Edward Moskal
Encyclopedia
Edward Moskal was a longtime and outspoken president of the Polish National Alliance
(PNA) and the Polish American Congress
(PAC).
His 60-plus-year career with PNA led him to a private meeting with Pope John Paul II
, several humanitarian-related trips to Poland, and an appointment by United States President
Bill Clinton
to accompany Vice President
Al Gore
at the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
anniversary ceremonies in Warsaw.
Poland's President Lech Wałęsa
awarded him the second highest civilian honor of the Republic of Poland, the Commander's Cross with Star. He was also made an honorary citizen of the city of Kraków
, Poland. The title of Honorary Doctor was bestowed upon him by the University of Poznań
Medical School in 1997.
Edward Moskal died on March 22, 2005, aged 80, in Chicago. He suffered from Diabetes, and succumbed to complications after a long period of illness. Over the 2 day Wake and Mass, the Church of St. John Cantius, where he was a lifetime member, reported that over 3000 people paid their respects.
in which nearly 2,300 delegates participated representing various Polish and Polish-American organizations. The main goal of the PAC was to help Poland in its struggle for independence by lobbying the US government.
The Congress elected Karol Rozmarek as the first president of the PAC.
Under his leadership PAC was the Polish lobby.
He was succeeded in 1968 by Aloysius Mazewski, who continued this tradition.
Moskal believed that PAC and PNA should go their separate ways because the PAC cost PNA too much.
Some members objected to Moskal's elaborate wining and dining of the last Polish communist counsel general in Chicago, Czerwinski, a rumored secret police [SB] agent.
Many PAC members were annoyed with Mazewski when he stated that Moskal, elected by All-Polonia Congress as treasurer, had a mandate to dine with whom he pleased.
Moskal did not separate the PNA from PAC as he had previously suggested, and instead took over the function of the president of this political arm of Polonia.
During this nearly 20-year period, smaller Polish American fraternal groups merged with the PNA, which had already become the largest ethnic fraternal organization in the United States.
The PNA began broadcasting by radio station WPNA (1490 AM) in the Chicago area.
Determined to secure the financial independence and growth of the PNA, he expanded the interests to the organization to include banking institutions under the name of Alliance FSB with branches in Niles
and Chicago, Illinois.
He instituted a complete computerization of the Home Office in Chicago
.
Constantly interested in keeping current with modern trends, he led the PNA into the new world of Internet communications with the creation of a website and widespread e-mail correspondence.
The members and leadership were faced with deciding whether or not to continue the PAC with a new goal, or to abandon it.
NATO enlargement to include Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic was deemed a worthwhile.
The Democrat who followed, Bill Clinton, did not focus on foreign policy during his first term and was ambivalent about the cause.
Moskal and representatives of the Czech and the Hungarians ethnic groups called on the US to support NATO enlargement.
As elections were close and the votes of these ethnic groups could decide if Clinton would be elected to a second term, their argument was persuasive, and Clinton expressed his support for NATO enlargement.
This in itself did not make NATO enlargement a reality.
The act had to be ratified in the Senate with 2/3 of the vote (67).
One of those concerned was Kazimierz Lukomski, vice president and head of the Commission for Polish Affairs, for years the "soul" of all major initiatives involving Poland.
Moskal began to push Lukomski aside and undertake decisions without consulting the Commission for Polish Affairs, even neglecting to notify it of his decisions.
I refuse to accept that and at the same time I do not have any means of opposing his misdeeds.
Apart from few very narrow instances; I am shoved aside here in Chicago.
Moskal is able to pull to his side everyone, along with our independents, who no longer care that he supports diplomats of the communist regime like Czerwinski, or sings songs of praise to General Wojciech Jaruzelski
."
, Moskal was critical of Jewish influence, criticizing Poland's alleged vassalage with regard to Jews.
He supported his argument by referring to the act of the Sejm
(the lower house of the Polish parliament) whose goal was to return Jewish property swiftly.
Similar acts became law in Romania
, Hungary
, and Austria
, and were considered by the Czech Republic
.
In a letter Moskal added a reference to "the murder by Israel of innocent women and children who were sheltered in UN camps in Lebanon
."
Moskal transformed the PAC from its Polish-oriented lobbying active mostly in Washington to greater activity in Warsaw.
His criticisms of Israel and the Jewish lobbying groups internationally became a focus of attention.
The American Jewish Congress
(AJC), called Moskal an anti-Semite.
