Nobility Polish Supported American Revolution Przygoda

Polish Americans in California, 1827-1977 and Who’s Who, by Jacek Przygoda.

The Flourishing California Polonia: Sketches of Shared Polish-American History. Polish Nobility Supported the American Revolution (sic)

The American West is thought of primarily in terms of Anglo-Saxon settlers and Indians. However, as pointed out in a quote from I. Harold Sharfman, there were also many settlers of Italian, Polish, German, and French origins. (p. 22).

In contrast, Polish-American communities are best known in the East and Midwest. This work features the lesser-known one in the Golden State. The number of high-achieving Poles is striking.

Quite a few Poles in California were engineers. This included famous bridge-builder Ralph Modjeski. Many of the bridges that he had built more than a century ago are still in use. (pp. 56-59). Did you know that the lunar rover used in the Apollo moon landings was designed by rough-terrain-vehicle engineer Dr. Mieczyslaw G. Bekker? (pp. 268-270). There were also Polish inventors.

Many Poles came to California after the failed November 1830 Insurrection. These came to include Polish Forty-Niners. Felix Paul Wierzbicki is perhaps the best-known one. He played a major role in the development of the State of California in general. (p. 35). Later, Wierzbicki donated his collection of 800 books to the Polish Library in Los Angeles. (p. 214).

This work includes a map of geographic locations in California named by Poles. (p. 177). One of these is Zabriskie Point (Zaborowski) (p. 32), which I had visited, and which is located in Death Valley.

Think California–think Hollywood. Poles involved in Tinsel Town included Wladziu Liberace, Ganna Walska, Pola Negri, Ted Knight, and Loretta Swit. Henry Vars engaged in film production, and has composed scores for “Daktari”, “Flipper”, “Gunsmoke”, etc. (p. 125). Another Polish filmmaker was Zygmunt Sulistrowski. (pp. 112-114). Otherwise, who could forget musician Bobby Vinton? (Vintula) (pp. 128-129).

Of course, not all Poles of California had spent most of their lives there. Such Polish luminaries as Sienkiewiecz and Paderewski spent a relatively short fraction of their lives in California.

COUNTERINTUITIVELY, THE POLISH NOBILITY SUPPORTED THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

This work also provides details on the relationship of the American Revolution and simultaneous drive for liberty in Partition-era Poland. Thomas Jefferson called the downfall of Poland a “pernicious precedent”, a “crime”, and a “horror”. (p. 8).

Polish luminaries and their American counterparts formed friendships. This was true of Prince Adam Czartoryski, Thomas Jefferson, and Ben Franklin. The same held for Stanislaw Staszic and Ben Franklin. Jefferson was friends with Ignacy Potocki and Julian Niemcewicz. (p. 16).

Many of the Polish admirers of the American Revolution were SZLACHA. (p. 16). This created the apparent paradox of these nobles admiring a system that would lead to the abolition of the monarchy and to the end of formal class differences. Part of this stemmed from the SZLACHTA’s long-term dislike of the powerful monarch that was so vividly exemplified by the British crown. (p. 16).

The Great Diet of 1788 in Poland featured differences in how American-style reforms should be applied to the government of Poland. The Republicans favored keeping the old system, the “Democracy of Nobles”, and saw the American Revolution as a reflection of the failure of hereditary monarchy as existed in Britain. (p. 19). In contrast, to Patriots such as Hugo Kollataj, freedom should be offered to all the persons, and not only to any particular class. Evidently thinking about the weak monarchy in Poland and how it had facilitated the excessive power of the magnates, he favored the strengthening of the monarchy in order to protect human rights. (p. 19).

For a sequel to this book, please click on, and read the Peczkis review, of Polish Americans in California (Vol. II).