The Polish Library bestows the Tadeusz Walendowski Award to individuals or institutions who contribute toward a positive image of Poland abroad and work to establish partnerships between Poles and other nationalities in the spirit of tolerance and mutual respect for individual differences.  Regulations governing the Award.

Tadeusz Walendowski   (1944-2004)—journalist, filmmaker, opposition activist.  He studied sociology at the University of Lodz and filmmaking at the Lodz Film School.  He worked as a film director and independent journalist.  Walendowski was an active member of the Polish democratic opposition movement and was one of the editors of Puls, an independent weekly. Together with his wife, Anna Erdman (the granddaughter of Melchior Wankowicz) he organized a dissidents’ salon at their Warsaw apartment.  In 1979 Poland’s communist government requested that Anna Erdman, an American citizen, leave the country because of her opposition activities.  Tadeusz left Poland with his wife and they settled in the United States.  He worked in the Polish section of the Voice of America.  Walendowski was co-founder of the Polish Library in Washington and its president for many years.  On September 23, 2006 Tadeusz Walendowski received posthumously Krzyż Komandorski Orderu Odrodzenia Polski from Lech Kaczynski.   

Recipients of the Walendowski Award:

2014 Warsaw Rising Museum

2013 Prof. Bill Johnston

2011 Prof. Mieczysław Biskupski

2010 Prof. Timothy Snyder

2008 Alex Storozynski

2007 Andrzej Folwarczny