Betty Golomb Papers

The Papers of Betty Golomb 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 Betty Golomb's personal papers related to her activities on behalf of Jews in the USSR. In the late 1960s Ms. Golomb was a board member of the Women's Auxiliary of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, presently known as Women of Reform Judaism. The group was an early advocate for the rights of Jews in the USSR. In 1975 Ms. Golomb was appointed the chair of the task force on Soviet Jewry for the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in New York and was responsible for most of its programs under the direction of the Commission on Social Action and Religious Action Center. In 1976 Ms. Golomb was appointed to represent the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in the National Conference on Soviet Jewry and became the member of NCSJ's executive committee. She also led the Women's Plea for Human Rights for Soviet Jews, sponsored by the Leadership Conference of National Jewish Women's Organizations.