Springfield Jewish Federation Soviet Jewry Collection

The Soviet Jewry materials of Springfield Jewish Federation 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 Springfield Jewish Federation is a charitable organization supporting educational and social service programs for both the local and world-wide Jewish community. The Federation was founded on May 6, 1941, to aid in the resettlement of Jews fleeing the war in Europe. Assisting Jews in need has remained an important part of Federation activities. The organization took an active part in the American Soviet Jewry movement by coordinating fund raising, community-wide programming, social services and educational activities to help Jews emigrate from the U.S.S.R. and to resettle them in Springfield, IL. The Federation arranged housing, health care, coordinated schools and jobs placement and provided a general orientation to American life for the newly arrived Soviet Jewish immigrants.