Cleveland's Slovak community was shocked and saddened by the death of General Milan Stefanik in an airplane crash on May 4, 1919. Stefanik was a World War I hero and an important Slovak leader in the new Czechoslovak national government. In 1923-1924, John Pankuch organized and chaired the committee which completed the purchase of and erected the Stefanik statue which today stands at the intersection of Jeptha Drive and MLK Boulevard near the Cleveland Museum of Art. In the photo above, Pankuch (center) presides over a gathering on May 6, 1934, commemorating the fifteenth anniversary of the death of Stefanik.
Image courtesy of Cleveland State University. Michael Schwartz Library. Special Collections.Download Original File
