TURNERS FALLS

WILL VISIT NATIVE LAND

Messrs. Muraski and Kozk Go to Poland for Their Families
Two local Polish men, Joseph Murauski of Second street and Joseph Kozik of Third street, left this week for New York city from where they will sail to Poland. Both men have lived in this country about eight years, spending most of that time in Turners Falls. They have been working in the mills in this town and have managed to live comfortably, much more so than in their native land. They go to Poland, not with the intention of remaining there permanently, but as soon as they can dispose of property left on the continent, they plan to return to America. Both men have families in the old country and it is their hope to bring them here.

During the war a number of Polish residents of this country were planning to return to their home land with the end of hostilities. Unsettled conditions in Europe together with the high wages offered for labor in the United States has resulted in their changing their minds in regard to taking up their residence in Poland again. Although the war has been ended for more than a year now, there have been no local Polish people leaving for Europe with the exception of the men who departed this week, and those two plan to come back to the land of liberty.

After living here for several years the desire to go back to the native land gradually leaves the Polish people. When they contrast the conditions under which they live in this country with their earlier lives in the mother country, Poland loses its attraction. This results in a deeper interest awakening for the new country, and eventually more and more of them become citizens.

Polish people in Turners Falls have come to be a considerable factor here. A number of them establish business enterprises of their own that their people may be best served. There are two Polish social organizations in town at present, and each of these serve to benefit the town's new and coming citizens. Polish children in large numbers attend the schools and not only become better educated themselves, but diffuse their learning among their parents, giving them new ideas about this land and its people, and in the end creating a people who will become of greater value to the town as the years go by.
(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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Before 1920, about thirty percent of immigrants to the United States came not with the idea of permanently settling, but instead with making enough money to restart their lives in their native lands. Before the First World War (1914-1918), there were few travel restrictions hindering this process. But during the war travel between the U.S. and Europe became difficult, particularly to Poland which the German, Austrian, and Russian armies fought over for nearly the entire war. As a result, after the war many immigrants felt compelled to return to inspect whatever property they owned or to reconnect with their families or towns. This article describes how Joseph Murauski and Joseph Kozik, Polish-born residents of Turners Falls, decided in 1920 to return to Poland. Their plan to sell the lands they owned there suggests several things. For example, when they came to America they were apparently unsure of their prospects here and so did not sell the land they owned in Poland. Also, their intention to bring their families back to the United States speaks well of the prosperity they enjoyed here.

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