Media Relations & Tourism Sales Department of the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Larry Meehan, Vice President of Media Relations & Tourism Sales, lmeehan@bostonusa.com, 617-867-8231; Joanna Blasi, Media Relations & Tourism Sales Coordinator, jblasi@bostonusa.com, 617-867-8226.

October 2007 Edition

Click here to view our 2007 Events Calendar: explore! Multicultural Boston

Boston’s Polish American Heritage

Month Events  

October 2007 

Polish Heritage Month offers visitors opportunity to celebrate

Polish culture & heritage

Boston celebrate Boston's Polish American Heritage Month.

These events are constantly updated; please return to this site for more events:

·       This is the largest Polish festival in the Boston area is the annual Boston Polish ethnic festival was held at the Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish in South Boston, Saturday and Sunday, September 15-16, 2007,.It featured Polish cultural presentations, music, food and entertainment. : Polish cuisine: Gołąbki (boiled cabbage leaves stuffed with ground beef, chopped onions, and rice or barley) pierogi (dumplings) bigos (sauerkraut with pieces of meat and sausage) barszcz (beef soup) żurek (sour rye meal mash - soup). All proceeds will be used to support Polish ethnic community in Boston. 655 Dorchester Avenue Boston, MA, 02127, (617) 268-4355  http://www.OurLadyofCzestochowa.com  stolak@yahoo.com

·       6th Polish Heritage Month Film Festival : Elms College Chicopee (Massachusetts) 

·       Wednesdays in October, Elms College Library Theater at 7 pm. FREE (offering accepted) and open to public :

·       Oct. 3 Life is a Dream in Cinema: Pola Negri (English)A documentary film by Mariusz Kotowski on the life of Pola Negri (1897-1987), born Barbara Apolonia Chalupiec in Janowa, Poland. Star of 62 films, this film includes research of Pola Negri’s life and numerous interviews with people who knew or worked with Pola Negri or studied her films including the Academy-Award Winning actress Hayley Mills, actor Eli Wallach, film historian Jeanine Basinger, Paramount producer A. C. Lyles, and others.This is the first showing in New England. Premiered at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 2006.

·       Oct. 10 Sami Swoi (Our Folks) (subtitles)This film is the first in a series of comedies about two families: the Pawlak’s and Kargul’s. Humorous dialogue and appearances by famous Polish actors make this film a timeless Polish comedy.

·       Oct. 17 U Pana Boga za piecem (In Heaven As It Is On Earth) (subtitles)This pleasant comedy takes place near the Polish-White Russian border in post-communist Poland. Rollicking events and a surprise ending characterize this film.

·       Oct. 24 The Lilpop Sisters and Their Passions (English) This documentary film chronicles the lives of the four illustrious Lilpop sisters from a well known Polish family from prewar Warsaw. Full of splendid archival footage of Warsaw before the war, the film presents the lives of Halina, the wife of the world famous conductor Artur Rodzinski (NY Philharmonic), Felicja, Aniela, and Maria. Of special note are the clips of important friends of Rodzinski including Rubinstein, Iturbi, Gershwin, and Berlin. Premier showing in New England.

·       Nov. 7 The Rape of Europa (English)Based on Lynn Nichols’ best seller about the fate of European art under the Nazis, this documentary explores the works of art stolen from Poland (over 50,000 pieces, and 20,000 still missing), Italy, France, Russia and other countries by the Nazis during WWII, and the ongoing efforts for the restitution of these precious cultural works. The film has a significant segment on the art plundered from Polish museums, libraries and families.

Boston Polish Landmarks

General Kosciuszko statue in Boston Public Garden: . The statue is located on the Boylston Street side of the Public Garden across from the Four Seasons Hotel; it is one  of 20 registered* statues in the US of General Kosciuszko. The sculpture was erected to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the enlistment of Kosciuszko into the Continental Army. Funds for the sculpture were collected from Poles and Polish-Americans in New England. It was dedicated Sept./Oct. 1927. The statue in appropriate heroic style was designed by Theo Ruggles Kitson (1876-1932), the famous sculptress from Massachusetts who also designed the world renowned statue of the Minuteman at the Lexington Battle Green. http://newengland.thekf.org/about_statue.asp

Links to Polish-American Organizations

Polish American Congress of Eastern Massachusetts

Polish Center for Discovery & Learning Elms College, Chicopee, MA

Polish Genealogical Society of Massachusetts

Polish American Networking Organization (PANO)

Boston visitor information - from updated weekend event information to special hotel offers  during October Polish Heritage Month visits are available www.BostonUSA.com ; toll free 1-888-SEE-BOSTON; e mail visitus@BostonUSA.com