Sophia Kusek

Sophia Kusek was born in Chicopee in 1905. She moved to Poland after World War I, but returned to the United States in 1922. The document on the far left of this frame is her passport, issued by the U.S. legation (embassy) in July 1922, granting her permission to return to the United States. The pink document in the bottom right-hand corner shows that she traveled on a Cunard Line steamship from the port of the free city of Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland) on July 22, 1922. She arrived at Ellis Island in New York City five days later. U.S Public Health Services must have deemed either her or the ship she arrived on as a health risk because her card has a “disinfected’ stamp.

Author: Caitlynn Tippett, History major, Elms College.