Bohdan Pawłowicz

Bohdan Pawłowicz
Born Bohdan Pawłowicz
2 February 1899
Warsaw, Poland
Died May 28, 1967 (aged 68)
New York State, US
Language Polish, English, Portuguese, Russian
Citizenship Polish, American
Period 20th century
Notable works Franek na Szerokim Swiecie. Przygody na morzu i lądzie; Pionierzy; Przez ocean do Polski walczącej; Krew na oceanie (English version: O.R.P. Garland in convoy to Russia)
Notable awards Medal Niepodległości, Krzyż Walecznych, British War Medal 1939-1945, Ordem Barão do Rio Branco
Spouse Wanda Salmonowicz h Orla (Szaszor) (1901-1987)
Children Leszek Kazimierz (1925-2008) and Hanna Antonina (1928-)

Bohdan Pawłowicz (February 2, 1899 - May 28, 1967) was a Polish writer, journalist, radio broadcaster and a Polonia activist. He was also a scout, an emigration officer, a military man, a professor of Polish literary history and a globe-trotter.[1]

Biography

Bohdan Pawłowicz was born on February 2, 1899 in Warsaw. Poland was then partitioned. His parents were Kazimierz Pawłowicz, a ceramic engineer from Kalisz, and Helena Bożeniec-Jełowicka[1][2] As a young scout, he joined Pilsudksi's Polish Legions during World War I and later, as an officer in the Polish Military Organisation (Polska Organizacja Wojskowa), he took part in the Polish-Soviet War, during which he was wounded and moved to the reserve.[1] He then became responsible for Polish emigration issues.[3] In 1923, he joined the Polish Navy and sailed to South America on the Lwów, the first Polish ship to cross the Equator.[4] In Curitiba, Brazil, he met and married Wanda Salmonowicz h Orla (Szaszor).[5] He brought her to Warsaw, where they had two children: Leszek and Hanna. Between the two World Wars, he finished his studies at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts and mingled with the Arkadia group of literati in Kazimierz, Warsaw.[6] He also worked for the Maritime and Colonial League, and as an emigration inspector was sent on numerous trips on different ships around the world.[7] In the 1930s, he played a very active role in the Polish Radio - in Warsaw, Lwów, Łódź and Toruń.[8]

The outbreak of World War II (September 1, 1939) caught Pawłowicz on the maiden voyage of the MS Chrobry. The ship, already on its return trip, docked in Recife, Brazil, from where it was summoned to serve the British Royal Navy. Unable to return to occupied Poland, Pawłowicz joined the Polish Government in Exile, first in Paris, then in Scotland and London, where he served the Polish Navy Directorate (KMW) as Head of the Press.[9] In 1941, he was the Polish narrator of the documentary film Podnosimy Kotwice,[10] which can be found in its English version "Poles Weigh Anchor"[11] at the Sikorski Museum. In May 1942, he went as war correspondent on ORP Garland, which escorted convoy PQ-16 from Iceland to Murmansk. This experience was largely documented in reports, articles, referenced in books and in his war memoir O.R.P. Garland in Convoy to Russia.[12][13]

From 1943 until the end of the war, he was appointed Chief of Intelligence in Brazil, officially as assistant to the Navy military attaché at the Polish Legation in Rio de Janeiro. He was released from military service on February 1, 1947. As he would not recognize the Soviet Communist dominance imposed on Poland after the end of World War II, he and his wife decided to stay in exile, first in Brazil and as from 1953, in the USA, where they later applied for citizenship.[1]

In 1956 Pawłowicz was appointed Lublin Lecturer in Polish history and literature at Canisius College in Buffalo and as from 1957 wrote a weekly column in the Chicago published magazine Ameryka Echo.[14] Also in 1957, he received an honorary doctorate in literature and culture from Le Moyne College in Syracuse.[15]

In 1961, he moved with his wife to Silver Springs, Maryland, where they worked for research offices in Washington, D.C. and where they lived until his death on May 28, 1967, in the car on his way home from a conference in New York. He was buried in the All Souls cemetery in Pleasantville, New York.[1]

While in exile, Pawłowicz was the delegate in Brazil for the Board of the Polish Combatants Association (SPK) from 1946 to 1953,[16] a Board member of the Navy Mutual Aid Branch in New York (1953-1956), the vice-president of the SPK circle in Buffalo and honorary member of the Merchant Navy Officers Association.[1]

Honours and awards

He was awarded the Medal for Freedom and Independence (Medal Niepodległości) for active participation in the struggle for Polish independence, the Cross of Valour (Krzyż Walecznych) for his attitude during the naval battle on May 27, 1942 and the British War Medal 1939-1945. In Brazil, he was awarded the Ordem Barão do Rio Branco.[1]

Works

Pawłowicz was a prolific writer with a varied literary output. Among his writings, which mirror the different periods of his life, one can find poems, travel writings and journals, novels (covering South American themes, esp. Brazil),[17] short stories targeted at young people, memoirs describing his war experience, radio broadcasts, public speeches and newspaper articles.[18] He was considerably popular in Poland in the interwar period, as a radio broadcaster on seafaring and exotic themes.[19]

Much of his work was published in Poland, much in exile (mostly UK and US) but quite a number of writings still remain in manuscript,[20] especially his diaries, Silva Rerum or Pele Mele,[21] as he titled them, and in which, for many years, he recorded his impressions, daily life and anecdotes.

