Antoni Suryak interviewed by Barry York in the Polish Australians oral history project [sound recording]
- Bib ID:
- 2531798
- Format:
- Audio
- Author:
- Suryak, Antoni, 1925-, interviewee
- Access Conditions:
- Access open for research, personal copies and public use.
- Description:
-
- 2001
- 3 digital audio tapes (ca. 167 min.)
- Series:
- Polish Australians oral history project.
- Summary:
-
Antoni Suryak, retired union delegate and Polish community activist recalls the move to Wollongong, N.S.W. to work on a 2 year contract for the Australian Iron & Steel Company, Port Kembla, N.S.W. (early 1950s); his involvement in the trade union movement as an anit-Communist, being elected as a national delegate to the Steelworks Association; his retirement from the company as a crane driver in 1984; memories of Cringila, settling there in 1952 (industrial suburb of Wollongong); involvement with the Polish community in Wollongong (late 1950s-late 1990s); visit by Mazowsze Dance Ensemble; his return visits to Poland; in 1993 by decree of Poland's Office of the President, being awarded the Polonia Restituta medal; his views on the Solidarity wave of Polish immigration of the 1980s.
Suryak talks about his background in Krakow, Poland; his parents and early schooling; the German invasion (Sept. 1939) and occupation of Poland; commencing a mechanical course in Krakow (1941) but in Mar. 1942 being forcibly removed to Germany, to work as a metal grinder in a factory at Kassel; the bombing of Kassel; his Catholicism; Polish group-identity in the labour camps and his escape; post war his work with the US Army in Germany (June,1945-Jan.,1947); work with the Displaced Person's Police Forces (Mar.,1947-Sept.,1949); Russian occupation of Poland; his decision to emigrate to Australia, gaining passage for his wife, daughter and himself on the SS. General Black, disembarking at Sydney (Dec.1949); Bathurst Migrant Camp, N.S.W.
- Notes:
-
- Recorded June 15, 2001; June 19, 2001 at Wollongong, N.S.W.
- Digital master available National Library of Australia;
- Index/Finding Aid Note:
- Timed summary available.
- Subject:
-
- Suryak, Antoni, 1925- -- Interviews
- Australian Iron and Steel Company (Port Kembla, N.S.W.)
- Polish Australians -- Interviews
- Polish Australians -- Economic conditions -- 1945-
- Polish Australians -- Social life and customs -- 1945-
- Polish Australians -- New South Wales -- Wollongong -- Interviews
- Trade unionists -- New South Wales -- Wollongong -- Interviews
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Germany -- Prisoners and prisons, Polish -- Personal narratives
- Other authors/contributors:
- York, Barry, 1951-, interviewer
- Related Records:
-
This belongs to the Polish Australians oral history project.
This collection contains 49 records. - Copyright:
-
Copyright Undetermined
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- Reason for copyright status:
- Unable to determine date of publication or creation
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Sound Recording
- Published status:
- Unpublished
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