Dolores Wilkenfeld Papers

The Papers of Dolores Wilkenfeld represent one collection housed within the Archive of the American Soviet Jewry Movement (AASJM). These papers reflect the effort, beginning in the 1960s through the late 1980s, of thousands of American Jews of all denominations and political orientations to stop the persecution and discrimination of Jews in the Soviet Union. The American Soviet Jewry Movement (ASJM) is considered to be the most influential Movement of the American Jewish community in the 20th century. The beginnings of the organized American Soviet Jewry Movement became a model for efforts to aid Soviet Jews in other countries, among them Great Britain, Canada, and France. The movement can be traced to the early 1960s, when the first organizations were created to address the specific problem of the persecution and isolation of Soviet Jews by the government of the Soviet Union.

The collection contains materials related to the Women’s Plea for Human Rights for Soviet Jewry, an event organized by Dolores Wilkenfeld on December 6, 1971 in Houston, Texas. The interreligious event was organized on behalf of of the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods (Presently Women of Reform Judaism) via its local affiliates, Temple Beth Israel Sisterhood and Temple Emanu El Sisterhood. The public observance that took place in the University of St. Thomas was one of twenty-seven such events in major cities across America held on the same date. The program featured readings of letters from Jews in the U.S.S.R. and other dramatic readings, speeches by a former Soviet Refusenik and by prominent female activists from Houston’s Jewish and non-Jewish communities and, and several musical numbers. The event concluded with reading of the resolution for women of all faiths to join in an urgent plea for Soviet Jewry. The participants were asked to sign a petition demanding the right for Soviet Jews to emigrate and freely practice Judaism.