Personal Heritage Paper
Alyson Marczynski
For most of my life I’ve felt a strong connection to my Polish heritage. Although I am only half
Polish and until fairly recently did not really know much about this side of the family, this is the ethnicity
I generally identify with. Perhaps it is because the Polish aspects of my identity are more easily
distinguishable, such as my last name or the fact that I called my grandparents DziaDzia and Busia.
Whatever the reason, my Polish heritage has been a large part of my identity for my whole life, and
through the process of writing this paper I’ve been able to understand why a little more clearly.
My father’s side of the family emigrated from Poland between 1910 and 1912. They were not
particularly wealthy, and did not speak English, therefore fitting the profile of the majority of the 3
million Polish immigrants who came to the United States between 1870 and 1914 (McGoldrick,
Giordano & Garcia-Preto, 2005). My great-grandparents Maryanne and Stanley Dziekan met and
married in Chicago. Maryanne was a homemaker who raised chickens on the little land they owned on
the outskirts of Chicago (Figure 1). Stanley
came to the United States with a little bit of
money and worked as a businessman of sorts,
although he was not very educated so had
Figure 1
trouble advancing. My other great grandparents Mary and Casimer Marczynski met in the United States
as well, and settled in New York. They were farmers and owned a small amount of land outside of
Buffalo, which they used mostly for subsistence farming because they had a very large family with eight
children. My DziaDzia, Edward Marczynski, and Busia, Jeanette Dziekan, met while Edward was in the
army during World War II. They married in 1946 and settled in Chicago near Jeanette’s family. They lived
in Chicago until around 1983 when they retired and moved back to New York to be near Edward’s family
in Dunkirk. Jeanette worked as a server at the Chicago stockyards during large conventions and such,
and occasionally worked in bakeries as well. Edward was a stock foreman for a wire making company
and held various other similar positions (G. Marczynski, personal communication, July 7, 2009).
For the most part, the first two generations of my
family in the United States was fairly typical for PolishAmericans at the time. They weren’t particularly educated,
held various unskilled jobs, many in factories (Figure 2), and
lived in large urban centers with other Polish immigrants.
With my father things began to slowly change, although this
is also somewhat typical. My father grew up in Chicago, and
Figure 2
attended Catholic schools up until college; however he did not learn extensive Polish and began to break
away from his Polish heritage a bit. He is a first generation college student and the only person in his
family to receive a doctorate. He also caused some disturbance in the family by marrying not only
someone who wasn’t Polish, but also a non-Catholic (G. Marczynski, personal communication, July 7,
2009). McGoldrick, Giordano and Garcia-Preto (2005) noted that within the Polish American community
marriage choices typically had more to do with ethnicity than love, and trouble often occurred when
intermarriage occurred outside the community, especially with non-Catholics, as was seen so clearly
with my parent’s marriage. However distraught my Busia was initially with my father’s choice, she got
over it eventually and accepted my mother into the family, especially when it became clear that my
brother and I would be raised Catholic, which was a big concern.
Many of the values and characteristics that are classically associated with Polish families are
very evident in my family. Probably the most significant being the close ties to the Catholic church, as
this was a large part of my childhood mostly from the influence of my grandparents. As McGoldrick,
Giordano and Garcia-Preto (2005) note, “The Roman Catholic belief system has played such an
influential role in the history of Poland that being Polish is
synonymous with being Catholic” (p. 479). The belief in the
sacramental aspect of the Catholic faith is one that is particularly
easy to see in my Polish heritage. I have personally had four of
the seven sacraments, which was very important to my Busia,
although first communion seems to hold the most significance
for my family. First communion was a large family event, and
professional photographs were always taken of each person in
Figure 3
their communion attire (Figure 3). It was only recently that I realized that not everyone had professional
photographs taken in their communion dress, but this is something that was always done in my family.
