Our Executive
Committee
From left:
Krystyna
Niemotko (Secretary),
Dr Waldemar
Niemotko
(President),
Paz Domeyko (Treasurer), Valia
Gianinska
(Events)
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Research in progress '08
During the Second World War Polish people were
tormented by the
genocidal regimes of Hitler and Stalin. Despised by the Nazis as
subhuman and labelled as bourgeois by the Bolsheviks, Polish
intellectuals, laypeople and religious people alike were dispatched
indiscriminately to concentration camps or comparable Gulag facilities
where millions perished. Many Polish national landmarks were
destroyed during and after the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. From the abyss
of brutal terror of the oppressors emerged shiny beacons of
self-sacrifice and compassion in the victims. It was also a real
challenge for ordinary people, including minors, to preserve their
cultural and spiritual identity in a non-armed resistance for
several decades after the war’s end. This culminated in the
ethos
of the ‘Solidarity’ free trade union.
WALDEMAR NIEMOTKO, a participant in this long-lasting struggle,
is a
victim and a survivor of both totalitarian systems. Committed
researcher
of the topic, he has called Sydney home since 1982. Waldemar points out
that the abundant modern history of his native Poland not only has a
small place in curricula of Australian high schools, but has often been
misinterpreted using biased stereotyping. Public libraries
hold impartial research materials by contemporary British and American
authors: Norman Davies, Ron Jeffery, Richard C Lukas, James A Michener,
Lynne Olson & Stanley Cloud, Anita Prazmowska, George
Weigel,
David Zabecki and Adam Zamoyski. A better understanding of the
experiences of the Polish people might stimulate the ongoing debate
about essentials of Australian civic values. It may also be easier to
appreciate all democratic freedoms that, otherwise, are taken for
granted.
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Chopin and Lutoslawski are the favourite composers '08
KRYSTYNA NIEMOTKO
is a concert pianist and a piano teacher. Krystyna graduated
from the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw (Poland) and studied piano
further in Hungary, Italy and the USA. She was also a
secretary to the editiorial board of the Chopin works publication in
Warsaw. Krystyna has performed as a soloist and with orchestras in
Europe, America and Australia, and also served as a juror in
international music competitions in Italy. A Sydneysider since 1982,
she teaches piano in a private school at all grades and to different
nationalities. Krystyna authored many papers to professional journals
about music competitions and Polish music. She has made a
meaningful contribution to numerous charitable appeals in a voluntary
capacity.
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Mr Janusz
Reiter -
Ambassador of Poland, Mrs
Paz Domeyko, Mr Mariano Fernandez - Ambassador
of Chile and Dr
Kornelia Jurgaitiene - Chargé
d'Affaires of Lithuania,
during the presentation of Mrs Domeyko's book about Ignacy Domeyko, in
the Embassy of the Republic of Poland, in Washington, DC on 16 October
2006
PAZ
DOMEYKO, the daughter of a Chilean diplomat, spent her early
youth in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and the United States, as well as
Australia, where her father was the first Ambassador of Chile.
Returning to Chile she married and had five daughters, and in 1971
migrated with her family to Australia. In Sydney she worked
for
over 20 years in the travel industry. Upon retirement she
decided
to write a biography of her Polish born great-grandfather, Ignacy
Domeyko. Research took her to Poland, Lithuania, Belarus,
France
and especially Chile, his adopted homeland. The book, in
Spanish,
“Ignacio
Domeyko: La
vida de un emigrante”
was
published in Chile in 2002, during world-wide celebrations marking
the 200th anniversary of Domeyko’s birth. The
English
language version,“A Life in Exile. Ignacy Domeyko
1802-1889,” appeared in Australia in 2005. Since then, Paz
has
travelled the world, lecturing about her ancestor in universities and
other organisations in the US, Chile , Poland, Lithuania and Australia.
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Singing in the Bulgarian costume in
the Lane Cove mall
on the
Harmony
Day ’08
VALIA GIANINSKA
was born in
Bulgaria and has an extensive experience in
hospitality industry. She was responsible for a wide range
of events as an MC in Greek language, on board of the American ship
"Celebrity Cruises". Valia sings
Bulgarian songs in the choir "Martenitsa"
in Sydney.
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Australian
International Research Institute
Incorporated is a not-for-profit community organisation,
registered under the NSW Charitable Fundraising Act
1991.
Its existence since 1992 has been marked by a meaningful contribution
to community harmony by facilitating inter-human relations and
stimulating inter-faith dialogue. Volunteers have
participated in
numerous educational projects, multilingual cultural events and
humanitarian appeals.
El Instituto
Australiano Internacional de Investigación (Australian
International Research Institute Inc.) es una organización
comunitaria sin fines de lucro, registrada bajo la Ley de
Recaudación de Fondos para la Caridad de 1991. Su
existencia desde 1992 se ha caracterizado por dar una
contribución valiosa hacia la armonía de la
comunidad, promoviendo las relaciones ínter-humanas, y
estimulando el dialogo entre diversas creencias religiosas.
Sus voluntarios han tomado parte en numerosos proyectos educacionales,
eventos culturales en varios idiomas, y programas humanitarios.
