13th President of the Polish National Alliance

Born in eastern Poland, Romaszkiewicz came to America as a high school age youth and completed his education in business in Boston. He later was in banking. Active in the Polish National Alliance from the time he first joined in 1893, he was elected a vice censor at the national convention of 1907 and a commissioner of the PNA two years later.

 

Involved in work on behalf of the Polish National Fund [Skarb Narodowy], Romaszkiewicz later took part in East Coast activities of the Polish National Department during the First World War. Romaszkiewicz was a strong supporter of the idea of preserving patriotic feeling among Polish young people and he backed the Falcons' Alliance in its cooperation with the PNA.

 

An enthusiast of Marshal Jozef Pilsudski, he was active in the "opposition" faction of the PNA in the 1920s and was elected President of the Alliance at its controversial twenty-fifth convention in Chicago's Sherman Hotel in 1927. A year later his election was confirmed when the delegates of a reunified PNA convened a second time on court order.

 

As president, Romaszkiewicz's great contribution was in his forming of the PNA scouting movement or Harcerstwo. During the 1930s Harcerstwo possessed a peak membership of 52,000 youngsters and the movement rejuvenated interest among American-born Poles in their ethnic heritage.

 

Romaszkiewicz's leadership of both the PNA and Harcerstwo was, however, severely restricted after 1931 and especially after 1935. Within the PNA board of directors, the "old guard" faction became dominant and was headed by Vice President Chester Hibner, a Polish born Chicagoan and tavern keeper. Romaszkiewicz is buried in Boston.