Poems

Teen fiction

Novels

Short stories

Memoirs

Reported missing

Unpublished manuscripts

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Pertek, Jerzy (1980). "Pawłowicz Bohdan". Polski Słownik Biograficzny. Pawlikowska z Dzieduszyckich Helena - Perekładowski Maciej T.25. Krákow: Polska Akademia Nauk. pp. 475–477
  2. ↑ "Bohdan Pawłowicz (M.J. Minakowski, Genealogia potomków Sejmu Wielkiego)". Sejm-wielki.pl. 2011-11-09. Retrieved 2013-09-25.
  3. ↑ Stefaniak, R.; Sokołowska, A. (trans.) (December 2008). "Celebration of Polish Independence Day in 1930. The 10th Anniversary of Victorious Repulse of Soviet Russia Assault on Poland" (PDF). Biuletyn Edukacyjny. Numer Specjalny 15 (21): 5, 10.
  4. ↑ Czajewski, Jacek (2010). Morze i Zagle w Poezji Polskiej - Antologia. Ksiegi Floty Ojczystej 37. Gdynia: Oficyna Wydawn. Miniatura. pp. 476–467. ISBN 83-89915-25-1.
  5. ↑ Wojciechowski, Stanislaw (1974-05-03). "W Rio de Janeiro i Kurytybie". Zwiazkowiec (Nr 35 ed.) (Toronto, Canada). pp. 7–8.
  6. ↑ Petrozolin-Skowrońska, Barbara (2011). "Inteligencja warszawska w Kazimierzu: Niemojewscy, Wóyciccy i "Arkadia"" (PDF). Kronika Warszawy 1 (145): 12. ISSN 0137-3099.
  7. ↑ Mierzwiński, Zbigniew (1991). Asy, damy i ułani. Warsaw: Instytut Wydawniczy Związków Zawodowych. pp. 95–100.
  8. ↑ Szewera, Tadeusz (1983). Barwny świat mikrofonu: wspomnienia radiowców (in Polish). Łódź: Wydawnictwo Łódzkie. pp. 18–21.
  9. ↑ "Odczyt o Polskiej Marynarce Wojenney". Dziennik Dla Wszystkich (Buffalo, NY). 1955-03-10. p. 14.
  10. ↑ "Podnosimy Kotwicę". FilmPolski. Retrieved 2013-09-25.
  11. ↑ Stefan, Osiecki, (Director), Concanen (Producer) (1940). Podnosimy kotwice (Poles Weigh Anchor) (PDF) (Documentary).
  12. ↑ "Signalman Saul to Murmansk and Archangel". The Naval Review (Royal Navy) 75 (3): 248. July 1987.
  13. ↑ Pertek, Jerzy (1976). Wielkie dni małej floty. Poznań: Wydawn. Poznańskie. pp. 330, 331, 333.
  14. ↑ "Archival Fonds No. 081: Bohdan Pawłowicz Papers (date range: 1918-1967)". Pilsudski.org. Retrieved 2013-09-25.
  15. ↑ Symmons-Symonolewicz, Konstantin (1957). "Polish American Studies". Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America. 14-17: 51.
  16. ↑ "Odczyt o Polskiej Marynarce Wojenney". Dziennik Dla Wszystkich (Buffalo, NY). 1955-03-10. p. 14.
  17. ↑ Urbanski, Edmund Stephen (1995). "Some Polish and Polish American Contributions to Hispanic American Humanities". The Polish Review 40 (2): 205–206. JSTOR 25778844.
  18. ↑ Leaver, Betty Lou, ed. (April 2009). "Treasures of Polish Culture in Manhattan" (PDF). AATSEEL Newsletter 52 (2): 5.
  19. ↑ A.N. (1939-03-15). "Zlakiem wędrówki polskiej". Ilustrowana Republika (74 ed.) (Lodz, Poland). p. 8.
  20. ↑ "Archival Fonds No. 29: Bohdan Pawłowicz Papers (date range: 1927-1967)". Piasa.org. Retrieved 2013-09-25.
  21. ↑ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bohdan_Pawłowicz _1947-_1950_diary_title_page.jpg

External links