The Exile Mission: The Polish Political Diaspora and Polish Americans, 1939-1956

by Anna D. Jaroszynska-Kirchmann

Overview

At midcentury, two distinct Polish immigrant groups-those Polish Americans who were descendants of economic immigrants from the turn of the twentieth century and the Polish political refugees who chose exile after World War II and the communist takeover in Poland-faced an uneasy challenge to reconcile their concepts of responsibility toward the homeland.

The new arrivals did not consider themselves simply as immigrants, but rather as members of the special category of political refugees. They defined their identity within the framework of the exile mission, an unwritten set of beliefs, goals, and responsibilities, placing patriotic work for Poland at the center of Polish immigrant duties.

In The Exile Mission, an intriguing look at the interplay between the established Polish community and the refugee community, Anna Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann presents a tale of Polish Americans and Polish refugees who, like postwar Polish exile communities all over the world, worked out their own ways to implement the mission's main goals. Between the outbreak of World War II and 1956, as Professor Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann demonstrates, the exile mission in its most intense form remained at the core of relationships between these two groups.

The Exile Mission is a compelling analysis of the vigorous debate about ethnic identity and immigrant responsibility toward the homeland. It is the first full-length examination of the construction and impact of the exile mission on the interactions between political refugees and established ethnic communities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780821415276
Publisher:	Ohio University Press
Publication date:	10/15/2004
Series:	Polish and Polish American Studies
Edition description:	1
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

An associate professor of history at Eastern Connecticut State University, Anna D. Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann is the author of a number of articles on the history of the postwar Polish political diaspora, two of which received the Polish American Historical Association's Swastek Award in 2002 and 2003. The Exile Mission manuscript won the Kulczycki prize.

Editorial Reviews

"(The Exile Mission) makes it clear that Polonia is far from being a homogeneous group, and instead is quite diverse and complex. How it became so, during the terribly tragic conflicts and upheavals within our civilization between 1939 and 1956, is the focus of this study."--The Polish Review

"Jarosyńska-Kirchmann...has produced a solid analysis of the often contentious argument about ethnicity and obligation toward the homeland engendered by the infusion of political refugees into an increasingly Americanized Polonia. Her work is richly detailed with interviews, letters, journals, and a plethora of unpublished materials....an outstanding contribution to our knowledge of this period in American ethnic history."--American Communist History

From the Publisher