Jewish Chronicle Soviet Jewry Collection

The Soviet Jewry files of The Jewish Chronicle 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 Jewish Chronicle is a weekly newspaper covering local, national and global news for the Jewish community of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA and its vicinity.

The collection contains information and photographs used by The Jewish Chronicle for coverage of the situation of Jews in the Soviet Union during the decades of 1960s and 1970s. The bulk of the materials originated from the Soviet Jewry movement and other Jewish organizations in the United States and includes publications, press releases, correspondence and photographs related to Soviet Jews. The collection also contains articles, pamphlets and press releases from non-Jewish organizations in the United States and Israel concerned with human rights and civil liberties. Files on special projects by the American Jewish communities designed to raise awareness of the Soviet Jewry movement are also included. The collection also features news clippings and materials aggregated from the information agencies on the subjects pertaining to Soviet Jewry and general background information on the U.S.S.R., and a large number of photographs.