MY FATHER’S GODFATHER

JOZEF KLEMENS PILSUDSKI In 1914, Jóseph Piłsudski declared: “Only the sword now carries any weight in the balance for the destiny of a nation.”  As I was growing up, my father loved to tell stories about his heroes. This is what he told me when I was at the university in France: “After Tadeusz Kościuszko raised a Polish army and tried but failed to give Poland its sovereignty, it took another 123 years before Piłsudski, inspired by his courage, grabbed Kościuszko’s sword and gave Poland her Freedom and Independence once more.”   Józef Piłsudski was born in Zalavas, Lithuania on December 5, 1867, but his family always considered themselves Polish. In […]