Council for Support of Polish Studies

Professor Tamara Trojanowska is featured on a web page of the faculty of Arts & Science promoting giving. In a brief video she describes the immediate benefit from gifts. Here is a link to the page.

We received a very generous bequest from the estate of Mitchell Wywiórski totaling $203,724. The gift came in two installments, the first in the 2018 fiscal year and the second a few months later in the 2019 year. We have not met Mr. Wywiorski’s family and are extremely grateful for this gift.

Besides the Polish Studies Reserve Fund into which we transfer donation which we receive, there are now five additional endowments, with proceeds from all use to support Polish Language and Literature at the University of Toronto

The Marie Curie Skłodowska Association held its last Ball on November 4th, 2017. This event celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Association. During the Ball the president, Mrs. Alina Brown presented a cheque for $20,000 to Maciej Zaremba, treasurer for the Council. Together with previous donations we have received close to $25,000 from the Association.

Throughout its sixty years Marie Curie Skłodowska Association has supported many charitable works. A relatively recent example is the creation of an endowment at the University of Toronto to fund scholarships for women studying science and engineering.

Alina Brown, president, with Maciej Zaremba

Letter from MCSA declaring the gift

On March 29, 2016, a reception was held at St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto to honour the Veterans of the Polish Second Corps of the 8th British Army for their donation to the Polish Language and Literature Program in the Department of Slavic Studies. This very generous donation will set up a fund in their name with the proceeds directed to the support of the third (highest) level course in Polish Language.

Mr. Podsiadło, president of the organization, presented a symbolic cheque to Prof. Tamara Trojanowska, Director of the Program. In her remarks Prof. Trojanowska spoke of the migration of the veterans out of bondage in Siberia through the middle east, the formation of the 2nd Corps and their sacrifices during the second world war, particularly in the very important victory at Monte Cassino, a turning point in the Italian campaign. Four generations have benefited from their selfless acts and now they add a different type of sacrifice in making this donation. She continued with a description of the Polish Language and Literature Program, its quality, its high reputation in the world and the successes of the undergraduate and graduate programs.

Maciej Zaremba, chairman of the Council thanked the Veterans for their generosity and touched on the work of the Council in collecting funds for Polish Studies. The $50,000 gift goes a long way towards assuring that the Council’s goal of $350,000 may be met.

In his remarks, Mr. Podsiadło spoke of past contributions of his group for charitable works and also their involvement in the development of Paderewski Park in Vaughan. Recently the Veterans decided that they would direct a portion of their assets to the support of Polish higher education resulting in this gift.

(Click on picture for larger view – opens in separate tab)

M. Zaremba, Prof. Trojanowska and Mr. Podsiadło.	Attentive audience
A group of the veterans	Mr. Podsiadło at the microphone.

On Friday November 13, 2015, at a gathering to commemorate Armistice Day, November 11th, the chairman of the Council, Maciej Zaremba, was awarded the Gold Cross of Merit by Grzegorz Morawski, Consul-General of the Republic of Poland. This award recognizes Mr. Zaremba’s many years of working to raise funds for Polish Studies at the University of Toronto as well as many years in the past in leadership positions in the Association of Polish Engineers in Canada.

Consul General Grzegorz Morawski and Maciej Zaremba.

On Thursday October 16, 2014, during a reception held at the Polish Consulate, the Polish Senior Scouting Unit “Tatry” presented a cheque for $5,550 to Prof. Trojanowska, who directs the Polish Language and Literature Program at the University of Toronto. The money will be used to support advanced Polish-language courses. The event was organized by the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland and the Council of the Canadian Polish Congress for the Support of Polish Studies at the University of Toronto.

“Tatry” was founded in Toronto in 1950; it was composed of Polish immigrants in their late teens and early twenties who came here in the period 1947-1956 as “Displaced Persons” having been war refugees or deportees to Siberia, Kazakhstan or Germany. It is a unit of the Polish Scouting Association, which is not solely a youth organization, but includes co-educational groups of adults who had been boy scouts and girl guides, and remain in the movement. The activities of those groups change as their members age, but traditions of patriotism, faith and community service remain. “Tatry” presently has 29 members.

