American Notes FOREIGN POLICY

When he died in New York in 1941, Ignace Jan Paderewski was the world's most acclaimed pianist as well as Poland's most beloved patriot. President Franklin Roosevelt vowed that only when Poland was once again a free country would Paderewski's remains be returned to his native land.

Half a century later, Poland is rushing toward democracy, and officials are looking at the 50th anniversary of his death as a fitting day for a homecoming. During his visit to Washington last week, Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki visited Paderewski's grave in Arlington Cemetery. Whenever his bones are returned, his heart will remain in the U.S. -- literally. Following family wishes, the musician's heart has been enshrined since 1986 at Our Lady of Czestochowa Shrine in Doylestown, Pa., and there it shall stay.