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The Exile Mission
Ohio University Press Polish and Polish-American Studies Series
Series Editor: John J. Bukowczyk, Wayne State University
Framing the Polish Home: Postwar Cultural Constructions of Hearth, Nation, and Self, edited by Bożena Shallcross
Traitors and True Poles: Narrating a Polish-American Identity, 1880–1939, by Karen Majewski
Auschwitz, Poland, and the Politics of Commemoration, 1945–1979, by Jonathan Huener
The Exile Mission: The Polish Political Diaspora and Polish-Americans, 1939–1956, by Anna D. Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann
SERIES ADVISORY BOARD
M. B. B. Biskupski, Central Connecticut State University
Robert E. Blobaum, West Virginia University
Anthony Bukoski, University of Wisconsin–Superior
Bogdana Carpenter, University of Michigan
Mary Patrice Erdmans, Central Connecticut State University
Thomas S. Gladsky, Saint Mary’s College (ret.)
Padraic Kenney, University of Colorado at Boulder
John J. Kulczycki, University of Illinois at Chicago (ret.)
Ewa Morawska, University of Essex
Antony Polonsky, Brandeis University
Brian Porter, University of Michigan
James S. Pula, Purdue University North Central
Thaddeus C. Radzilowski, Piast Institute
Daniel Stone, University of Winnipeg
Adam Walaszek, Jagiellonian University
Theodore R. Weeks, Southern Illinois University
The Exile Mission
The Polish Political Diaspora and Polish Americans, 1939–1956
Anna D. Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann
OHIO UNIVERSITY PRESS
ATHENS
Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701
© 2004 by Anna D. Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved
Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper
11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 5 4 3 2 1
Cover photograph: A group of Polish DPs on a train heading to Bremerhaven, Germany, to board a ship to the United States, 1950. Courtesy of Victor Bik
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann, Anna D.
The exile mission : the Polish political diaspora and Polish Americans, 1939–1956 / Anna D. Jarozyńska-Kirchmann. — 1st ed.
p. cm. — (Ohio University Press Polish and Polish-American studies series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8214-1526-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Polish Americans—History—20th century. 2. Polish Americans—Cultural assimilation. 3. World War, 1939–1945—Refugees. 4. Refugees—Poland—History— 20th century. I. Title. II. Series.
E184.P7J29 2004
305.891'85073'09044—dc22
2004006713
ISBN 978-0-8214-1527-6 (e-book)
Publication of books in the Polish and Polish-American Studies Series has been made possible in part by the generous support of the following organizations:
Polish American Historical Association, New Britain, Connecticut
Stanislaus A. Blejwas Endowed Chair in Polish and Polish American Studies, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, Connecticut
Madonna University, Livonia, Michigan
The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, Inc., New York, New York
The Piast Institute: An Institute for Polish and Polish American Affairs, Detroit, Michigan
Additional support for this book has been provided by the Kulczycki Prize awarded by the Polish American Historical Association
Contents
1. “Smoke over America, blood over Europe”: World War II and the Polish Diaspora
2. “All I have left is my free song”: The Polish Community in the Displaced Persons Camps
4. “So they are among brethren”: Debate in the Community
5. “Ambassadors of our cause”: Turning Points
