From Poland with Love

18.10.2017

—14.01.2018

The exhibition From Poland with Love is a story of Poles‘ gratitude for American support in regaining independence in 1918. It was expressed in 111-volume Polish Declarations of Admiration and Friendship for the United States, signed by 5.5 million Poles, i.e. 20 per cent of the country population, in 1926.

Event date

18.10.2017

Wednesday

— 14.01.2018 (Sunday)

10:00

From Poland with Love

The exhibition From Poland with Love is a story of Poles‘ gratitude for American support in regaining independence in 1918. It was expressed in 111-volume Polish Declarations of Admiration and Friendship for the United States, signed by 5.5 million Poles,...

Exhibitions

Organized by: the capital city of Warsaw, the Ronald Reagan Foundation in Poland and the History Meeting House.
Content-based execution: the KARTA centre.
Partners: The Polish Library in Washington, the Polish History Museum.

Exhibition production:

Conceptual work: Zbigniew Gluza,

Selection and text arrangement: Adam Safaryjski, Zuzanna Schnepf-Kołacz,

Iconography: Joanna Łuba, Arrangement and design: Kłaput Project.

Content-based producers would like to thank dr Ryszard Schnepf, the former ambassador of the United States (initiative and the title), dr Grażyna Żebrowska, Samuel Ponczak, Krzysztof Willmann, Nicholas Siekierski, Dorota Wysocka-Schnepf, Grzegorz Kołacz.

The exhibition is a story of the Polish-American relations manifested by Polish Declarations of Admiration and Friendship for the United States stored in the Library of American Congress. A hundred years ago the USA not only acknowledged Polish sovereignty as the prerequisite of peace in Europe, but it also provided financial support of approximately 200 million dollars to the Second Polish Republic. American relief mission, with future US president Herbert Hoover as its director, actively contributed to securing newly regained independence by Poland.

Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Herbert Hoover became the embodiment of support for Polish people. One can see tokens of their gratitude in Warsaw to this day. The square at Krakowskie Przedmieście was in 1922 named Hoover Square (a non-existent now monument Gratitude to America sculpted by Xavery Dunikowski was erected there as well), and the main square in Żoliborz was in 1926 named Wilson Square.

The exhibition is composed of four large-size installations at Krakowskie Przedmieście and multimedia production containing full Polish Declarations of Admiration and Friendship for the United States in the History Meeting House. The portal polska1926.pl will make it possible to find individual people out of 5.5 million signatories who signed the declaration 91 years ago.

The exhibition has three themes – American diplomatic support for Poland (1915-1919), American financial support for Poland (1919-1922), and the act of collective gratitude, Polish Declarations of Admiration and Friendship (1926), which is the capstone of the exhibition.