On a brisk Sunday afternoon, April 20, 1941, the roar of 75,000 voices filled Chicago’s Soldier Field- not for a game, but a wartime rally. Polish Prime Minister Władysław Sikorski stood before a sea of patriots, thanking the local Polish community for supporting Poland’s fight for freedom. He urged them to stay loyal Americans, reminding all that Allied victory depended not only on soldiers abroad, but unity at home.
Poland’s leader visits America
Just weeks earlier, Sikorski had crossed the Atlantic on a urgent mission. In the spring of 1941, as World War II engulfed Europe, the exiled leader of occupied Poland visited Canada and the United States to rally support for his embattled homeland. Thrust into leadership in September 1939 after Germany and the Soviet Union jointly invaded Poland, Sikorski led the Polish government-in-exile in London.
Sikorski’s primary goal remained clear: liberate Poland. Yet as Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces, he also faced the monumental challenge of rebuilding its military from the ground up.
Previously in World War I, a large Polish army formed in Canada and the United States. It was the American contingent, around 21,000 men, of the Polish Army in France. They fought alongside the Allies in Europe, with most enlistees either Polish immigrants or Americans of Polish descent.
Two decades later Sikorski believed that he could raise another Polish army in North America. There were some 4.5 million Polish Americans, of whom an estimated 10 percent still had Polish citizenship.
Filled with ambition, the Polish prime minister travelled to Canada in March 1941. The Canadian authorities granted Sikorski permission to recruit and train a Polish army on their soil. Sucess, however, depended on the cooperation of the Americans. Sikorski next went to Washington D.C.
President Roosevelt approved of the Polish mission but could not legally endorse American citizens enlisting in a foreign army. Nonetheless, he encouraged Sikorski’s proposed national speaking tour, hoping it would motivate American workers in war production.1 This tour included visits to Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, and New York City, all home to major Polish communities.
Despite his optimism, Sikorski’s military hopes fell short. Fewer than 1,000 recruits completed training in Canada, far fewer than the numbers raised during World War I. This time, Polish Americans favored financial and material support over enlistment.2 Even so, Sikorski’s message struck a chord with many.
Nowhere was the reception larger than in Chicago. During his two-day stop on April 19 and 20, the city welcomed him with open arms. A huge rally served as the climax for this great fanfare.
A rally at Soldier Field
Rain and blustery winds swept across Chicago’s Lakefront on the afternoon of Sunday, April 20. Yet, it did not deter a throng of spectators from venturing out to Soldier Field. The Chicago Daily Tribune covered the event, estimating that 75,000 spectators of Polish birth or heritage turned out.3
A party of American dignitaries greeted Sikorski on the field. They included Major General Charles H. Bonesteel Jr. and Rear Admiral John Downes, commanding the Army’s Sixth Corps Area and the Navy’s Ninth Naval District, respectively. Joining them were several city and state officials.
At 1:30 p.m. the rally began with a parade of civic and ethnic organizations. Around 5,000 people marched across the football field, honoring their distinguished guest. Among them were veterans of the Polish Army in France, many belonging to the Polish Army Veterans Association of America– a mutual aid group with several posts in Chicago. They stood out in their horizon blue uniforms.
In the speaker’s stand was British Consul General Lewis Bernays. Polish Ambassador Jan Ciechanowski introduced Sikorski to the crowd. Presiding over the reception was Dr. Francis X. Swietlik, Dean of the Marquette College of Law and since 1939, President of the Polish American Council.
The event’s organizers erected the stand at the north end of the field. Behind it loomed the four-story limestone Chicago Park District Administration Building, recently built 1939, and demolished in 2001.
Sikorski gave his speech in Polish. He thanked his audience for supporting Poland and pressed them to continue their activities. With Chicago as its intellectual and cultural center, the Polish diaspora of the U.S. had done much for their families, friends, and fellow countrymen, abroad.4 This included raising millions of dollars for war relief and sending care packages. Dr. Swietlik played a major role in all this.
Urging his audience “to remain loyal citizens of the United States,” Sikorski also stated that “today the unity of the Polish people is fighting and will fight until the very last.”5
Afterwards, Sylwin Strakacz read a message from his employer, the acclaimed pianist and former Polish prime minister, Ignacy Paderewski– whom Sikorski met the week before in Palm Beach, Florida:
Poland, General, stands with you at your command. These millions of brotherly hearts which beat today on the free American soil are for you. General, lead your people to victory and glory, to freedom and greatness, and to justice. Poland will love all her devoted sons. May God bless you.
Sources
- James S. Pula, Polish Americans: An Ethnic Community (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1995), pp.86-7.
- For a history of Sikorski’s visit to North America in Spring 1941, and the failure of the recruiting mission, see Halik Kochanski, The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2012), pp.226-7.
- John Evans, Rev., “75,000 Greet Gen. Siokrski, Polish Leader,” in Chicago Daily Tribune, April 21, 1941, p.3. Retrieved from: https://www.proquest.com/hnpchicagotribune/docview/176574176/BC175745409B4437PQ/1? (accessed May 17, 2025)
- For a detailed history of the activities of Chicago’s Polish community in World War II, see Dominic A. Pacyga, “Chapter Six: Apocalypse Again: World War Two and Its Aftermath,” in American Warsaw: The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of Polish Chicago (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019), pp.175-208.
- Sikorski’s entire speech was published in the May 1941 issue of Weteran, the official publication of the Polish Army Veterans Association of America (PAVA), number 239, volume 20. Copies of this magazine are stored at the PAVA Museum in New York and at the Polish Museum of America in Chicago.