Paderewski Tree

Paderewski Tree. Tompkins Square Park.

Let us brace our hearts to fresh endurance, Let us adjust our minds to action, energetic, righteous; Let us uplift our consciousness by faith invisible for the nation cannot perish that had a soul so great, so immortal! -Ignacy Jan Paderewski, 1910.

This Red oak tree (Quercus ruba), dedicated in 1941, honors Ignacy Jam Paderewski (1860-1941), Polish piano virtuoso, composer, and statesman. Placing his music aside during World War I (1914-1918), he devoted himself to the cause of Polish freedom. At the close of the war, Poland became independent again for the first time since the 18th century, due largely to his efforts., Paderewski enjoyed a brilliant worldwide concert career, and marked his new York debut at Carnegie Hall on November 17, 1891. His performance there during the hall’s inaugural season, established a precedent, and nearly all major classical musicians since have made debuts at Carnegie Hall. Proceeds from many of his concerts went to charities, including the Polish war relief., His devotion to Poland was lifelong. Paderewski represented his country at the Versailles Peace Conference and the League of Nations; he later served as Poland’s premier and foreign minister. He resumed (his concert) career in 1922, making his final American tour in 1939. A few months later Germany (invaded Poland?) and Paderewski was named president of the new Polish parliament-in-exile. On a fund-raising (mission?) he came to the United States, “the country of his heart,” and died in New York City on June (29, 1941.), When word of Paderewski’s death reached President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945), he had the State Department inform official of the Polish Government-in-exile that Paderewski’s body could temporarily be interred in (the) vault below the mast of the USS Maine monument in Arlington National cemetery. Roosevelt remarked, “He may lie there until Poland is free.” His body lay in state at the Polish embassy in Washington D.C., and was soon entombed at the monument., With the collapse of the communist government in Poland in the early 1990s, Paderewski’s body was finally returned to his native land. On July 5, 1992, after two days of ceremony, Ignacy Jan Paderewski was laid to rest in the crypt of the Cathedral of St. John in Warsaw. His heart remains in the United States, following his wishes, and is encased in a bronze sculpture at the Shrine of the Czestochowa in the predominantly Polish-American community of Doylestown, Pennsylvania.