumination, The Contract, The Year of the Quiet Sun, Wherever you Are, Life for a Life, The Silent Touch, Camouflage, Weekend Stories, In Full Gallop, Our God's Brother, Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease;