Consulate-General of Poland

Consulate General of the Republic of Poland to the United States 🇵🇱

Location: Jan Karski Corner, 233 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016

The Polish Consulate General is located in the Joseph Raphael De Lamar House at 233 Madison Avenue in Murray Hill on Manhattan’s East Side. This Beaux-Arts-style mansion was designed by Charles P. H. Gilbert and built in 1905. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. There, we were given the chance to talk with Vice Consul and Head of Polish community, economic affairs, public diplomacy, and communication, Stanisław Maria Starnawski. Mr. Starnawski is not a career diplomat and is instead a lawyer by trade. He started his career in the Ministry of Economy back in Poland. He has been in New York for one year and this is his first diplomatic posting. He described the job as being more dynamic than his previous one. While work at the Ministry of Economy is very narrow in its scope, consulates deal with a wide array of problems from providing accommodations for students to hosting heads of state. The consulate currently has 7 diplomatic staff with 2 vacancies.

Poland has historically not had a large degree of cooperation with the United States or the West having been occupied by Nazi Germany and then subsequently forced into the Iron Curtain. However, within the past few decades, Poland has joined the EU and NATO and Polish companies have been able to enter the Western market. Among them are corporations like Polish Airline, a premier airline for travel in central and eastern Europe, KGHM, a mining company, and CD Projekt Red, a popular video game studio. Out of all OECD nations, Poland has had the 2nd highest GDP growth rate in the last 30 years (the first is China.) Despite this, expanding business in Europe remains easier than in the US for Polish companies. The consulate is dedicated to helping develop the relationship between Polish companies and North American consumers a. In addition to helping Polish companies grow in North America, the consulate also attracts investment in Poland from Americans, especially in the tourism sector.

Due to Poland’s troubled past, there has been a history of immigration to the United States, especially in the New York City area. There are an estimated 3.5 million Poles in the jurisdiction of the consulate. The majority of these Poles are 1st, 2nd, or 3rd generation and not recent immigrants. Mr. Starnawski described that the existence of these numerous groups of Poles has created a diverse Polish cultural environment in the city. The Polish culture that many in the community remember and reminisce about is often the last-generation culture of their parents or grandparents as opposed to more contemporary Polish culture. Despite this, the consulate seeks to support all forms of Polish culture under this multigenerational structure. The consulate supports the growth of Polish schools as well as other Polish language education and bilingualism programs.

After our interview, Mr. Starnawski showed us around a few rooms in the building. There is a large ballroom where the consulate holds events, filled with lavish decorations and ceiling paintings. Next to the main entrance in the front is a statue of Jan Karski. Jan Karski was a Polish diplomat during World War Two who is remembered for spreading awareness about the atrocities of the Holocaust to the West.

We would like to thank Mr. Starnawkski and the consulate staff for accommodating us and encourage you all to consider visiting Poland in the future.