THE POLISH EMIGRATION 213as Sadik Pasha, in Turkey; like Karol Rolow-Miatowski (1842-1907) as a revo-
lutionary in Cuba; like Ignacy Domeyko (1802-89), as a geologist and educa-
tionist in Chile, or like Ernest Malinowski (1818—99), as the railway pioneer of
Peru, where he constructed the highest railway line in the world. At the turn of
the century, Helena Modjeska (Modrzejewska, 1840—1909) the actress, was per-
haps the first Polish exile to hit the main headlines. She was the forerunner of
numerous others, including Jan de Reszke (1850-1925), the operatic tenor, and
his brother Edward (1885-1917), a Wagnerian bass; Marie Curie-Sktodowska
(1867-1934), physicist; Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941), pianist; and
Waclaw Nijinsky (Nidzinski, c. 1889-1950), the dancer. Joseph Conrad (J. K.
Korzeniowski, 1857-1924) made his name as an English novelist, just as
Guillaume Apollinaire (Apolinaris Kostrowicki, 1880-1918) did as a French
poet. In more recent times, these early exiles from Poland have had successors
in Arthur Rubinstein (born 1888), pianist; Wanda Landowska (1877-1959),
clavichordist; Leopold Stokowski (1882-1979), conductor; Sir Lewis Namier
(1880-1960), historian; Henryk Szeryng (1918-1988), violinist, and sometime
Secretary to General Sikorski; Sir Casimir Gzowski (1813-98) and Ralph
Modjeski (1861-1940), architects and designers respectively of the Niagara and
Benjamin Franklin Bridges; Casimir Funk (1884-1967), biochemist; Bronistaw
Malinowski (1884-1942), social anthropologist; Stanislaw Ulam (born 1909),
mathematician; Jacob Bronowski (1908-76), philosopher of science; Pola Negri
(Apolonia Chalupiec, born 1897), and Marion Davies, starlets; Samuel
Goldwyn (1882—1974), film producer; and Joe Coral (born 1904), bookmaker.
The continuing existence of a large Emigration colours every aspect of Polish
life. In the economic sphere, it has always provided the home country with one
of its main sources of income. Remittances to relatives in Poland, tourist visits,
and the enterprise of emigre businessmen make a significant contribution to the
balance of payments. In the political sphere, the Emigration long provided the
major forum for free debate and for the critical analysis of all Poland's prob-
lems. With the persistence at home of a one-party, totalitarian regime, it fulfilled
the very necessary function of a committed, if absent, opposition. Most import-
antly, in the cultural sphere, the Emigration ensures that free expression can be
given to the full variety of ideas and sentiments on which a living culture
depends. It keeps the population in contact with the outside world, and reduces
the effects of bureaucratic controls. In this respect, it complements and coun-
terbalances the activities of the state-run cultural organizations in Poland.
Above all, the Emigration serves to remind all Poles, in the best possible tradi-
tion, that the nation is not coterminous with the state, and that its needs do not
necessarily coincide with the dictates of a political regime.
For their part, the authorities in Poland could not remain indifferent to the
issue. The Emigration is too large, and too influential to be ignored. Like the
Sanacja leaders before the War, who launched the World Union of Poles
Abroad, the leaders of the People's Republic made strenuous efforts to win over
the emigres. From modest beginnings in 1955, the Polonia Society in Warsaw