An extraordinary exhibition “Arms of Independence 1944” at the Polish-Slavic Center in Greenpoint
An event like this has never happened in a Polish neighborhood. On Saturday, September 21, the Polish-Slavic Center in Greenpoint hosted the opening of the exhibition “Arms of Independence 1944”. The exhibition was prepared by the Andrzej Zaremba Polish Military Enthusiasts Club in cooperation with the PSC.
The exhibition featured several hundred historical exhibits related to the rich history of Polish arms during World War II. Visitors could admire, among other things, unique military uniforms, sabers, documents, orders, decorations and aircraft models. The most interesting exhibits were one of the 26 badges for Polish paratroopers who took part in Operation Market Garden, as well as uniforms and armbands of soldiers from the Warsaw Uprising. A truly unique item was the jumpsuit of one of the Cichociemni – Home Army soldiers trained in England and parachuted into occupied Poland. In the courtyard, a Willys MB off-road car and a remote-controlled tracked vehicle “Goliath” used by the Germans to place explosive charges were presented. For the sake of order, the exhibition was divided into sections called: “Warsaw Uprising”, “Cichociemni”, “Arnhem”, “Monte Cassino”, “Normandy”; and “Sabres of the Polish Army”.
The opening of the exhibition on Saturday in the PSC auditorium at 177 Kent Street gathered a few hundred people. Members of the PSC Board of Directors were present, including Paweł Pachacz – president, Bożena Konkiel – member of the Board of Directors and Zbigniew Solarz – treasurer. The guests also included: Piotr Praszkowicz – Grand Marshal of the 2024 Pulaski Parade and Piotr Kumelowski, member of the Board of Directors of the Józef Piłsudski Institute of America. The guests were welcomed by Agnieszka Granatowska – executive director of the PSC, accompanied by her assistant Claudia Nytko. During the inauguration of the event, Paweł Pachacz, president of the PSC, received from Andrzej Bieńkowski, president of the Andrzej Zaremba Polish Military Enthusiasts Club, a commemorative medal minted on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the club’s establishment. Congratulatory letters were also read, sent by: Eric Adams – mayor of New York and Mateusz Sakowicz – Consul General of the Republic of Poland in New York. The Consul himself also appeared on site later in the event. The Polish authorities were also represented during the event by Vice Consul Krzysztof Płaski.
We warmly welcome you and we are extremely pleased that today we can present you with a completely different event than before – said Paweł Pachacz, president of the PSC, to the attendees. For the first time, the exhibition of the Andrzej Zaremba Polish Military Enthusiasts Club is taking place in New York. As soon as the initiative to organize such an event appeared from the Club authorities, I presented this idea at the board meeting and we quickly decided to act. At the Center, we want to organize various events for all age groups. Such an exhibition is interesting both for adults and for young people, who can learn about history in this attractive way, and not only by sitting at school desks. Today, extraordinary exhibits have been gathered within the walls of the Center. Personally, I really like Polish uniforms. I had only seen many of them in photos before. By organizing today’s exhibition, we honor 3 important historical anniversaries related to Polish arms that fall this year. Anniversaries that we should all remember, namely the Battle of Monte Cassino, the Warsaw Uprising and D-Day related to the Allied landing in Normandy – the president added in an interview with our newspaper. The artistic part of the event included a concert of soldier-patriotic songs performed by the Vox Cordis Youth Choir from New Jersey, conducted by Iwona Wesołowska. The choir director was Agnieszka Kasprzyk. The audience heard songs such as: “Czerwone Maki na Monte Cassino”, “My, Pierwsza Brygada”, and “Herce w Plecaku”. Students from Polish schools, including the Henryk Sienkiewicz Polish Supplementary School in Lower Brooklyn and the Maria Konopnicka Polish School in Greenpoint, took part in large numbers in Saturday’s event. A number of culinary attractions awaited all guests in the PSC courtyard, including free pea soup. Served traditionally in a military style. On the one hand, preparing such an exhibition is a lot of work, but on the other hand it is a great satisfaction – said Wojciech Budzyński, curator of the exhibition. We managed to organize everything thanks to the great support of the Center’s authorities, so I am very glad that we have established this cooperation. I would also like to thank the other honorary patrons without whom the organization of this exhibition would not have been possible, namely the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in New York and the Piłsudski Institute. I would also like to thank all the media patrons.
The artistic part of the event included a concert of soldier-patriotic songs performed by the Vox Cordis Youth Choir from New Jersey, conducted by Iwona Wesołowska. The choir director was Agnieszka Kasprzyk. The audience heard songs such as: “Czerwone Maki na Monte Cassino”, “My, Pierwsza Brygada”, and “Herce w Plecaku”. Students from Polish schools, including the Henryk Sienkiewicz Polish Supplementary School in Lower Brooklyn and the Maria Konopnicka Polish School in Greenpoint, took part in large numbers in Saturday’s event. A number of culinary attractions awaited all guests in the PSC courtyard, including free pea soup. Served traditionally in a military style. On the one hand, preparing such an exhibition is a lot of work, but on the other hand it is a great satisfaction – said Wojciech Budzyński, curator of the exhibition. We managed to organize everything thanks to the great support of the Center’s authorities, so I am very glad that we have established this cooperation. I would also like to thank the other honorary patrons without whom the organization of this exhibition would not have been possible, namely the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in New York and the Piłsudski Institute. I would also like to thank all the media patrons.
Today, we have collected, among others, 20 mannequins in uniforms, about 20 uniforms hung separately, and about a hundred different display cases with documents – said Roman Stasiuk, vice president of the Andrzej Zaremba Polish Military Enthusiasts Club, which lent 90 percent of the over 700 exhibits presented. I think that the section of the Cichociemni has the largest number of unique items. This is the largest collection in the world related to the Cichociemni. There is no such collection even in the National Museum. I am glad that we were able to make all this available to the Polish community in Greenpoint. We received a lot of help from the Center in organizing this exhibition, for which we are grateful. If it were not for the support of Mr. Paweł and Mrs. Agnieszka, this event would not have taken place at all. We meet the expectations of the entire Polish community by organizing not only various musical events at the Center, but also many other events, so that everyone can find something for themselves – said Agnieszka Granatowska, the executive director of the Center. Today’s historical and patriotic event is a good example of this, especially since we have never had such an exhibition before. As was evident from the full hall, people want to learn about Polish history and we will definitely organize such events in the future – she added.
The honorary patronage over the exhibition was assumed by: the Polish-Slavic Center, the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in New York and the Józef Piłsudski Institute in America. Media patrons of the event are: Kurier Plus, Biały Orzeł, Nowy Dziennik.
The Andrzej Zaremba Polish Military Enthusiasts Club has been in existence since 1986. It has historical collections from the 16th century.