“Tatry” donated $800 from its common funds and the remaining $4,750 was given by its present and former members and their families as follows: Tomir Bałut, Grażyna and Janusz Brzozowski, Michael Brzozowski and Janet Cann, Andrzej Derkowski, Halina and Jerzy Grodecki, Krystyna Grodecki, Ryszard Grodecki, Andrzej and Danuta Hauck, Maria and Jan Krasnodębski, Janina Ołowiecki, Stanisława Ołowiecki, Zofia Podkowiński, Aniela and Orest Rużycki, Leontyna Szmelter, Maria Więckowski, Bogdan and Irma Włodarczyk, Josef and Teresa Zankowicz and one anonymous donor.

The members of “Tatry” hope that this sizeable donation from a very small group of retirees will motivate other Polish organizations to mount similar campaigns for the support of Polish-language courses at the University of Toronto, which are funded from donations collected by the Council for the Support of Polish Studies.

Some images from the evening follow: Click on photos for larger view.

Consul-General Grzegorz Morawski greeting the guests	Prof. Janusz Brzozowski, a member of both “Tatry” and the Council, was Master of Ceremonies
Jerzy Grodecki presented a history of “Tatry”	Prof. Trojanowska speaking about the Polish Language and Literature Program at the University.

Ewa Mahut, the leader of “Tatry”, presents the cheque to Prof. Tamara Trojanowska

On Wednesday October 15, members of the Polish Students’ Association at the University of Toronto made a contribution to the Polish Language and Literature Program at the University for the third time. The donation of $1,200 was the result of “Spring Soiree – Party for a Cause” organized by the students. The students have an objective to raise $10,000 for Polish Studies by 2016. For more information about the PSA, click on “Contacts and Links” and navigate to their website .

Paula Poniatowska, Prof. Tamara Trojanowska, Agatha Mycek, president of PSA, Prof. Donna Orwin and Nathaniel Tang

A poster for the fundraising event.

An evening to meet the author, Eva Stachniak, was organized for April 25, 2014 on the launch of her new book Empress of the Night. It was held at St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto and during the evening members of the Council for the Support of Polish Studies sold copies of the book. Eva Stachniak very generously donated proceeds from the sale to support the Polish Language and Literature program.

Some images from the evening follow: Click on photos for larger view.

Cover	Prof. Trojanowska introducing.
Eva answers questions	Book sales
Meeting members of the audience.	Signing books.

On Wednesday October 2, 2013, during a meeting in Toronto of the Council, chair Maciej Zaremba was presented with a cheque for fifteen thousand dollars from the estate of the late Alexander Frejszmidt. The gift was presented by Steve Glogowski, P.Eng., the executor of the estate.

Mr. Glogowski, founder and president of Glogowski Consultants Inc. (GCI), and his mother Barbara Glogowska, well known in the Polish community for establishing Polish language schools in Canada since 1939, expressed their admiration and strong support for Polish Studies at the University of Toronto after hearing presentations by Prof. Tamara Trojanowska and Prof. Piotr Kajak about the present curriculum and future plans for this very successful and growing academic program. Prof. Trojanowska met Alexander at Mr. Glogowski’s house when Mr. Frejszmidt was about to donate some of his books on Polish history and culture to the University of Toronto.

This generous gift from the estate of the Polish-Canadian engineer who combined the pursuit of his professional career with love of Polish history and culture can be a model for other potential supporters of Polish Studies at the University of Toronto.

Alexander Frejszmidt

(April 7, 1930 – August 27, 2012)

Alexander Frejszmidt’s Biography

Alexander Frejszmidt came to Canada after the war, as a young teen having spent his youth hiding from the post-war communist regime in Poland. While his father served with distinction in the Polish Armed Forces in the West in London, England, as a major, he and his mother moved from village to village often sheltered by local priests. Eventually they were smuggled out of Poland in a barge hidden under a pile of coal. After further harrowing adventures they were reunited with his father and moved to Granby, Quebec.