In a letter to Prime Minister Buzek he criticized the nomination of Wladyslaw Bartoszewski
as a member of the Remembrance Committee. (Bartoszewski was an inmate in Auschwitz). The letter ended: "It brings me comfort to think that, with God's help, you shall be prime minister only until the spring."
Under the headline: "Another Trojan horse of Jewish organizations", Moskal reflected: "Who employs Kieres. Aren't these the lackeys who, feeling strange guilt, yield to Jewish demands.." In the same statement he advises Jews: "It would be better if they treated Palestinians properly without killing their children. Terrible is the image of a young Palestinian protected by his own father against Israeli gunfire, moments later dead from the bullets of these 'heroes'."
The American Jewish Committee
severed its longtime ties with the PAC in 1996 after Moskal wrote a letter to Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski
, criticizing him and other Polish leaders for being too conciliatory toward Jews.
He made headlines a few years later when he speculated that Polish war hero Jan Nowak-Jeziorański
was a Nazi
collaborator.
In 2002, when Rahm Emanuel
pursued the U.S. House seat in the 5th District of Illinois, Moskal supported former Illinois State Representative Nancy Kaszak. Moskal called Emanuel a "millionaire carpetbagger
who knows nothing" about "our heritage". Moskal also charged that Emanuel had dual citizenship
with Israel
and had served in the Israeli Army. Emanuel's father was an Israeli immigrant. Emanuel was a civilian volunteer assisting the Israel Defense Forces
for a short time during the 1991 Gulf War
.
Governor
Jim Edgar
to task at a Pulaski (Kazimierz Pułaski) Day event in 1996, demanding the ouster of then state Education Superintendent Joseph A. Spagnolo for failing to order Illinois schools to teach about Pulaski, a Revolutionary War
hero who was born in Poland.
When the late syndicated columnist Ann Landers used a racially derogatory term to describe Pope John Paul II in The New Yorker
, Moskal quipped, "She should have shut up after she made the nice remark about the pope."
Polish National Alliance
The Polish National Alliance is the largest and one of the oldest Polish fraternal organizations in the United States, founded on 15 February 1880 in Philadelphia under the influence of Polish patriot Agaton Giller. Its first president was Juliusz Andrzejkowicz.The PNA founded a number of...
(PNA) and the Polish American Congress
Polish American Congress
The Polish American Congress is a U.S. umbrella organization of Polish-Americans and Polish-American organizations.Its membership is composed of fraternal, educational, veterans, religious, cultural, social, business, and political organizations, as well as individuals.As of January 2009, it lists...
(PAC).
Early life, awards, honors, and death
Moskal was born to a Polish immigrant couple who owned restaurant and catering businesses. Chicago's St. John Cantius School, which focused on the children of Polish Catholic immigrants, provided his education. He became an insurance broker and completed a three-year tour in the U.S. Army before joining the PNA in 1942.His 60-plus-year career with PNA led him to a private meeting with Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
, several humanitarian-related trips to Poland, and an appointment by United States President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
to accompany Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
at the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the Jewish resistance that arose within the Warsaw Ghetto in German occupied Poland during World War II, and which opposed Nazi Germany's effort to transport the remaining ghetto population to Treblinka extermination camp....
anniversary ceremonies in Warsaw.
Poland's President Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A charismatic leader, he co-founded Solidarity , the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 95.Wałęsa was an electrician...
awarded him the second highest civilian honor of the Republic of Poland, the Commander's Cross with Star. He was also made an honorary citizen of the city of Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
, Poland. The title of Honorary Doctor was bestowed upon him by the University of Poznań
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan
Adam Mickiewicz University is one of the major Polish universities, located in the city of Poznań in western Poland. It opened on May 7, 1919, and since 1955 has carried the name of the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz.-History:...
Medical School in 1997.
Edward Moskal died on March 22, 2005, aged 80, in Chicago. He suffered from Diabetes, and succumbed to complications after a long period of illness. Over the 2 day Wake and Mass, the Church of St. John Cantius, where he was a lifetime member, reported that over 3000 people paid their respects.
Polish National Alliance (PNA) and Polish American Congress (PAC)
PAC, an umbrella organization of 1,200 Polish-American fraternal, veteran and cultural groups, was established in May 1944 by a large Congress of PoloniaPolonia
The Polish diaspora refers to people of Polish origin who live outside Poland. The Polish diaspora is also known in modern Polish language as Polonia, which is the name for Poland in Latin and in many other Romance languages....
in which nearly 2,300 delegates participated representing various Polish and Polish-American organizations. The main goal of the PAC was to help Poland in its struggle for independence by lobbying the US government.
The Congress elected Karol Rozmarek as the first president of the PAC.
