This collection has no restrictions.
Correspondence, documents, photographs, printed matters, memorabilia pertaining to the life of Jaroslav Sustar.
Series I: Correspondence, 1940-1990s, undated
Sustar's personal and professional correspondence with individuals and organizations in Czech, English, and French. More correspondance is a part of other Series, such as Diaries.
Personal diaries with entries in Czech, English, and Chinese. There are original diary books and loose entries with an extensive number of various inserts such as letters, documents, newspaper clippings, and other related materials. There are also photocopies of the diaries.
Series III: Documents, Notes, and Biographical Materials, 1914-1992, undated
Sustar's personal documents, biographical materials, and various documents related to his professional and military service including reports, communications, memoranda, financial receipts, letters, etc. Many of these documents are the same type of documents as diaries' inserts. Also included are Sustar's notes and autographs of various people. There is also a folder with personal documents of other people.
Series IV: Materials Related to Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, 1941-1989, undated
Printed, research materials, correspondence. More could be found in other series, such as Correspondence, Diaries and Documents.
Series V: Sustar's Writings, 1943-1986, undated
Contains Sustar's academic writings, various articles and essays, transcripts for radio and television broadcasts.
Series VI: Photographs, Drawings, and Postcards, 1932-1977, undated
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
This collection has no restrictions.
Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Jaroslav Sustar Papers; Box and Folder; Bakhmeteff Archive, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
2005.2006.M009: Source of acquisition--Joyce M. Sustar-Martucci. Date of acquisition--2005.
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Collection-level record describing unprocessed material made public in summer 2018 as part of the Hidden Collections initiative.
Collection was processed in 2022 by Jane Meyers and Katia Shraga.
07/07/2020 Biographical note was written by Tanya Chebotarev; added to the record by Katia Shraga.
06/29/2022 Collection was processed, FA published, record updated; ks
Jaroslav Sustar (1908-1988) was born in Pardubice, Czech Republic. In 1935, he graduated from the Military Academy in Hranice. Then he studied at the University of War Studies in Prague. In 1938, Sustar joined the staff of the 1st Czechoslovak Division. After the German invasion, he fled to France via Yugoslavia to avoid Gestapo persecution. In 1941, Captain Sustar was evacuated to Britain and began recruiting men from the Czechoslovak Division in England to participate in secret operations. Called Special Group "D", the recruits went to Special Training Centers located in remote parts of England and Scotland and formed a special group trained to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich. The top Nazi leader was the Chief of Reich Security Office, the "Protector of Bohemia and Moravia", and the chief planner of the Final Solution, the Nazi term for the genocide of the Jews. On May 27, 1942, two members of the group assassinated Heydrich who later died in the hospital.
In June 1944, Jaroslav Sustar was appointed Czechoslovak military attaché in China. He returned to his homeland after the war and worked for the Ministry of Defense. From November 1946, he was Ministry of Defence representative with the Military Mission of the Allied Control Commission in Berlin. He went into exile in 1948, after the Communist takeover.
In the U.S. Jaroslav Sustar was a radio and television journalist in the Pittsburgh area and a lecturer at universities before becoming director of Allegheny Academy in Gibsonia, Pa., where he worked in the 1960s and early 1970s. During the celebration of the U.S. Bicentennial, he was executive vice president of the National Conference of American Ethnic Groups. He had also been deputy director behind the International Studies Institute at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pa. He worked with the FBI as an intelligence research specialist for 10 years. Jaroslav Sustar was an active member of anti-Communist organizations in the U.S. He died in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1988.
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