On the weekend of 25 – 26 October 2014 Wellington celebrated everything Polish with a free event at the Wellington Museum City & Sea. It included a colourful performance of Polish folk dance, an exhibition, workshops, a book fair, panel discussions, a writers' corner and cooking shows.
The festival opened with a photo exhibition documenting the arrival of Polish refugee children in Pahiatua 70 years ago. Wellington City Mayor Celia Wade-Brown, Polish Ambassador Zbigniew Gniatkowski and Director of Museums Wellington Brett Mason gave speeches expressing the strong connection between the two countries created by this group of refugees.
Books and the role of literature in dealing with a difficult past also played an important role at the festival. Polish journalists, writers and poets participated in the launch of a new book, Give Us This Day: a Memoir of Family and Exile, panel discussions and presentations. Dr. Theresa Sawicka, Edward Sakowski, Melinda Szymanik, Helena Wisniewska-Brown, Alina Suchanski and Witold Domanski each read an excerpt from their books, most of them telling stories about the lives of the children from Pahiatua and their childrens' touching memories of tales their parents had told.
On a lighter note, Greet Pauwelijn, a book publisher, editor and translator delighted children and adults with her most recent book release. Belgian by birth but with a love of Poland and fluent in Polish, her new publication is an English translation of the iconic children’s book by Julian Tuwim, Mr. Miniscule and the Whale, (Pan Maluskiewicz i Wieloryb).
From the Polish Community Trust, Bay of Plenty, Eva Niedzielski and Halina Footner participated in the events and paid a visit to new Ambassador Zbigniew Gniatkowski at the Polish Embassy. On Monday, 27 October, there was another celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Pahiatua refugees at Dom Polski in Auckland, and Trust president David Niedzielski was there to represent the local Bay of Plenty Polonia. Auckland based Honorary Consul Boguslaw Nowak had the honour of hosting Deputy Marshal of the Senate of the Republic of Poland Maria Panczyk-Pozdziej, who had come to New Zealand on the occasion of the anniversary.
The festival opened with a photo exhibition documenting the arrival of Polish refugee children in Pahiatua 70 years ago. Wellington City Mayor Celia Wade-Brown, Polish Ambassador Zbigniew Gniatkowski and Director of Museums Wellington Brett Mason gave speeches expressing the strong connection between the two countries created by this group of refugees.
Books and the role of literature in dealing with a difficult past also played an important role at the festival. Polish journalists, writers and poets participated in the launch of a new book, Give Us This Day: a Memoir of Family and Exile, panel discussions and presentations. Dr. Theresa Sawicka, Edward Sakowski, Melinda Szymanik, Helena Wisniewska-Brown, Alina Suchanski and Witold Domanski each read an excerpt from their books, most of them telling stories about the lives of the children from Pahiatua and their childrens' touching memories of tales their parents had told.
On a lighter note, Greet Pauwelijn, a book publisher, editor and translator delighted children and adults with her most recent book release. Belgian by birth but with a love of Poland and fluent in Polish, her new publication is an English translation of the iconic children’s book by Julian Tuwim, Mr. Miniscule and the Whale, (Pan Maluskiewicz i Wieloryb).
From the Polish Community Trust, Bay of Plenty, Eva Niedzielski and Halina Footner participated in the events and paid a visit to new Ambassador Zbigniew Gniatkowski at the Polish Embassy. On Monday, 27 October, there was another celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Pahiatua refugees at Dom Polski in Auckland, and Trust president David Niedzielski was there to represent the local Bay of Plenty Polonia. Auckland based Honorary Consul Boguslaw Nowak had the honour of hosting Deputy Marshal of the Senate of the Republic of Poland Maria Panczyk-Pozdziej, who had come to New Zealand on the occasion of the anniversary.