Under his leadership PAC was the Polish lobby.
He was succeeded in 1968 by Aloysius Mazewski, who continued this tradition.
Moskal becomes PNA treasurer
The treasurer of Polish National Alliance from 1967, Moskal always opposed Mazewski, and PAC was at the center of their disagreements.Moskal believed that PAC and PNA should go their separate ways because the PAC cost PNA too much.
Some members objected to Moskal's elaborate wining and dining of the last Polish communist counsel general in Chicago, Czerwinski, a rumored secret police [SB] agent.
Many PAC members were annoyed with Mazewski when he stated that Moskal, elected by All-Polonia Congress as treasurer, had a mandate to dine with whom he pleased.
Moskal becomes PNA and PAC president
Moskal was elected president of both PNA and PAC in 1988, and left the position of teasurer.Moskal did not separate the PNA from PAC as he had previously suggested, and instead took over the function of the president of this political arm of Polonia.
During this nearly 20-year period, smaller Polish American fraternal groups merged with the PNA, which had already become the largest ethnic fraternal organization in the United States.
The PNA began broadcasting by radio station WPNA (1490 AM) in the Chicago area.
Determined to secure the financial independence and growth of the PNA, he expanded the interests to the organization to include banking institutions under the name of Alliance FSB with branches in Niles
Niles, Illinois
Niles is a village in Maine and Niles Townships, Cook County, Illinois, United States. The 2010 population from the U.S. Census Bureau is 29,803.The current mayor of Niles is Robert M. Callero.-History:Niles was first settled in 1827....
and Chicago, Illinois.
He instituted a complete computerization of the Home Office in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
.
Constantly interested in keeping current with modern trends, he led the PNA into the new world of Internet communications with the creation of a website and widespread e-mail correspondence.
Independence for Poland and decision on the fate of PAC
The forming goal of PAC, independence for Poland, was accomplished in 1989/1990.The members and leadership were faced with deciding whether or not to continue the PAC with a new goal, or to abandon it.
NATO enlargement to include Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic was deemed a worthwhile.
NATO Enlargement
President George Bush Sr. supported enlargement.The Democrat who followed, Bill Clinton, did not focus on foreign policy during his first term and was ambivalent about the cause.
Moskal and representatives of the Czech and the Hungarians ethnic groups called on the US to support NATO enlargement.
As elections were close and the votes of these ethnic groups could decide if Clinton would be elected to a second term, their argument was persuasive, and Clinton expressed his support for NATO enlargement.
This in itself did not make NATO enlargement a reality.
The act had to be ratified in the Senate with 2/3 of the vote (67).
Ideological concerns
Some PAC activists became ideologically worried about Moskal.One of those concerned was Kazimierz Lukomski, vice president and head of the Commission for Polish Affairs, for years the "soul" of all major initiatives involving Poland.
Moskal began to push Lukomski aside and undertake decisions without consulting the Commission for Polish Affairs, even neglecting to notify it of his decisions.
Accusations of Communist sympathies
In a letter to Jan Krawiec dated May 28, 1991, Lukomski rationalizing his decision to resign as Vice president of PAC and the Commission for Polish Affairs wrote: "Moskal treats the PAC just as he does the Polish National Alliance as his private fiefdom.I refuse to accept that and at the same time I do not have any means of opposing his misdeeds.
Apart from few very narrow instances; I am shoved aside here in Chicago.
Moskal is able to pull to his side everyone, along with our independents, who no longer care that he supports diplomats of the communist regime like Czerwinski, or sings songs of praise to General Wojciech Jaruzelski
Wojciech Jaruzelski
Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski is a retired Polish military officer and Communist politician. He was the last Communist leader of Poland from 1981 to 1989, Prime Minister from 1981 to 1985 and the country's head of state from 1985 to 1990. He was also the last commander-in-chief of the Polish People's...
."
Accusations of anti-Semitic views
At the beginning of 1996 Moskal wrote a letter to then Polish president Aleksander KwaśniewskiAleksander Kwasniewski
Aleksander Kwaśniewski is a Polish politician who served as the President of Poland from 1995 to 2005. He was born in Białogard, and during communist rule he was active in the Socialist Union of Polish Students and was the Minister for Sport in the communist government in the 1980s...
, Moskal was critical of Jewish influence, criticizing Poland's alleged vassalage with regard to Jews.
He supported his argument by referring to the act of the Sejm
Sejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
(the lower house of the Polish parliament) whose goal was to return Jewish property swiftly.
Similar acts became law in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, and were considered by the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
.
