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After many weeks of a long fasting Lenten season, the people of Poland looked forward to Resurrection Sunday and enjoying all the foodstuffs they had denied themselves for so long - eggs, dairy products and meat.  White sausage called biała kiełbasa with marjoram for Easter. Sophie Knab photo. In reality, for many families, meat was not something that was generally seen on the table outside of fasting days anyway. The exceptions were great celebrations like christenings, weddings, Christmas and Easter. For these holidays, a carefully raised pig was slaughtered and the meat processed quickly to avoid spoilage. Some went into jars, some salted down in barrels and the rest went into making sausage. Some sausage was smoked but this often required many long days and sometimes weeks before it was ready for consumption. After such a long fast, something was needed for the Easter table that didn’t take quite so long. The simplest and relatively most affordable meat product to prepare was biała kiełbasa i.e., white sausage. The thigh, rump, shoulder, or belly of the pig was cut into chunks, various spices and seasonings added and then stuffed into cleaned intestinal casings. It could be consumed within a few hours after production by boiling in water or baking. Every region had its own version of this type of sausage and every family its own safely guarded recipe. Spices such as coriander, cardamom and nutmeg lent unique flavors if you could afford such luxuries. Salt and pepper were also both expensive commodities. For a long time housewives depended on locally available spices like crushed juniper berries to add flavor to their meat and soups. In the 19th century Kronice Miasta Poznania (Chronicle of the City of Poznań) we find the following description: "The ceremonial Easter breakfast commenced at noon. The table was laden with delectable dishes... A particular delicacy was white sausage baked with onions and juniper berries.” In the Podlasie region, the coarsely ground sausage was heavily flavored with garlic, something that could be grown and stored through the winter. Homegrown herbs like dill, garlic, and wild caraway were also used. In Małopolska (Lesser Poland) the preferred seasoning was pepper and marjoram.  Marjoram (Origanum majorana), majeranek in the Polish language, was brought to Poland in the 16th century during the time of the Renaissance and became extremely popular both in the kitchen and stillroom. Krzystof Kluk in his Dycyonarz roslinny (Dictionary of Plants) of 1787 states “it has a pleasant aroma and spicey taste and used as a seasoning in the kitchen.” Easily grown in pots in a kitchen window or in the garden, everyone knew that marjoram worked best in richer, fattier dishes. It was common knowledge that it help digest fatty foods. It was an indispensable addition to any of the roasted meats that appeared on the Easter table. ← Sophie Knab photo  White sausage with marjoram as a meat for Easter crossed the oceans as Poles immigrated to other countries. It continues to be made at home by descendants of those immigrants and appears in Polish markets and even local supermarkets where it’s often called the “holiday” sausage. It’s also found in the Easter baskets taken to be blessed on Holy Saturday and much enjoyed at the Easter Sunday morning breakfast. ←Sophie Knab photo. My Easter basket for blessing a few years ago with biała kiełbasa but will certainly be in this year’s basket on Holy Saturday as well. Thank you for reading. A Blessed Holy Week to all. For more about Easter traditions and recipes: Polish Customs, Traditions and Folklore (2024) and Polish Country Kitchen Cookbook (20212) by Hippocrene Books, Inc. Hippocrene Books, Inc. is offering a special promotion of 40% off on all my books through Indiepubs.com with the promo code HIPPOCRENE40. indiepubs.com/search?type=product&q=sophie+hodorowicz+knab
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The Oskar Schindler Enamel Factory Museum in in Kraków honors and documents the history of the German businessman Oskar Schindler who saved a thousand Jews from death by giving them gainful employment and preventing them from being sent to an extermination camp.  The permanent exhibition titled "Kraków – the Occupation Period 1939–1945," also tells the history of occupied Kraków and what it was like to live in that city during its occupation by the Germans during World War II. ←The Germanization of Kraków’s Market Square Ed Knab photo Thousands of photographs and artifacts of the city of Kraków, its inhabitants, streets, shops, the military might of the German Reich and everyday life of what Kraków looked like as an occupied city is on exhibit. It also shows the total and complete subjugation the Polish and Jewish people had to endure throughout the occupation: the racial discrimination against Jews, the terrors against the Polish intelligentsia and the deportation for forced labor that faced anyone who was unemployed. On the second floor of the museum is a small room given the title of Labor Office. It is plain and looks innocuous enough belying the fact that the Labor Office, the Arbeitsamt in German, was among the most feared institutions established by the Germans in occupied Poland. It assigned jobs to the unemployed and everyone had to be employed in the interests of the Germans either in Poland, in any territories of Poland annexed into Germany, in any country occupied by the Germans or in Germany itself. ↑ Filing cabinets in Labor Office in museum ↑an example of personal file of forced laborer Ed Knab photo sent to work through the German labor office in Kraków. IPN photo. Will ye, nill ye, everyone had to work for the benefit of the Third Reich under penalty of death or being sent to a concentration camp, often one and the same. Men were separated from their families. Adolescents girls as young as 14 were sent alone without protection. Women with small children were not exempt. All were torn from their homes and forced to work, oftentimes under horrendous conditions, in agriculture or industry, wherever they were sent.  German bureaucrats registering Polish workers for labor in Kraków 1940  Polish women lined up to register for labor in Kraków labor office. 1940
A poster at the museum describing the events of forced labor in that city states: “By June 1943, approximately thirteen thousand people were deported from Kraków itself with approximately 31,000 deported from the Kraków county district.” Written for Women's History Month in remembrance and honor of the women of Poland who suffered as forced laborers in Nazi Germany during World War II. Thank you for reading. If you would like to read more about this particular event in history please see: Wearing the Letter P. Polish Women as Forced Laborers in Nazi Germany 1939-1945. Hippocrene Books, Inc. indiepubs.com/search?type=product&q=sophie+hodorowicz+knab |
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One of the biggest moments in my life was being able to sign for my very own library card. When I'm not reading, researching and writing I'm riding my bike, sewing or gardening. I love flea markets, folk art, and traveling to Poland.
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