Graves of Polish Veterans in an ‘All-American City’

Entering Maryhill Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleum in Niles, Illinois, visitors are immediately greeted by a large information panel. A map shows the location of the different sections that make up the cemetery. Section five, however, has an alternate designation: ‘Polish Veterans’. Within a community named an ‘All-American City’ in 1964, is a space dedicated to the burial of Poland’s fighters from the Second World War.

Background on Maryhill Cemetery

Maryhill Cemetery was consecrated in 1961 and opened as the successor to St. Adalbert’s Cemetery, also in Niles and just three miles away. St. Adalbert’s was itself established in 1872 as the product of two Slavic priests in Chicago, one Czech and the other Polish, who sought a cemetery for their own.¹ Although the cemetery has become the final resting place of members from many different ethnic groups, St. Adalbert’s has always retained a strong Polish identity. Likewise Maryhill Cemetery carries on this tradition.

A burial space for Polish veterans in Chicago

During the period of 1939 to 1959, especially after 1945, Chicago received the second of four waves of Polish immigration. Around 200,000 in total, these persons were primarily displaced by the Second World War. Politics determined their decision to emigrate as they either were unable or did not want to return to communist Poland.² A considerable amount of the emigres served in the war in the Polish Armed Forces in the West or in the resistance in occupied Poland.

The Polish Armed Forces in the West comprised of various Polish military formations that fought alongside the Western Allies. One was the Polish II Corps, having distinguished itself at the Battle of Monte Cassino. Another formation was No. 303 Squadron RAF, credited with the most shot downs of any Allied fighter squadron during the Battle of Britain.

Within the Polish resistance movement were several organizations. The dominant was the Home Army that tried valiantly to recapture the Polish capital in the Warsaw Uprising but failed. There were also the Cursed soldiers, a variety of anti-Soviet and anti-communist resistance groups, that operated from 1944 to 1947.

In different ways Poland’s wartime fighters emigrated to Chicago. Once they settled in the American Midwest, these men and women organized veterans’ groups and remained close to one another. Even in death they sought camaraderie. For this purpose, the veterans sought an exclusive burial area.

Maryhill Cemetery became the site of the ‘Polish Veterans’ burial section. A monument dedicated to the veterans stands front and center, built at the initiative of a local chapter of the Polish Combatants’ Association (SPK) in 1975. SPK was formed right after the war with several objectives in mind:

The SPK’s program… included preservation of the principle of a free and independent Poland among the Polish diaspora and in other nations around the world. It also urged cooperation among its members and unity within Polish communities in exile. Finally, it vowed to spread historical information about the participation of the Polish nation in World War II and its contributions to the Allied victory.³

Anna D. Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann

Behind the monument lays a field of over 1,000 graves. Although there are some exceptions, like spouses or Polish-American veterans of the United States military, the majority of persons buried here served in the Polish military during the Second World War.

The burial section as a place of commemoration

Despite SPK having been liquidated in 2012, its legacy is preserved through the Polish Veterans section. This space brings members of Chicago’s Polish community together for regular commemorative events. For instance, there is the commemoration of the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising every first week in August.⁴ An outdoor Catholic mass is held followed by a moment of silence for those that were killed.

The section is important on an international level as well. Regarded as heroes who fought to free their country from its oppressors, the veterans buried here have a prominent place in Poland’s national narrative. Paying their respects at the Polish Veteran’s section is a keynote on the agenda of the president of Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) whenever they visit Chicago.⁵

1. A thorough history of St. Adalbert’s Cemetery is provided in Niles Centennial History, 1899-1999 (Marceline, MO: Walsworth Publishing Company, 1999), pp. 31-32. Link (accessed 14 April 2020): http://livinghistoryofillinois.com/pdf_files/Village%20of%20Niles,%20Illinois%20Centennial%20History.pdf
2. Discussing in depth the different waves of Polish immigration to Chicago, specifically the conflict between recent arrivals and already settled Poles, is Mary Patrice Erdmans, ‘Immigrants and Ethnics: Conflict and Identity in Chicago Polonia’, in The Sociological Quarterly, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Winter, 1995), pp. 175-195. Link (accessed 14 April 2020): https://artscimedia.case.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/12132527/immigrants-and-ethnics.pdf
3. Anna D. Jaroszynska-Kirchmann, The Exile Mission: the Polish Political Diaspora and Polish Americans, 1939-1956 (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2009), pp. 100-101.
4. This annual event unfortunately does not receive much local coverage from English language news outlets. A recent news article in the Polish is ’74. rocznica wybuchu Powstania Warszawskiego – obchody w Niles k. Chicago’, Dziennik Związkowy, 11 August 2018, link (accessed 16 April 2020): https://dziennikzwiazkowy.com/polonia/74-rocznica-wybuchu-powstania-warszawskiego-obchody-w-niles-k-chicago/
5. The IPN’s current president made a visit to Maryhill Cemetery in 2018. A description can be found in ‘Przystanek Historia IPN otwarty w Chicago’, IPN.gov.pl, link (accessed 16 April 2020): https://ipn.gov.pl/pl/aktualnosci/45537,Przystanek-Historia-IPN-otwarty-w-Chicago.html