Böcker av Sophie Hodorowicz Knab

"A richly detailed and well-informed month-by-month accountingof all the major Polish customs and traditions practiced over the centuries.Ms. Knab stirs and reawakens our ancestral memory." ―The Kosciuszko Foundation Newsletter Now in a paperback edition with illustrations, historical blackand white photographs, and color photographs throughout the book! Thisunique, well-researched reference is arranged by month, showing the variousoccasions, feasts and holidays prominent in Polish culture―beginning withDecember it continues through Holy Week Customs, superstitions, beliefs andrituals associated with farming, Pentecost, Corpus Christi, midsummer, harvestfestival, wedding rites, Name Days, birth and death. There is also a chapter onPolish pastimes and games for children. Many of the customs and traditions described in the book havebeen lost even in today's modern Poland. World wars, massive immigration, theloss of the oral tradition, urbanization and politics have changed the face ofa once agrarian people and their way of life throughout the calendar year. Thechanges, however, have not been able to erase the memory of that way of lifecompletely. Manycommunities of the Polish diaspora throughout the world still feelconnected to Poland and choose to reenact harvest celebrations, remindingthemselves of their ancestors' reverence for the grains and gifts of bread. Thesharing of oplatek, the Christmas Eve wafer, and the words of love whiledoing so, continue to bind family and friends together. Although thepurpose and meaning may have been lost and forgotten, the oczepiny ceremony(the unveiling) is still the mainstay of almost every wedding where the bridedeclares Polish heritage. This invaluable resource isperfect for anyone who claims Polish ancestry, diligently practicing that whichthey learned at their parents' and grandparents' knees. It is for families whowish to teach Polish heritage and customs to their children, and for anyoneseeking to learn more about their Slavic roots.

“They are works of art that speak to the creative spirit that once stirred within a heart to carve a statue, to gather stones to build a foundation, or gather words to form a poem or mix colors for a painting; they are messages from the past telling what at one time was important to this person, to this village, to a city block.”—from the author’s IntroductionIt is said that every country has its own genus loci or “spirit of place.” Poland’s distinct character can be found in the tens of thousands of roadside chapels, crosses and shrines that dot both its cities and countryside. A thousand years of Christianity, and the Polish Catholic tradition in particular, have left their mark on the country’s landscape. It is impossible not to notice the religious statues and little chapels that seem to be everywhere. Enter a courtyard in Warsaw or Kraków and discover a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary mounted on a pedestal with fresh flowers at her feet. Drive through a small town, and you’ll spy a niche under the eaves of a home containing a figure of the Sacred Heart of Jesus or a little wooden box on a tree holding a small image of Our Lady of Częstochowa. All of them seem to blend harmoniously with the environment and beautify it. What are these objects? What do they mean? How did they come to be in this particular place? Why are they important?Acclaimed Polish-American author Sophie Hodorowicz Knab explores the origins and purposes of these roadside shrines, examining the different types of shrines and the significance of the various religious figures represented in them to the people of Poland. Additional chapters are devoted to the artists and sculptors who created the shrines, the role these local shrines played in the annual holidays, customs and traditions of the community, and their role in everyday life as well as death. Color photographs throughout depict the artistry and local setting of these shrines.This exploration of Poland’s roadside shrines is a unique lens through which the reader can learn about Polish history and culture. For anyone interested in Polish history, religious traditions, art and ancestry, this book offers much to explore.

“My mother, who was a Polish forced laborer from 1942 to 1945, never talked to me about her life during the war. Now I know. With a great combination of scholarly research and moving first person accounts, Knab’s Wearing the Letter P vividly describes the terrible, heartbreaking ordeal that my mother and hundreds of thousands of Poles suffered. She expertly sheds light on a part of World War II that’s been totally ignored.”—Charles Belfoure, author of The Paris Architect  “In years to come, Wearing the Letter P will be the book to which readers turn to understand what the Germans did to the almost 2 million Poles who were taken to Germany as slave and forced laborers.  Blending a thorough search of historical documents with the personal narratives of girls and women who were taken to Germany, Knab recreates the story of what happened to the women of Poland like no other historian has done.  If you want to know what happened, this is the book to read.” —John Guzlowski, author of Echoes of Tattered Tongues: Memory Unfolded                                          “A sober and revealing history of Polish forced laborers during World War II, victims of the Nazis who have been neglected in accounts of the Third Reich.  Exceptionally well-researched, this study combines critical data with personal testimony and many illustrations to make visible and visceral to readers the plight of these men, women and children.”—Elizabeth R. Baer, editor of Experience and Expression: Women, The Nazis, and the HolocaustRequired to sew a large letter "P" onto their jackets, thousands of women, some as young as age 12, were taken from their homes in Poland and forced to work in Hitler’s Germany for months and years on end. As mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters, female Polish forced laborers faced a unique set of challenges and often unspeakable conditions because of their gender. Compelled to learn more about her own mother’s experience as a forced laborer, Sophie Hodorowicz Knab embarked on a personal quest to uncover details about this overlooked aspect of World War II history. She conducted extensive research in archives in the U.S., London, and Warsaw for over 14 years to piece together facts and individual stories.Knab explains how it all happened, from the beginning of Nazi occupation in Poland to liberation: the roundups; the horrors of transit camps; the living and working conditions of Polish women in agriculture and industry; and the anguish of sexual exploitation and forced abortions—all under the constant threat of concentration camps. Knab draws from documents, government and family records, rare photos, and most importantly, numerous victim accounts and diaries, letters and trial testimonies, finally giving these women a voice and bringing to light the atrocities that they endured.