Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 21, 1990 TAG: 9003232608
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/8 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The conditions could not be met over five decades of Nazi occupation and communist dictatorship - and still there are concerns to be overcome.
But with Poland quickly moving to full independence and democratic rule, U.S. and Polish officials now are looking to June 1991, the 50th anniversary of the pianist's death in New York City, as the appropriate date to return his remains.
On Thursday, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the first non-communist prime minister of Poland in 40 years, will visit Paderewski's temporary resting place in a crypt at Arlington National Cemetery.
But U.S. officials say they have no indication that Mazowiecki will demand the immediate return of the remains of a man who is one of Poland's foremost heroes and became the Polish republic's first premier.
"It's the general consensus in the Polish community both here and in Poland that it would be best on the 50th anniversary of his death, June 29, 1991," said a State Department official.
"The trends are very favorable and final decisions will be made in the fall as to the exact arrangements," said the official, who spoke on the condition he not be identified.
"There are going to be major changes in the Polish government between now and then," the official said. "There is a high probability for a new Constitution and new senior officers who are not communists.
"We have waited because we wanted to make sure the steps that needed to be taken were accomplished properly and that the Paderewski family, the Catholic Church and the Polish-American community were all in agreement that Poland was once again whole and free," he said.
At his death at age 80, Paderewski was the most famous pianist in the world.
But he also used his concerts to raise money for Polish refugees after World War I and served as the first premier of the Republic of Poland in 1919 and 1920. He became president of the parliament of the Polish government in exile, in London, after Nazi troops stormed across the Polish frontier in 1939. He still was working for Poland at the time of his death.
On July 5, 1941, several days after his death, Paderewski's body was placed at President Roosevelt's order in a crypt at the base of the monument raised to those killed when the battleship Maine exploded in Havana harbor in 1898, a spark that helped ignite the Spanish-American war. Paderewski's zinc coffin lies inside a large cypress box inside the crypt near the base of the Maine's flag staff.
In 1962, when it was apparent Paderewski's temporary sojourn would be lengthy, President John F. Kennedy reaffirmed Roosevelt's promise that the body would be returned when Poland was free.
by CNB