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The Longest Birthday Card in the History of the World
The Polish Declarations of Admiration and Friendship for the United States is a collection of 111 volumes containing signatures of approximately five and a half million Polish citizens. In 1926, thanks to the unprecedented effort and enthusiasm of newly free Poles, one-sixth of the entire population of the Second Polish Republic signed the Declarations over the course of just eight months. The signatures came from all nooks and crannies of the newly reborn country. Its thirty thousand pages, many of them magnificently illustrated, were eventually bound into 111 volumes; the books were presented to President Calvin Coolidge on the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence as a gift of thanks for the United States' key role helping Poland regain independence in 1918.
The Declarations are both an emblem of goodwill between two nations and a snapshot of life in 1926 Poland. On its pages one can find the most important people in Poland: President Ignacy Moscicki, Marshal Josef Pilsudski, members of parliament and other government officials, members of the military, prominent businessmen and academics. However, the vast majority of signatures came from over five million students and their teachers. Since class pictures often accompany the names, these pages offer unique insight into the linguistically and culturally diverse life of the Second Polish Republic -- from rural areas in the East to the vibrant city life of its capital, Warsaw. Since then, borders have shifted, particularly in the aftermath of the Second World War, and many of the towns and villages that feature in the Declarations are no longer part of Poland.
Even when unaccompanied by photographs, the signatures themselves are powerful -- they often serve as the only mementos of people who perished during World War II, which broke out just thirteen years later and took over six million lives of Polish citizens. On the centennial of diplomatic relations between Poland and the US, take a look at a particular, joyous moment in time and join us in celebration our friendship today. Sto lat! [One hundred years!] |