U.S. and Poland Will Mark Anniversary of Paderewski’s Death

Celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the death of Ignace Jan Paderewski will take place today at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac from Washington, where the remains of the Polish pianist, composer and statesman have rested for almost half a century.

Music will dominate the 11 a.m. ceremonies. According to retired Lt. Gen. Edward L. Rowny, a former State Department official who helped organize the event, the Army Band will play the national anthems of Poland and the United States, and follow with several pieces written by the Polish composer.

Tributes will be delivered by Rowny, a Polish-American, as well as by Polish Ambassador Kazimierz Dziewanowski and music critic Paul Hume, formerly of the Washington Post.

The occasion also will be celebrated in Poland Saturday night with a performance by the Warsaw Philharmonic, to be followed by discussions of the political life of Paderewski, who in 1919 became Poland’s first premier and foreign minister.

Following his death in New York City, Paderewski was laid to rest in a zinc casket at the base of the USS Maine Memorial. Plans to return his remains to Poland to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his death were aborted last March following the request of Polish President Lech Walesa that the transfer be postponed until political events in Poland had stabilized.

According to Rowny, the transfer will now take place on June 28, 1992, to be followed by celebrations throughout Poland and by Poles around the globe.