Polish National Alliance
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Polish National Alliance (pol. Związek Narodowy Polski) is the largest and one of the oldest Polish fraternal organizations in the United States, founded on 14 February 1880 in Philadelphia under the influence of Polish patriot Agaton Giller. Its first president was Juliusz Andrzejkowicz.
The PNA founded a number of publishing and educational institutions. From 1912 to 1991 it owned Alliance College in Cambridge Springs, PA. The organization founded the Polish Library in Chicago and Immigrants House in New York. In 1910 it built the monument of Tadeusz Kościuszko in Washington D.C.
In the years 1912-1914 the PNA financially supported the Commission of the Temporary Confederated Independence Movements. During World War I it collaborated with the Polish National League and the Polish National Committee in Paris. During World War II it backed the Polish Government in exile. In 1944 it was a co-founder of the Polish American Congress (pol. Kongres Polonii Amerykańskiej). In 1968 it requested that the US Congress recognize Polish-German borders along the Oder-Neisse line. In 1971 it lobbied for a new Congressional inquiry into the Katyn Forest Massacre.
Since the end of the 19th century the PNA has been the largest Polish fraternal organization in the USA with assets of 0.5 billion dollars as a result of insurance activity (the only requirement of membership is to buy an insurance policy - life, health etc), and returns from banks and media they own, such as Dziennik Związkowy (Polish Daily News), and WPNA-AM in Oak Park, Illinois.
The main authority of the organization is its Congress named Sejm Związkowy, held every 4 years, but the government is the Zarząd with the president of the PNA, and the Board of Directors (pol. Rada Dyrektorów).
The supreme comptroller of the organization is (pol. cenzor ZNP), who is responsible only before the Sejm. PNA edits its own paper "Zgoda" which is delivered free to all members.
The national headquarters of the Polish National Alliance is in the Forest Glen area of Chicago and is visible from the Edens Expressway. The headquarters was relocated here in the 1970's from Chicago's Polish Triangle in West Town.
