Grace Polk Family Collection

Grace Diana Polk was born in New York in 1941 to Harry and Elizabeth Polk. Grace's father, Harry, (originally Hans Gunthar Pollak), was born on May 3, 1894 in Vienna, Austria. His parents were Hugo Pollak (1866-1935) and Thekla Pollak (née Lichtenstadt; 1871-1939). During World War I, Harry served in the Austrian Army and was held as a POW in Siberia until 1921. After his release, he worked for the Ephrussi Bank in the Stocks and Bonds Division. In 1936, he married Elizabeth Sofer. The couple left Austria in 1938 for London. Later that same year, they traveled to New York aboard the S.S. President Roosevelt. While in the United States, Harry worked for the Waldes Company in Long Island City, a manufacturer of slide fasteners with branches in Vienna and Prague, until his retirement in 1964. He separated from his wife the same year and began to travel, finally settling in Austria. He remarried in 1974 to Hermine Rubin. Harry Polk died in Vienna on August 24, 1983.

Elizabeth Sofer was born in Vienna on March 23, 1902 to parents Julius Sofer (1871-1957) and Katharina Skalla Sofer (1864-1944). She worked for her father at the Waldes Koh-i-noor Company in Vienna. Elizabeth was a dancer and a member of several modern dance companies. Like her husband, she first worked for the Waldes branch in New York. In 1957, she began to work as a dance therapist at the Lexington School for the Deaf in New York City, and in 1958 co-founded the National Dance Teacher's Guild. From 1960 to 1982, she was a staff member at the Children's Center for Creative Arts at Adelphi University. She specialized in working with handicapped and emotionally disturbed children. In 1966, she co-founded the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA). Elizabeth was also instrumental in shaping the New York State public school curriculum. She conducted more than fifty teacher workshops in the United States and abroad. After retiring, she worked as a freelance writer with senior citizens and co-founded the Timelines Community to encourage the creativity of elders. In 1995, Elizabeth was honored with a lifetime achievement award from the ADTA and noted as a chief pioneer in the field of dance and movement therapy. She died on October 29, 2001 in New York.

Julius Sofer (Elizabeth Polk's father) was a manufacturers representative at the Waldes Koh-i-noor Company in Vienna. He was a highly distinguished member of the business community. His connections to the American branch of the Waldes Company helped him to obtain affidavits and visas for the Polks and other members of their family. In 1938, Julius Sofer transferred to the export department of Waldes in Prague and then immigrated to Cuba in 1941. His wife Katharina Sofer stayed behind in Vienna and died there in 1944. Julius finally arrived in the United States in 1943 and lived with the Polk family until his death in 1957.

Harry Polk's sister, Zdenka (Mimi) and her husband Ernst Orenstein, stayed in Vienna until 1939 in order to care for their mother, Thekla Lichtenstadt. After her death, the Orensteins left Austria for Norway and finally settled in Hawaii. Only their oldest son, Otto, accompanied them. Tony, the younger son, arrived in Hawaii on his own as a child via England and the continental United States.

Elizabeth Polk's sisters, Felicitas Sofer and Lilia Sofer Skala, also immigrated to the United States. Lilia Skala brought her husband, Louis Erich Skala, and her sons Martin and Peter. Lilia was an actress who worked for Austrian theatres. In the United States she appeared on Broadway and in several movies and was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in the film Lilies of the Fields.