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Register of the Poland. Konsulat Generalny (New York, N.Y.) Records
76004
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Title: Poland. Konsulat Generalny (New York, N.Y.) records,
Date (inclusive): 1940-1948
Collection number: 76004
Creator:
Poland. Konsulat Generalny (New York, N.Y.)
Collection Size:
7 manuscript boxes
((2.8 linear feet)
Repository:
Hoover Institution Archives
Stanford, California 94305-6010
Abstract: Correspondence, telegrams, memoranda, reports, agreements, minutes, histories, financial records, lists, press summaries,
photographs, and printed matter, relating to the German and Soviet occupation of Poland during World War II, activities of
the Polish Government-in-Exile (London), and displaced Polish citizens after World War II.
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Archives
Language:
Polish.
Collection is open for research.
The Hoover Institution Archives only allows access to
copies of audiovisual items. To listen to sound recordings or to view videos or films during your visit, please contact the Archives
at least two working days before your arrival. We will then advise you of the accessibility of the material you wish to see
or hear. Please note that not all audiovisual material is immediately accessible.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives.
[Identification of item], Poland. Konsulat Generalny (New York, N.Y.) records, [Box no.], Hoover Institution Archives.
Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Archives in 1976.
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. To determine if this has occurred, find
the collection in Stanford University's online catalog at
http://searchworks.stanford.edu/ . Materials have been added to the collection if the number of boxes listed in the online catalog is larger than the number
of boxes listed in this finding aid.
Polish Consulate General in New York City.
The records of the Polish Consulate General in New York (Konsulat Generalny Rzeczpospolitej w Nowym Jorku) were obtained by
the Hoover Institution in 1976 from the family of Consul General Sylwin Strakacz, three years after his death.
The New York Consulate was the first Polish diplomatic post on American soil after Poland regained its independence. It opened
on August 1, 1918, much before the Polish Embassy in Washington and shortly before the San Francisco Consulate did (the latter
remained open only for a short time, to facilitate the transfer of Poles remaining in Siberia). The New York office played
a significant role, but these records deal mostly with civic and administrative affairs, not political ones.
What could be of particular interest to researchers are the efforts of the Polish diplomats in organizing relief among Polish
Americans for their compatriots released from the Siberian camps in 1941, as well as the assistance to Polish prisoners of
war in Germany throughout the war. From the same period, one will also find interesting documents on Polish-Soviet relations
and on Polish-Jewish cooperation in the United States.
The collection is a good illustration of confusion among Polish diplomats in 1944-1945, caused by uncertainty about the future
of their homeland and, subsequently, by the loss of recognition internationally (see the correspondence of Sylwin Strakacz
with Tadeusz Gwiazdowski and Jan Ciechanowski, the Polish ambassador). One of the first posts of Poland's diplomatic network,
the New York Consulate was also one of the first to fall, in 1945, to the communist takeover.
Some materials in the collection date from beyond the consulate's closing year. Since they related to the subject of Polish
post-war politics, they were added to the consular records by Mr. Strakacz, who stayed in the United States after 1945 and
remained active in émigré circles.
It is difficult to determine if the New York Consulate used the uniform system of classification recommended by the Polish
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Very likely, the order in which the documents came to the Hoover Institution was established
by Mr. Strakacz himself.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the repository's online public access catalog.
Poles--United States.
World War, 1939-1945.
World War, 1939-1945--Poland.
New York (State)
New York (N.Y.)
Poland.
Poland--Foreign relations--Soviet Union.
Poland--History--Occupation, 1939-1945.
Soviet Union.
Russia (Federation)
Soviet Union--Foreign relations--Poland.
Poland--Foreign relations--United States.
United States--Foreign relations--Poland.
United States--Foreign relations.
Poles--Soviet Union.