In the context of this year's 100th anniversary of Poland's independence regained after World War I in 1918 , the Polish Institute of Arts and Science in Canada is devoting an international symposium to the life and times of distinguished diplomat and humanitarian Tadeusz Romer (1894-1978)* , whose career was interwoven with the century's tempestuous history.

The symposium is going to be held in Montreal on Monday, October 22^nd, at McGill University. It will gather together historians, archivists and scholars from Canada, Poland and the United States. Co-sponsored by McGill's Department of History, the proceedings will be in English and will subsequently be published in book form in Poland.

You are cordially invited to attend the day's sessions. A registration form, available on request, will enable you to reserve your place at the symposium, formally entitled :

The diplomatic and civic-leadership roles of Tadeusz Romer (1894-1978), from the building of a new international community after World War I, through World War II, to the dawning of the "Solidarność" movement that foreshadowed the collapse of the USSR at the end of the century.

* Tadeusz Romer, diplomat and humanitarian, spent the first part of his career at the hub of international affairs, from the Treaty of Versailles through the rebuilding of Europe, culminating in the war years 1939-1945, when he was Ambassador in Tokyo and subsequently in the USSR, including special missions in Shanghai and in the Middle East, before becoming Minister of External Affairs of the Polish Government in exile in London. Interest in this slice of history has been reawakened by recent exhibitions and conferences in Poland and Lithuania, particularly with reference to the saving from Hitler's Holocaust of Polish-Jewish refugees who fled to the Far East in 1940-1941.

The story of Tadeusz and Zofia Romer
(in: Polish Righteous - Stories of Rescue, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw, Poland)

The second half of Romer's career is closely linked to McGill and Montreal. From diplomat, he became an educator and an elder-statesman. After Stalin's take-over of Poland, unable to return to his country, in 1948 he accepted an offer to teach at McGill's Département de langue et littérature françaises. Here, over the years, he became a respected faculty colleague and an appreciated mentor to a number of Canada's future diplomats and academics -- beside continuing a very active life as a civic leader in the Canadian and international Polish communities.

He is especially remembered at the Polish Institute of Arts and Science in Canada which he supported and chaired for many years.