In a letter Moskal added a reference to "the murder by Israel of innocent women and children who were sheltered in UN camps in Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
."
Moskal transformed the PAC from its Polish-oriented lobbying active mostly in Washington to greater activity in Warsaw.
His criticisms of Israel and the Jewish lobbying groups internationally became a focus of attention.
The American Jewish Congress
American Jewish Congress
The American Jewish Congress describes itself as an association of Jewish Americans organized to defend Jewish interests at home and abroad through public policy advocacy, using diplomacy, legislation, and the courts....
(AJC), called Moskal an anti-Semite.
In a letter to Prime Minister Buzek he criticized the nomination of Wladyslaw Bartoszewski
Wladyslaw Bartoszewski
Władysław Bartoszewski is a Polish politician, social activist, journalist, writer, historian, former Auschwitz concentration camp prisoner, World War II Resistance fighter, Polish underground activist, participant of the Warsaw Uprising, twice the Minister of Foreign Affairs, chevalier of the...
as a member of the Remembrance Committee. (Bartoszewski was an inmate in Auschwitz). The letter ended: "It brings me comfort to think that, with God's help, you shall be prime minister only until the spring."
Under the headline: "Another Trojan horse of Jewish organizations", Moskal reflected: "Who employs Kieres. Aren't these the lackeys who, feeling strange guilt, yield to Jewish demands.." In the same statement he advises Jews: "It would be better if they treated Palestinians properly without killing their children. Terrible is the image of a young Palestinian protected by his own father against Israeli gunfire, moments later dead from the bullets of these 'heroes'."
The American Jewish Committee
American Jewish Committee
The American Jewish Committee was "founded in 1906 with the aim of rallying all sections of American Jewry to defend the rights of Jews all over the world...
severed its longtime ties with the PAC in 1996 after Moskal wrote a letter to Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Aleksander Kwasniewski
Aleksander Kwaśniewski is a Polish politician who served as the President of Poland from 1995 to 2005. He was born in Białogard, and during communist rule he was active in the Socialist Union of Polish Students and was the Minister for Sport in the communist government in the 1980s...
, criticizing him and other Polish leaders for being too conciliatory toward Jews.
He made headlines a few years later when he speculated that Polish war hero Jan Nowak-Jeziorański
Jan Nowak-Jezioranski
Jan Nowak-Jeziorański was a Polish journalist, writer, politician, social worker and patriot. He served during the Second World War as one of the most notable resistance fighters of the Home Army...
was a Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
collaborator.
In 2002, when Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Israel Emanuel is an American politician and the 55th and current Mayor of Chicago. He was formerly White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama...
pursued the U.S. House seat in the 5th District of Illinois, Moskal supported former Illinois State Representative Nancy Kaszak. Moskal called Emanuel a "millionaire carpetbagger
Carpetbagger
Carpetbaggers was a pejorative term Southerners gave to Northerners who moved to the South during the Reconstruction era, between 1865 and 1877....
who knows nothing" about "our heritage". Moskal also charged that Emanuel had dual citizenship
Multiple citizenship
Multiple citizenship is a status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a citizen under the laws of more than one state. Multiple citizenships exist because different countries use different, and not necessarily mutually exclusive, citizenship requirements...
with Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and had served in the Israeli Army. Emanuel's father was an Israeli immigrant. Emanuel was a civilian volunteer assisting the Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
for a short time during the 1991 Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
.
Other actions
He took former IllinoisIllinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
Governor
Governor of Illinois
The Governor of Illinois is the chief executive of the State of Illinois and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by popular suffrage of residents of the state....
Jim Edgar
Jim Edgar
James Edgar is an American politician who was the 38th Governor of Illinois from 1991 to 1999 and Illinois Secretary of State from 1981 to 1991. As a moderate Republican in a largely blue-leaning state, Edgar was a popular and successful governor, leaving office with high approval ratings...
to task at a Pulaski (Kazimierz Pułaski) Day event in 1996, demanding the ouster of then state Education Superintendent Joseph A. Spagnolo for failing to order Illinois schools to teach about Pulaski, a Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
hero who was born in Poland.
When the late syndicated columnist Ann Landers used a racially derogatory term to describe Pope John Paul II in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, Moskal quipped, "She should have shut up after she made the nice remark about the pope."
External links
- Home page of the Polish National Alliance (Pol:Związek Narodowy Polski)
- Home page of the Polish American Congress
- Polish language site, needs description.
- Polish language site, needs description.
- Polish language site, needs description.
- Polish language site, needs description.
- Polish language site, needs description.
- Polish language site, needs description.