The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1919-02-27
w. O. Gorski, Stepson of
Great Paderewski, Writes
for Polish Relief Fund to
Thank City for Help.
HELENA PADEREWsKI WRITES
Wife of Great Composer and Polish
Leader Sends Letter From Poland
to Tell Of Chaotic Condition There
Urges Help from America.

!
Kenosha heard first hand of the
great national tragedy which has oc-
Cured in Poland when the Kenosha
Patriots Fund received from II. o.
Gorski, step-son of Paderewski, the
first provisional president of the Re-
public of Poland and from Mrs. Helena
Paderewski, wife Of the great composer,
and patriot, now with him in Poland,
letters thanking this city for its gen
crosby towards that nation. The lat
ter letter is especially interesting since
| it reveals the fortunes of the great
pianist now made equally famous
as a patriot.
In thanking the members of the Ke-
nosha Patriots Fund for their generous
subscription of six thousand dollars
recently, HI. O. Gorski, honorary execu-
tive secretary of the Polish Victims
Relief Fund, lauded Kenosha as one of
the cities which had given handsomely
to the fund He enclosed a report
showing that the money had brought
relief to the starving thousands in Po-
Land and had done it with dispatch.
The account given of the birth of
the new republic Of Poland in the letter
from Mrs. Helena Paderewski will be
especially interesting to the Polish peo-
pie of Kenosha. It is also one filled
with personal items in the life Of the
great composer which marks the letter
as one of historic interest.
The first incident deals with the at
tack on Paderewski in Posen which is
described as follows:
I'm Posen the Hotel Bazaar wherein
we stopped, was attacked by German
regiment with peculiar and special
ferocity. Five dumdum bullets enter
ed Mr.. Paderewski's room. During
FIVE days we lived in a truly war-ike
atmosphere. The hotels were trans
formed into a redoubt. Arms and am
munition were carried to it day and
night. In every window there was a
machine gun and we were defended
by our dear Polish soldiers, who stood
guard over us without a moment s re-
spite. Most of these brave boys were
still wearing the German uniforms
which the Germans had forcibly com
PEELED them to wear during the war.
Gotten times without food, without
any general to command them, the ac-
complished miracles. Tt was these
same Poles who had served in the Ger
man ranks against their wills, who took
Gnesno, Inowroclaw and disarmed the
German garrisons of occupation. On
the night of our departure they stormed
Ostrow, the frontier town, in order that
we might be the first ones to pass from
one part Of Poland to the other without
having to undergo German inspection"
The description of the patriotic fer
vor with which Paderewski entered his
native land is also shown in the letter.
"He was greeted as hberator,
savior,' it says. ttSuch greeting
could only be given by people whose
lot had been slavery for over one humid
red and forty years and which is COM
ing back to life and now standing on
the threshold of freedom
The letter despairs of any immedi-
ate peace or prosperity in the Polish
nation. It recounts the fact that aid
and that medicines and food are still
badly needed there. Mrs. Paderewski
has started hospital for the care of
Polish soldiers and is attempting to
organize the women of Poland into one
great society to care for the wounded.
This society is to be known as the
Polish White Cross and has already
gained many followers there.
The letter recalls German cruelty by
describing the condition of the prison
ers returned from German prison pens.
s'They arrived here hall naked, ',writes
Mrs. Paderewski, ssand so weakened
from starvation that they have to be
carried from the cattle cars There are
thousands and thousands of them and
we have so little medicine. My heart
breaks when I think of it all. -
The conclusion of the letter reveals
the fact that Paderewski, the great ar
fist, will return to the concert platform
as soon as he is not needed in his own
country. cit is our intention,'' she
says, "to return to America, the
country of freedom, this summer"
The letters again emphasize the i'm
portance of the Patriots Fund organi-
cation and are tribute to the generosi-
ty which met the movement in Kenosha.