“We were exposing ourselves to trouble”. 25th anniversary of establishing the Sociocultural Association of Poles in Lithuania.

This Sunday at the House of Polish Culture in Lithuania the 25^th anniversary of establishing the Sociocultural Association of Poles in Lithuania will be celebrated. The Association was the first independent public organization in Lithuania.

The ceremony is due to start at 10.00 am. “We’ll meet at the hall. There will be Polish, Lithuanian and European Union flag. “Rota” will be sung. Then I will give a speech to commemorate those who created our organization at the very beginning” – said Jan Andrzejewski, one of the organizers of the Sunday’s ceremony.

After the official part there will be a concert and then a reminiscent discussion.

According to Jan Andrzejewski, the aim of the meeting is to honour all the activists who were creating the organization. J. Andrzejewski emphasizes that the meeting’s aim is to join and not to divide. “There is no difference between nowadays’ Poles in Lithuania and those who lived here between 1988 and 1989. Maybe it is the fact that at that time we were exposing ourselves to consequences from the authorities but we didn’t think about it. Nobody knew that the Soviet Union would fall down within several years” – stressed J. Andrzejewski.

“It’s not possible to mention every single activist who took part in rebuilding polishness. Those were: Jan Hermanowicz, Jan Sienkiewicz, Zbigniew Balcewicz, Janina i Romuald Gieczewscy, Romuald Brazis, Bronisława Siwicka, Stefania i Ryszard Kuźmowie, Wacław Baranowski, R. Balul, Czesław Okińczyc, Jan Ciechanowicz, Stanisław Ilcewicz, Jan Kozicz, Aldona Tuczkowska, Jerzy Barancewicz, Karol Śnieżko, Jerzy Bohusz, Ryszard Jaroszewicz, Michał Werweczko, Jan Szuszkiewicz, Danuta Nazarenko, Romek Rotkiewicz, Halina Choroszewska, Zbigniew Kuczewski, Józef Szlachtowicz, Romuald Zajkowski, Tadeusz Kleczkowski, Stanisława, Michał i Kostek Runiewiczowie, Krystyna Adamowicz, Bronisława Kondratowicz, Edward Piórko, Henryk Sosnowski, Wiesław Pletenicki, Janina Danowska, Danuta Kuzborska, Julita Tryk, Henryk Połoński, Lilia Brazis, Jan Wyszomirski, Mieczysław Subiel, Zenon Bohdanowicz, Jan Jarmałkowicz, Stanisław Tuczkowski, Władysław Ławrynowicz, Paweł Giedroyć, Irena Lipska, Marek Bodek, Tadeusz Siemaszko, Władysław Korkuć, Aleksander Sokołowski, Aleksander Śnieżko, Zygmunt Klonowski, Józef Szostakowski, Wanda Kuczewska, Renata Brasel, Henryk Mażul, Romuald Mieczkowski,Stanisław Olszewski, Bolesław Dowidowicz, Jan Andrzejewski, Fryderyk Szturmowicz, and many others. All the Poles wanted to act in favour of polishness so the people mentioned and those who were not deserve to be held in high regard” – as it was written in a special statement.

Source: http://zw.lt/wilno-wilenszczyzna/wtedy-narazalismy-sie-wladzom-25-lecie-powstania-stowarzyszenia-spoleczno-kulturalnego-polakow-na-litwie/

Tłumaczenie by Elżbieta Szafarz w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Elżbieta Szafarz within the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.