Call Number:

SCRC 72

Repository:

Temple University Libraries: Special Collections Research Center

Extent:

0.2 linear feet (1 box)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Stanton W. Kratzok Diary, SCRC 72, Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Date:

june 29-september 4, 1935 (inclusive)

Form:

Diaries and Manuscripts

Abstract:

Stanton Willig Kratzok was born on January 31, 1917 in Philadelphia, PA, to parents Samuel E. Kratzok and Elizabeth Willig. He graduated from Overbrook High School in 1933 and the Wharton School in 1936 before studying law at Temple University. Kratzok enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps and was stationed in Manchester, England during World War II. After the war, he married Debora Stotter and had two children, Suzanne and Frances. As a practicing attorney, Stanton Kratzok was an advocate for civil rights and worked on cases that included desegregation of schools and equal rights for women in the workplace. He was founder and president of the Wynnefield Residents Association and served in leadership positions for local and national Jewish organizations including the Jewish National Fund, Committee for a Monument to the Six Million Jewish Martyrs, and the Jewish Community Relations Council. Stanton W. Kratzok died on November 16, 1993.

The collection consists of an 82 page bound typescript produced by Stanton W. Kratzok using a portable Remington typewriter and a xerographic copy of the original. The diary chronicles his trip to Europe and the Soviet Union in the summer of 1935 as part of a study abroad program organized by the Institute of International Education. The diary begins with his experiences and observations aboard the White Star Line's Britannic and ends with Kratzok boarding the Majestic bound for the United States. Kratzok's observations during the trip cover a myriad of topics including working conditions aboard the passenger ships; uniformed policewomen and the availability of birth control in London, England; the operation of a Jewish court conducted in Yiddish in Kiev, Ukraine; and the "absolute social freedom of the negro" in Paris, France. Approximately half of the diary is comprised of entries pertaining to politics, the legal system, living conditions, and Jewish culture in the Soviet Union. The diary is a detailed account of a young American Jewish man's thoughts and observations as they pertain to the people and places he encountered during his travels abroad. The diary entries are not merely observational, but also illustrate Kratzok's views of political and social issues and their impact on Jews and non-Jews alike within the larger context of historical events of the interwar era. The xerographic copy includes an index of the diary with supplied title entries and a short biographical sketch written by his daughter, Frances W. Kratzok.