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                                    A FOURTH OF JULY SALUTE TO LADY LIBERTYcrown off,%u201d he explains.Also while in prison, the dissidents printed newspapers by creating a makeshift type of plate for printing, using cellophane from toods Drougnt to them by their iamiiy and poking holes with a pin to form letters. Magic markers also brought to them by their families were soaked in water to make an ink which they then pulled across the plastic laid on a sheet of paper, the ink running through the holes. The envelopes they printed, cutting pieces of linoleum with razors. %u201cWe would pay guards or have the people visiting the prisons distribute the material. Since all visits were observed, when my son came and kissed me or hugged me, I would transfer the paper to him,%u201d Nieoczym explains.In the United States, Nieoczym formed a committee of former political prisoners,members of Solidarity. He approximates the number of Polish Solidarity refugees in the U.S. at roughly 2,000 and is in contact with about 500. %u201cI decided that the Uniteddiai.es w uuiu uc u iy Scv.uuu uvnuuui.u an dfrom here as a citizen to do everything possible for Poland,%u201d he explains. %u201cLiving and working and using American freedom,I can do more for Poland to gain freedom,%u201d he says. As part of their efforts, the group raises money that is sent to Poland via Belgium and provide Polish books for the underground movement still struggling there.CAN HELP HIS FRIENDS Looking back on his experiences since he arrived in the West, Nieoczym admits that the first months were hard. %u201cBut now I have a small stabilization. I can do what I want to do. I can help my friends in Poland.The Polish spirit has notpassed. There is no past.Politics is the present fo r us.We will videotape theFourth o f July and send it tothe underground and showhow this day o f freedom iscelebrated in America.I can read what I want to read. I can learn what I want to learn and visit where I like to visit. I didn%u2019t have all this in Poland,%u201d he says shaking his head.For now, Nieoczym is practical with his goals in America. He looxs forward io his own home and next year his son Greg will attend Hunter College, while his younger son attends a public school in Greenpoint. He intends to continue his political work from abroad and even the Statue of Liberty celebration will further his efforts in that direction.%u201cWe want to see it and celebrate and be happy with the Americans,%u201d he says. %u201cWe videotape all our demonstrations here and we will videotape on the 4th of July and send it to the underground and show them how the day of freedom is celebrated in the United States,%u201d he says.%u00b1The Spirit o f Liberty Still Shines:Polish Fam ily Finds A Future In H istory O f O ld A n d N ew CountriesZiemowit Jozefowicz is only eight years old, but when he has grown up a bit, his mother hopes to send home to Poland on vacation. For now, he attends a Polish school every Saturday at St. Stanislaus Kostka in Greenpoint and speaks Polish at home with his parents and grandparents.%u201cWhat are the colors of the Polish flag?%u201d his mother asks laughing and rumpling his head. %u201cYou don%u2019t know do you?%u201d But he responds in the affirmative, annoucing in a shrill voice: %u201cRed and white!%u201d He says he doesn%u2019t like hotdogs anymore, although both parents attest to the fact that he ate them steadily all last summer; now his preferred American cuisine is %u201cChinese food.%u201dZiemowit arrived in the United States at the age of four, a year after his mother Ewa arrived, two years after his father Jan arrived and together with his maternal grandparents, Maria and Czeslau Konieczynuski. Jan, a professional soccer player in Poland, responded to an invitation from the Polonia Greenpoint club to come play in the United States, not professionally but recreationally.%u201cI never thought I would come to the United States, never,%u201d he says laughing and shaking his head incredulously. %u201cI had friends who came here and played soccer and I asked them what was here,%u201d he says, %u201cand then I came.%u201d The club helped him find an apartment and work in Greenpoint.The Josefowicz family is straddling nationalities. There is more crime in America and Jan prefers to ride his bike to work rather than ride the subway, but sitting in the house they own in Greenpoint, he says things are different here in the United States. %u201cYou have everythmg in reach,%u201d he says. %u201cI am happy here. It is an easier life.%u201d The final decision for them to stay in America, was a change in the events in Poland. %u201cWe didn%u2019t plan it, but two weeks after I arrived in November 1981, martial law was declared in Poland,%u201d Ewa says.Jan and Ewa Jozefowicz (back). Maria Konieczyuski, Ziemowit Jozefowicz and CzeslawKonieczyuski (front). (Phoenix/Kirk Photo)Both Ewa and Jan are now successfully self-employed. Ewa, a Polish teacher in Poland, studied English five days a week at Queens College when she arrived and took a course to be a manicurist. Three years ago, together with a partner, she opened a beauty salon in Greenpoint. Jan does his own contracting work and spent a year rebuilding their house on Humbolt Street, where Czeslau and Ziemowit now tend tomatoes in the backyward.%u201cWe ate a turkey at Thanksgiving last year,%u201d Ewa says laughing, %u201cand here we celebrate our birthday instead of our namesday as in Poland.%u201d Jan and Ziemowit traveled up to the Lake Placid Region for their first experience skiing, and the family has travelled to the Niagara Falls. But with their very American experience, they keep their Polish traditions with them and hope that their son, raised in America, will love both countries.%u201cI try to keep the tradition for myself and for my son,%u201d Ewa says. %u201cI want that my son will always love Poland and this country. He has to know history. I have a lot of books for him,%u201d she says. For herself, she says Poland will always be her country, the place where she was bom and raised, and she plans to visit in the future, but says: %u201cThis country is the best country with the best opportunity for immigrants. What I made here in five years I could not do in Poland.%u201dJan now casts an eye westward, with a hankering to move to Colorado. %u201cIt is a dream,%u201d he says, but believes the atmosphere is more akin to Europe, where people can safely walk the street at night. Robbed twice in New York, he is wary of safety on the streets, and Ewa, too, is fearful of walking at night. But Greenpoint, he says (in true New York fashion), %u201cis not too far from Manhattan and that is nice,%u201d and Ewa points out that the next door neighbors %u201care like family.%u201d %u2014L.K.H appy 4 th o f July t o A llG\\T%u00a3RI\\(. TM-OUTI f S N /I I I I N 472 Seventh Ave. 789-6652HAPPY BIRTHDAY LADY LIBERTYD eli D r e a m sITALIAN FO O D EMPORIUM402 Atlantic Ave. 625-7373W e Salute theStatue o f Liberty!Ast r o Sales-rl _ r~ I _ . %u201eI I 1C I ICA./I V - . W v u i l l f j l _ A | L / C I L J142 Smith St. 625-0007M r*. C ornelius VSndertrtlt %u25a0* \(C ourtesy o l tho N ew York H istories! Society, N ew York C ity)DORAY TAVERN INC.46 3rd AvenueBrooklyn, NY 11217Air-Conditioned 718-625-8003Ray DotIn 1906Grandfather Kalfaian sailed pastthe Statue of LibertyThe Rest is HistoryINC.HeadquartersEstablished 1907475 Atlantic Ave. %u2022 875-2222Independence Day Greetingsfrom179 Berkeley PI. just off 7ih Ave. 636-0604July 3,1986, THE PHOENIX, Pegs 27
                                
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