Dzieje Najnowsze of the Institute of History of the Polish
Academy of Sciences (Issue no 2 of 2016) has published the Polish language
article containing groundbreaking research on Reverend Orlemanski. The English abstract appears below.
As this journal is not readily available in the US an English abstract of
the material is included.
If you wish to purchase a copy a link to the publishing
house (Wydawnictwo DIG) can be found below.
http://www.polishhistory.pl/index.php?id=17&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=4377&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=54&cHash=5bc9fe9ba22e6d651db87697cefff7c5
Not Simply a Visit With Stalin – Rev.
Stanislaus Orlemanski and His Brothers
For the past 71 years the life of Rev. Stanislaus Orlemanski
has been described by a series of catchphrases, the summary of which reads – a
Polish-American Communist who invited himself to Moscow, an overconfident
country bumpkin who thought he could outsmart Stalin, a priest who departed
without the permission of his diocesenal superior.
Reverend Stanislaus was not the most radical of the
Orlemanski brothers, rather it was Casimir, who was deeply engaged in the
Pittsburgh union movement and is well known to students of the US Labor
movement. Reverend Stanislaus was well
known to the Polish-American community - the leading conservative paper – Dziennik Związkowy, published his
articles criticizing the description of Poles and Italians in the Catholic
Encyclopedia. In the ensuing years,
Orlemanski’s articles appeared in both Polish and English language press.
The decision that Stanislaus Orlemanski was to travel to
Moscow was made some six months prior to his departure, during the Moscow
Conference of October 1943. This
decision is multiplaned and relates not only to the 1944 US Presidential
election, but also to a future Polish government as well as Stalin’s desire to
impress both Anglican’s and Roman Catholics with his openness to religion. Clearly
FDR and his closest advisors saw the benefits of this proposal as did the
Soviet government. Efforts to include clergy
in the “Wasilewska” government involved Fr. Walter Ciszek, SJ and Fr. Wilhelm
Kubsz.
Mid-January 1944
correspondence of Ambassador Harriman with Washington relates that the People’s
Commissar of the USSR had proposed that Krzycki, Lange and Orlemanski all serve
as members of a future Polish government. Stalin’s late January 1944 letter to
Roosevelt requesting issuance of passports to Orlemanski and Lange served as a
camouflage for FDR; while his response to Stalin attempts to distance himself
from the project. A passport was issued,
as were permits for travel from the US Western Defense Command and the Alaska
Defense Command, as well as others valid for travel through Egypt, Iraq and
Persia (Iran) confirming the deep involvement of the US Government in this
project.
Correspondence from the US National Catholic Welfare
Conference to the Papal Nuncio in Washington sent prior to the departure of
Orlemanski and contains specific references to his probable position in the
future government. The well-publicized
suspension of Reverend Orlemanski was simply pro forma and lasted but several
days. Drafts of his apology are located
in NCWC files. Finally, the invitation to participate in the 50th
anniversary celebrations of a strongly anti-communist Cardinal of the Curia,
confirm at the least, that the Vatican was aware that Orlemanski was not an
agent.
What is now left to discover is the text of the Stalin
document transmitted for Orlemanski by Father Marie Leopold Braun from Moscow
to the Vatican and the Roman Curia’s full analysis of this document. That must await the declassification of the
Pope Pius XII records held by the Vatican. What is clear is that the Rev. Stanislaus
Orlemanski, although a leftist, was not a radical anomaly but rather an intensely
pro-Polish US citizen who saw the sole enemy as Germany and supported any
organization that fought against the enemy.
