Alexander Shatton collection
Extent and Medium
folder
1
Creator(s)
- Alexander Shatton
Biographical History
Alexander Shatton (1924-1995) was born Alexander Szatensztejn on February 18, 1924 in Warsaw to W. Joseph and Anna Szatensztejn. He and his family left Warsaw in 1939 to immigrate to the United States via Vilna the Soviet Union, and Japan. They arrived in Hawaii and settled in New York City in 1940. He joined the United States Army, trained at Camp Ritchie, and served as a translator in Europe. From 1946-1947, Shatton served as an editorial assistant at the New York Times, and as an editorial researcher at Columbia University Press from 1947-1949. In 1949, the Central Intelligence Agency contacted Shatton and asked him to join the agency. He worked at the CIA for 27 years and was stationed in India, Europe, South America, and Southeast Asia. In 1976 he was awarded the Career Intelligence Medal upon retirement. He founded Passport Executive Travel in 1977 and served as its President until 1994. Alexander Shatton died on May 13, 1995 in Washington, DC.
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
Funding Note: The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Phyllis Bruns donated the Alexander Shatton collection to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in August 2007. Phyllis Bruns is the wife of Alexander Shatton.
Scope and Content
The Alexander Shatton collection consists of several articles written by Alexander Shatton. The collection includes an article entitled "The Journey of the Szatensztejn Family from Poland to the United States, 1939-1940," which describes the then-teenaged Alexander's journey with his family from Warsaw to Vilna, through the Soviet Union, and then the trip from Japan to Hawaii to the United States; the article was written approximately six months after the family arrived in New York City. Also includes an article entitled "Report of a Four Day Visit to Poland," written by Alexander Shatton on November 26, 1945, when, as a soldier, he accompanied a United States Army convoy as a translator, and gives his impressions of immediate post-war Poland. The collection also includes an article describing Mr. Shatton's impressions of Jewish life in post-war Europe, including his visit to a concentration camp, a displaced persons camp, and travels throughout Europe, as well as an article entitled "My Experiences and Observations as a Jew in World War II."
System of Arrangement
The Alexander Shatton collection is arranged in a single series.
People
- Shatton, Alexander, 1924-1995.
Corporate Bodies
- Zeilsheim (Displaced persons camp)
- Gunskirchen (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Jewish soldiers‐‐United States.
- Austria.
- Displaced persons--Europe.
- World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Liberation.
- Germany.
- Jewish refugees.
Genre
- Document
- Newspaper clippings.
- Telegrams.
- Personal narratives.