Alexander completed a degree in civil engineering, became a Professional Engineer and when he moved to Toronto he was employed at the TTC and Toronto Hydro from where he retired.

He never forgot his Polish roots and amassed a library of over 2000 books most of them on XX century Polish history, architecture and culture. Some six hundred of these books were selected by the University of Toronto for inclusion in its library while others were distributed to other Polish institutions such as Copernicus Lodge.

He and his family were always very interested in promoting Poland’s welfare during the years of oppression and were lifelong members and supporters of the Polish Institute in New York, an institution originally founded to counteract Nazi propaganda that was being disseminated during the war. He continued to support them over the years, and his father’s military records and uniform and very detailed diaries were preserved by Alexander and donated to the Institute. These diaries have been recognized by the Institute as valuable historical insight into a life of career soldier serving first in the Tsarist army, then the Free Polish army under Joseph Pilsudski and then during the second world war as a liaison officer with the British army.

Alexander was a constant companion of Barbara Glogowska during the last fifteen years of his life and together they remained active in a number of Polish social and cultural organizations.

This donation is in keeping with Alexander’s lifelong support for Polish culture, arts and history and it was his wish that this donation be made after his death.

Click on photos for larger view.

Barbara and Steve Glogowski	Receiving the cheque from Barbara Glogowska. Standing, left to right: Maciej Zaremba, Prof. Janusz Brzozowski, Steve Glogowski, Christine Erikson, Irene Kremblewski, Maria Swietorzecka, Andrzej Derkowski. Seated: Barbara Glogowska and Jesse Flis.
Prof. Tamara Trojanowska and Prof. Piotr Kajak	The guests with Maciej Zaremba

On May 30, 2012, representatives of the Polish Students’ Association at the University of Toronto (PSA) made a donation of $1,500 to Polish Studies at the University of Toronto. The contribution came from the proceeds of the Spring Soiree earlier in the year (see separate post). We are very grateful for this donation and congratulate the Association for their hard work and successful event.

Please click on the images for a larger view.

/tr>

Nadia Hosseinzadeh, Nathaniel Tang and Klaudia Szczupak of PSA	Prof. T. Trojanowska and Maciej Zaremba receiving cheque from students
Prof. Donna Orwin, chair Slavic Stud. with Prof. Trojanowska

The Polish Students’ Association at the University of Toronto is once again organizing a Spring Soiree to benefit Polish Language and Literature at the University of Toronto. We are grateful for their work and hope that you will support this exciting event.

Poster for the 2012 Spring Soiree

At a reception at the Polish Consulate on Lakeshore Ave. W. in Toronto, Borys Wrzesnewskyj donated $35,000 for Polish Language and Literature at the University of Toronto in memory of his father. A large group of people of Polish and Ukrainian background gathered to honour Borys and his family. Borys has worked hard and successfully to bring together the communities representing his family background.

A press release and some pictures from the event follow – click on each for a larger view:

Press Release

Borys Wrzesnewskyj with Consul Marek Ciesielczuk	Jesse Flis introducing Borys	Jesse Flis, Ambassador of Poland, His Excellency Zenon Kosiniak-Kamysz, Borys’ mother, Mrs. Wrzesnewskyj, Borys and Prof. Tamara Trojanowska
	Prof. Trojanowska displays the cheque

The Polish Students’ Association at the University of Toronto organized an evening of music and entertainment in March, 2010. The event was held in Hart House on the university grounds. The performances were first class and in spite of the night being wet and stormy a large number of people attended.

Proceeds from the event, over $4,000, was donated for the needs of the Polish Language and Literature program at the university.

Poster advertising the Spring Soiree

Presentation and donation of cheque to the University