In the interwar period, a Polish Consulate served Pittsburgh's sizeable population with Polish roots. The last consul before the Second World War was Heliodor Sztark, who came to Pittsburgh in 1938, together with his wife, Aniela and their younger daughter Nina. All three became active public figures within the Polish community, the city of Pittsburgh, and Pitt. After the war, Heliodor resigned from his post because he did not agree with the new Polish government.
The family settled in Texas, where they started a new life under very difficult conditions. Their older daughter remained in Poland, but stayed in close contact with the US branch of the family.
The talk will focus on the Sztark family's trajectory before, during, and after their stay in Pittsburgh. Based on material from the Pittsburgh Polish newspaper "Pittsburczanin," interviews with descendants, and documents from archives in the US, Poland, and Germany, Professor Jan Musekamp will demonstrate how an East Central European family navigated realities in independent and wartime Poland, and the Cold War United States.
