Objects

Registration card of foreign citizen Bolesław Pacanowski

The identity card of stateless person Bolesław Pacanowski, with a photograph – "Alien registration receipt card" [issued by the Immigration and Naturalisation Service of the United States Department of Justice.

After arriving in the United States in August 1970, the Pacanowskis had to travel to Chicago (someone from Chicago vouched for them), where they received help from the Jewish Family Service charity organisation. The funds they received were very meagre, so they had to find other sources of income. The Pacanowskis looked for work in graphic agencies; they worked in Saul Minsky's Circle Gallery picture factory. As Anatol Pacanowski recounted, it was hard work; the workshop was located on the seventh floor, without a lift or air conditioning. Therefore, after three weeks, in September 1970, the whole family left for Los Angeles. Institutional aid had run out, the parents did not work, and only the son had a job. There was not enough money even for food. "Then" – recalls Anatol Pacanowski – "father took a few paintings under his arm and started to wander around the local shops like a pedlar. He exchanged the paintings for food. Later, shopkeepers would order paintings from him, for example he painted religious scenes (Shabbat) ". "But" – as his son recreates their American life years later – "his father never returned to 'serious' artistic activity, he had no exhibitions" (Interview with Anatol Pacanowski, 2018).

Bolesław Pacanowski died on 6 November 1977, in San Rafael, California. There is a copy of his death certificate in the POLIN Museum collection (MPOLIN-A18.1.13). His wife, Wiera, survived her husband till she died in 2002.

Renata Piątkowska

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Information about the object
Object type
official documentation
Time of creation / dating
1972-12-22
Created place
United States (North America)
Technique
printing
Material
paper
photographic print paper
Keywords
Copyrights status
the object is not protected by copyright law
Owner
POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews
Identification number
MPOLIN-A18.1.11