Read SPOJRZENIE WSTECZ by Stanisław Orzełowski

Below is a letter from Stanisław Orzełowski about the Book he has written, "Spojrzenie wstecz" — a chronicle of the years 1983–2014 in the Jasiński and Orze(y)łowski families: of bringing the family together and of its cultural life.

I have had the chance and the pleasure of reading parts of it, and in my view it is a book worth having in your library — indeed, one you ought to have — both out of affection for the family and, above all, for the valuable and interesting things it saves from being forgotten and sets down for good.

For my part I will add that I have long admired Stanisław Orzełowski's work for the Jasiński and Orze(y)łowski families. I also have a heartfelt request: please pass news of this on to your family and friends.

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Siedlce, 9 November 2014

Dear Cousins

Last year marked 30 years of my work in bringing the family together and keeping its cultural life alive. While sorting my family archive I asked myself what I should do with the vast amount of material I had gathered over that time. I wanted to keep it for those who come after us, but in what form? It occurred to me then: what if I took the trouble to gather all the work, mine and my helpers', into a Book-Album, to make just such a "Spojrzenie wstecz", a look back. I am aware that every photograph and every document is bound up in feeling with a person, a place and the circumstances that surrounded it.

Encouraged by my wife, I thought it all over and set to work. After eight months of patient labour the Book was finished (in draft); work is now under way on proofreading and typesetting. The Book will have about 500 pages of text and almost 1500 photographs, which comes to some 800–900 pages in all (much like the Jasiński Book). All the material is arranged chronologically (from 1983 to 2014) in 39 chapters. The working title of my work is:

SPOJRZENIE WSTECZ (A LOOK BACK)
A CHRONICLE OF OUR SHARED WORK OF BRINGING THE FAMILY TOGETHER AND KEEPING ITS CULTURAL LIFE ALIVE
IN THE JASIŃSKI AND ORZE(Y)ŁOWSKI FAMILIES (1983–2014)

The words that served me as a motto while working on the book were these:

We want to catch up with tomorrow.
In this fashionable urge we make a mistake:
we look back, behind us, far too seldom.
And we will not take the ancient wisdom into account,
that the key to the gates of tomorrow must be sought in the past…

Marian Jonkajtys

I dedicate this Book to my cousins in the Jasiński and Orze(y)łowski families, and also to helpers from outside those families who played their part at the various stages of our shared work for the family in the widest sense. I want to thank them warmly for the effort they put into this family undertaking, which I led. Without their help I could never have done so vast a piece of work on my own.

All the cousins of both Families — the Jasińskis and the Orze(y)łowskis — should learn that the Book has been written and can be bought, for it is about them. The price of the Book depends on the number of copies printed. It covers only the cost of printing and typesetting. All the other costs of producing it are my own voluntary work for the two families from which my parents come.

Since I have no way of reaching every family, I ask you to help me with this and to tell your relatives about the Book that has come into being.

So that you can see what the Book contains, I enclose the table of contents:

Table of contents

• From the author
• Chapter I — The beginning
• Chapter II — Our parents' golden wedding. Plewki, 21 January 1984
• Chapter III — Family contacts revive
• Chapter IV — The First Reunion in our mother's family, the Jasińskis, 9 May 1992
• Chapter V — The First Reunion in our father's family, the Orzełowskis, 26 June 1993
• Chapter VI — Family contacts flourish
• Chapter VII — The Second Reunion in our father's family, the Orzełowskis, 13 June 1998
• Chapter VIII — The 65th anniversary of our parents' wedding, 23 January 1999
• Chapter IX — A gathering of the girls and boys of Plewki, 26 June 2000
• Chapter X — The Second Reunion in our mother's family, the Jasińskis, 23 September 2000
• Chapter XI — The Orze(y)łowski Family Book 1750–2001
• Chapter XII — Preparations for the First Great Orze(y)łowski Family Reunion in 2003
  • a — Radio broadcasts
  • b — The Orze(y)łowski Family Choir
  • c — The remaining preparations, following the reunion programme
• Chapter XIII — The First Great Orze(y)łowski Family Reunion. Plewki, 26 July 2003
• Chapter XIV — The echo of the Family Book and the Great Orze(y)łowski Family Reunion
• Chapter XV — The Orzełowski family website
• Chapter XVI — The family pilgrimage to Jasna Góra, 24 July 2004
• Chapter XVII — Ewa Grochowska's wedding and the bonfire in Wólka Kam., 11 September 2004
• Chapter XVIII — The Orze(y)łowski family, a chronicle on film 1993–2004
• Chapter XIX — A gala evening for Zbyszek Orzełowski. Sokołów Podl., 28 May 2005
• Chapter XX — The Jasiński Family Book 1750–2005
• Chapter XXI — Preparations for the First Great Jasiński Family Reunion in 2007
  • a — The Steering Group and the Reunion Committee
  • b — Radio broadcasts
  • c — The Jasiński Family Choir
  • d — The memorial stone
  • e — The remaining arrangements, following the reunion programme
• Chapter XXII — The First Great Jasiński Family Reunion. Jasionka, 21 July 2007
• Chapter XXIII — The Jasiński family website
• Chapter XXIV — The Jasiński family, a chronicle on film 1992–2007
• Chapter XXV — The echo of the Family Book and the Great Jasiński Family Reunion
• Chapter XXVI — The Second Great Orze(y)łowski Family Reunion. Radomyśl, 12 July 2008
• Chapter XXVII — A trip to the Tri-City for the two Families, 4–6 August 2008
• Chapter XXVIII — The family Christmas wafer gatherings 2003–2010
• Chapter XXIX — The family album up to 2009
• Chapter XXX — The world at the turn of the second and third millennia, memories 1942–2011
• Chapter XXXI — Family gatherings 2006–2014
• Conclusion

With warm greetings — Staszek C-1645 Orzełowski, a Jasiński B-4115 on his mother's side

PS Enclosed is the design for the Book's cover.