The Hirt Family

Michael Hirt writes (July 2008), these pictures “show my grandparents, uncle, and father.  My uncle and father were both born in Horodenka. The first two photos were taken in Horodenka, but the location of the third is not known.

“l-r; Artur Hirt (deceased), Joseph Bernard Hirt (age 78), Amelia Hirt (deceased), Michael Leonard Hirt (age 74). Horodenka, circa 1933

l-r; Joseph Bernard Hirt, Amelia Hirt, Michael Leonard Hirt.  Horodenka, circa 1933 or 1934

b-f; Artur Hirt, Joseph Bernard Hirt, Michael Leonard Hirt.  Location unknown, circa 1938.

“The family came to the U.S.A. in 1944, along with approximately 1,000 other refugees, as ’guests’ of the U.S. government.  They were interned for 18 months, behind barbed wire, in the only refugee camp on U.S. soil during the war (Oswego, New York).  After the war ended, they were allowed to stay in the U.S. via a Presidential Directive issued by then-President Truman (Gruber, Ruth, "Haven, The Unknown Story of 1000 World War II Refugees", Coward-McCann, Inc., New York, 335 p.; Lowenstein, Sharon, "Token Refugee", Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 246 p.).

“Artur Hirt died in 1955 in Des Moines, Iowa. Amelia Hirt died in 1994 in Cleveland, Ohio.  My Uncle Joseph and father are still living and in relatively good health.”