Although I have disconnected from the Catholic Church as I’ve gotten older, the Catholic
tradition has definitely shaped who I am today. I really enjoy many of the traditions of the church, and
find some comfort in the structure of the church, although I find myself at odds with most of the belief
system. This is probably because my parents were much more open to new ideas, and questioned things
a lot more, which is not something that was overly accepted by my grandparents and other extended
family. For them, following the church and being a good Catholic was much more important than
figuring out your own beliefs. This was probably heavily influenced by their recent immigrant status, as
the church was a bit of a stabilizing element that they all had in common. It was also part of daily secular
life and a place for socializing, making it particularly important for adjustment to a new country (Pula,
1995).
Another common Polish trait that I recognized in my family is a love for drinking and good food.
I was particularly intrigued by the many articles and discussions of alcoholism and drinking in Polish
culture. Drinking has always been part of family gatherings, and my DziaDzia even had a bar in the
basement of their house. McGoldrick, Giordano, and Garcia-Preto (2005) state that “Poles defensively
say that heavy drinking has always been a part of their culture, that vodka is even more enshrined in the
Polish tradition than it is in the Russian….the underlying, abiding attitude of Poles is that drinking is a
natural and positive part of life” (p. 747), and this seems
particularly true for my family (Figure 4). I was raised
around drinking my whole life, and never thought anything
of it. Thankfully nobody on my father’s side suffers from
Figure 4
alcoholism, but regular drinking was a part of life at our
house, and especially family gatherings. Aside from drinking, food is another major part of Polish
tradition that has been maintained by my father’s family. Although much of the cooking has decreased
since my Busia’s death, we still make homemade Polish sausage and pierogi every year. I remember my
Busia teaching me various aspects of Polish cooking when I was a little girl, and although I’ve forgotten
many of the things she taught me, as I get older I’m trying to learn how to make some of those things
again. My Busia was a fairly classic Polish-American cook, and she believed in cooking large amounts of
fresh, hearty food with lots of butter, much like the majority of Poles in America (Obidinski & Zand,
1987).
The more I learn about the Polish-American experience and my family in particular I can see how
this side of my heritage has shaped me into the person I am today. Although education was not very
valued by my grandparents and extended family that whole side of the family was extremely hard
working and I think that heavily influenced my work ethic. My father, on the other hand, saw the value
of education and really stepped away from his family in pursuing so much higher education which has
also influenced me. Education has been a large and important part of my life for as long as I can
remember, and it is something I value a lot. I was a bit surprised to learn that my grandparents could not
really understand why my father went to school beyond college. They were very practical and had a very
different idea about what a good job entailed.
This past year I had the opportunity to visit Poland, which was a very fulfilling experience for me.
I went to Krakow, which is near where the majority of my family lived in Poland. Seeing the country
where my family is from definitely helped me understand many of the values and characteristics they
held and have passed on to me. The Catholic Church is
just as present in Krakow as one would expect, literally
a church on every street, and very elaborate ones at
that (Figure 5).I found myself feeling quite at home at
restaurants in Poland, because there is a certain
joyfulness around food and drink that seems quite
Figure 5
ingrained in Polish culture. The food was very similar to what my Busia used to make, and there was
much pride taken in serving it. It is still a remarkably simple country, with very few new, modern
buildings, cars, etc. I could easily see any of my extended family fitting in quite easily back in Poland,
which I think reflects how strongly they held on to their culture.
I find that as I get older, I am more curious about my heritage and my Polish heritage in
particular, probably because it is so rich in tradition. We still work to maintain many Polish traditions,
mostly through food and drink, but also some holiday traditions. My favorite family tradition is one that
comes from our Polish roots and that is the breaking of Oplatek (Christmas wafers) to begin the
Christmas Eve festivities. Each person breaks off a piece of the wafer and then gives it to another person
along with a blessing or good wishes for the next year. I really value this tradition and think it is a great
way to maintain some Polish tradition in our home. I hope to continue to get more in touch with my
heritage from both sides of my family because it really seems to create a clearer picture of my own
identity and how it formed.
References
McGoldrick, M., Giordano, J., & Garcia-Preto, N. (Eds.). (2005). Ethnicity and family therapy (3rd ed.).
New York: Guilford Press.
Obidinski, E.E., & Zand, H.S. (1987). Polish folkways in America: Community and family. Lanham, MD:
University Press of America.
Pula, J.S. (1995). Polish Americans: An ethnic community. New York: Twayne Publishers.