Rose Szewc papers

Rose Szewc was born in Warsaw in August, 1888. She immigrated with her family to the United States at the age of four. In the early part of the century, she taught English classes for Poles while living in Indianapolis. At this time, she worked as a stenographer at the law firm of Gavin and Gavin and managed the Fort Wayne Department of Western Life Indeminity Company. At the onset of WWI, she became interested in the plight of Polish soldiers in the U.S. Army, and the difficulties many of them faced due to their lack of knowledge of the English language. As Secretary of The American Association for the Education of Foreign Born Soldiers in the U.S. Army, she began language and assimilation classes at Fort Benjamin Harris, a nearby training camp. With the help of the YMCA National War Works Council, these classes were provided for all immigrant soldiers. Szewc, as well as Major-General E.F. Glenn of Camp Sherman in Ohio, also attempted to provide books and magazines in the different languages for the soldiers. This too was sponsored by the YMCA. Both Glenn and Szewc saw possibilities in using immigrant soldiers to provide anti-German propaganda in Eastern Europe, as well as the need to make the soldiers feel a part of this country. She continued this work through the spring of 1918. During this time, Major-General Glenn called on her to help him acquire any information about countries on the Eastern Front which could possibly be used in connection with promoting uprisings in those countries against Germany. Szewc was a strong supporter of establishing a free Poland after World War I, and much of her work and energy seemed to have been spent with this in mind. In the summer of 1918, Szewc moved to New York to work for Helena Paderewska, wife of Ignace Jan Paderewski, for the Polish National Committee. She spent the fall of 1918 in Washington D.C., acting as secretary of the Mid-European Union, headed by Professor Herbert A. Miller of Oberlin College. In 1919, Szewc worked as secretary for the Tratra Production Company. This company was created in the spring of 1919 by Frank O. Johnson to produce a film documenting the newly independent Poland, including clips of Ignace Paderewski as Premier. She later worked for many years for Clement F. Rozanski, a New York attorney who handled cases for many Polish-American clients as well as major local Polish institutions (The Polish National Alliance, Consulate General of Poland). Szewc worked for him until the spring of 1955, when she was hospitalized at Central Islip State Hospital, where she spent the remainder of her life.