Bednarski, Tadeusz
(Dec. 6, 1929 - Nov. 3, 2008)
SingerNot long after the death of Ted Bednarski, president of the Association of the Sons of Poland, as I thumbed through the pages of the popular Polish weekly in the English-language, The Post Eagle, I stumbled upon an obituary that covered most points of his life. He was a parishioner of St. Joseph's R.C. Church, Passaic, New Jersey, and sang in his spare time at banquets, concerts, and invariably led audiences in singing the American and Polish national anthems.
I would learn later that his parents, Wladyslaw and Katarzyna Bednarski, who had five children, believed that his tenor voice would earn him a prominent place in the Polish theater. The Second World War, however, interfered with his life. He accompanied his father into the Polish underground army and, because he was still a child, Nazi soldiers never suspected him of carrying messages concealed in a metal container of milk or in the lining of his jacket.
He sang here and there in Lwow, then in Poland but now in Ukraine. Then, shortly after Tadeusz Sygietynski created the Mazowsze Song and Dance Ensemble, he was invited to an audition, and was accepted. It's impossible to find music listeners who haven't heard of the ensemble. It performed in all the large cities of the soviet bloc. Everywhere the tenor from Lwow was received with standing ovations. One day, while a German audience was waiting to hear him, he escaped from the Communist side of the Berlin Wall.
Subsequently, he sang on the Radio Free Europe station in Berlin in the guise of Leszek Jablonski. Still in disguise, Radio Free Europe sent him to Rome, Italy, as an undercover agent to carry messages to the Vatican. For the most party however, he was a student at the National Academy of St. Cecilia, one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, and performed in concerts for Italian audiences.
In 1952, when someone in Chicago invited him to come to the United States, he didn't hesitate. He flew to New York, where he made a telephone call to a friend in Passaic, New Jersey, and changed his destination. He found work in Passaic. Jane Berdnik, a Polish immigrant, and Ted Bednarski met in the Polish home at Passaic in 1956, and they were married on November 28, 1958, in St. Stanislaus R.C. Church, the oldest Polish parish in New York City. They had Christopher, their only child.
Ted Bednarski never left music behind. He joined the male choir of the Chopin Singing Society, which was organized in 1910 at Passaic, New Jersey, and they gave concerts to raise funds for a number of causes. Then he joined Aria, a mixed chorus in Wallingford, across the river from Passaic. Unlike the old choir, the Aria Chorus was organized in the 1960s by a new stream of Polish singers in the United States. The musical director and the original members were postwar immigrants. Bednarski followed in the footsteps of Tadeusz Pertkiewicz as president of the musical group. Both belonged to the Polish Singers Alliance of America - Chopin Singing Society, # 182, and Aria Chorus, #303.
In order to support his wife and child, he worked in various places, including 15 years in Edward Tomczyk's tool factory at Kenilworth, eight miles from the Newark Airport, which was established in 1980 to make nuts and bolts, grommets, clamps, and other fasteners for the aircraft industry. He was one of 19 employees there.
For the last eight years of his life, he served as president of the Association of the Sons of Poland, located in Carlstadt, New Jersey, and was considered its goodwill ambassador. He was honored by the Polish American World, and the Polish government for his good work.
His grave is in St. Michael's Cemetery at South Hackensack, New Jersey.
From: Edward Pinkowski (2009)
Bednarski, Ted
(1929 - 2008)Born: December 6,1929 - Died: November 3, 2008
NEW JERSEY - Ted Bednarski, 79, of Passaic, died on November 3, 2008. A parishioner of St. Joseph's RC Church, Passaic, he was a Tool Polisher for West Co. in Kenilworth for 15 years, retiring 9 years ago.
Tadeusz Bednarski was born into a noble family on an estate near Lwow, Poland. As a child during the Second World War, Ted served the underground army as a courier. He was fluent in Ukrainian and was able to carry messages whether concealed in a metal container of milk or in the lining of his jacket. Even though he was stopped many times by Nazi soldiers, no one was able to discover that he was Polish or that he might be a carrying important documents sent by the officers of the Polish underground, in which his father served.
Years later, he joined the Mazowsze Song and Dance Ensemble and during a performance in Berlin, he jumped from a second story window and escaped to the American side. He was taken into Radio Free Europe where he worked under the pseudonym of Leszek Jablonski. Besides singing classical songs, he also performed songs written especially for his tenor voice and was a very popular performer and well known in Poland in spite of the secrecy that existed among the listeners. While still being engaged as a member of the Radio Free Europe Team, he was sent to Rome as an undercover agent. His official capacity was as a student at the Conservatory of Saint Cecilia where he studied voice and performed in concerts while continuing to serve as a courier for the Americans in their fight against communism through Radio Free Europe.
Once in the United States, be devoted much spare time to his love of Polish song. In the early years soon after his emigration, he performed on Polish radio and television programs as well as gave many guest appearances at banquets and concerts. He also joined the Polish Singers Alliance of America, first as a member of the Chopin Singing Society #182 of Passaic and later with the Aria Chorus #303 where he served as President for a decade.
In May of 2000, Ted was elected to the position of President of the Association of the Sons of Poland, a Fraternal Benefit Society organized in 1903. He spent the past eight years traveling throughout the metropolitan area as an ambassador of this organization, which he proudly acclaimed as being recognized by the Second Republic of Poland with the coveted Gold Medal of Service. He also served as Director of the Polish Cultural Center in Passaic. On May 18, 2003, he was named "Citizen of the Year" by the Polish American World and on November 13, 2003, for his many years of Service to Poland and the Polish Community he was awarded the Officer's Cross of Service from President Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland.
He is survived by his wife, Jane; son, Christopher; grandchildren Matthew and Rhiannon; daughter-in-law, Rachel and sisters Aniela and Janina in Poland.
Source: The Post Eagle, New Jersey - Wednesday, November 12, 2008