Skip to main content Skip to search results

Showing Collections: 1 - 21 of 21

B'nai B'rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum Soviet Jewry Movement Collection

 Collection
Identifier: I-529
Abstract

The collection reflects the role of B’nai B’rith and other organizations in the movement to liberate Soviet Jews. The materials in the B'nai B'rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum Soviet Jewry collection include articles, a flier and posters.

Dates: Undated, 1987-1988

Carol S. Kekst Papers

 Collection
Identifier: P-961
Abstract

The collection contains papers of the American Soviet Jewry movement activist, Carol Schapiro Kekst. The materials focus on the activities of the Committee of Concerned Scientists, Inc. (of which Kekst was a vice-chair) in order to protect the Soviet Jewish Refusenik scientists from state persecution and discrimination, and to defend their right to emigrate.

Dates: undated, 1975, 1977-1982

Efry Spectre Papers

 Collection
Identifier: P-954
Abstract

The papers of Rabbi Efry Spectre reflect his involvement in the American Soviet Jewry movement. Rabbi Spectre chaired the Detroit Jewish Community Relations Council's Committee on International Concerns and the Detroit Soviet Jewry Committee, that advocated Jewish emigration from the USSR and free expression of Jewish religious and cultural rights within the Soviet Union. The materials include news clippings, correspondence, photographs, pamphlets, memos and notes.

Dates: undated, 1964, 1970-1973, 1975, 1977-1983, 1987-1989

Executive Functions Records in the Hadassah Archives

 Collection
Identifier: I-578/RG 13
Abstract

This record group includes documents created and maintained by the Office of the President, the Office of the Executive Director and the Chair of the Division Coordinators/Directors Committee. Prominent is the Henrietta Szold series, containing correspondence by and to Szold as well as printed materials written by and about her. The files in this record group were created by a national president or executive director, or for their use, or maintained in their office during their years in office. Included are correspondence, minutes, memos, publications, reports and subject files on topics with which these individuals were involved.

Dates: 1875, 1877-2011, 2015; Majority of material found within 1910 - 2000

Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry Collection

 Collection
Identifier: I-362
Abstract

This collection documents the activities of a human rights grassroots organization on behalf of Jews in the Soviet Union. The collection features annual reports, calendars, general correspondence, announcement pamphlets, meeting fliers, banners used at rallies, miscellaneous speakers and conferences information, membership documents, and materials about engineering, legal, medical, youth, and women’s coalitions.

Dates: 1964-1990, 2016

Harry Lerner Papers

 Collection — Container: Consolidated Box P29, Folder: Collection P-972
Identifier: P-972
Abstract

Harry Lerner, a children’s books publisher, who, with his wife Sharon Lerner, was an activist of the American Soviet Jewry movement in the Minneapolis area. The materials include newsletters, articles, memos, haggadahs, profiles and lists of Soviet Jewish Prisoners of Conscience and Refuseniks.

Dates: undated, 1979-1980

Jewish Chronicle Soviet Jewry Collection

 Collection
Identifier: I-523
Abstract

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 organizations and other Jewish institutions in the United States and includes publications, press releases, correspondence and photographs related to Soviet Jews.

Dates: undated, 1963-1988, 1990-1993

Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans Records

 Collection
Identifier: I-547
Abstract

The Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans (JFSGNO) was a social service agency created in 1948 to establish and preserve the self-sufficiency of Jewish families. The collection focuses on the JFSGNO’s work to resettle Jews from the Soviet Union during the 1970s and 1980s, often in cooperation with similar agencies, such as Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), United Service for New American, and United Jewish Fund. Also included are lists of the Displaced Persons who arrived from Eastern and Western Europe by ships to the port of New Orleans in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and materials on resettling of refugees from Southeast Asia in the 1970s-1980s. The documents include ship manifests, memos, agendas, correspondence, clippings, policy statements and procedures, statistics, congressional reports, programs and budgets.

Dates: undated, 1949-1952, 1961, 1974-1985

Jewish Media Service, records

 Collection
Identifier: I-513
Abstract

Contains material collected by the Jewish Media Service (JMS) on Jewish films, film company catalogs, resources and information from and about various media centers. The majority of the Jewish Media Service records date from when the JMS operated independently from 1975 to 1987. Types of material found in the collection include articles, brochures, catalogs, correspondence, examination study guides, filmographies, film stills, newsletters, pamphlets, photographs, posters, publications, scripts, and slides.

Dates: undated, 1898, 1944, 1955, 1957, 1961-1990; Majority of material found within 1975 - 1987

John Steinbruck Papers

 Collection — Container: Consolidated Box P27, Folder: P-951
Identifier: P-951
Abstract

The papers of Reverend John Frederick Steinbruck, an ordained Lutheran minister and humanitarian activist, reflect his involvement in the American Soviet Jewry movement. The materials include news clippings, correspondence, photographs, pamphlets and a brief manuscript of memoirs.

Dates: undated, 1976-1978, 1980, 1984-1985, 1990, 2008

Linda Rutta Papers

 Collection — Container: Consolidated Box P28, Folder: P-965
Identifier: P-965
Abstract

The collection contains papers of the American Soviet Jewry movement activist Linda Rutta. The materials focus on her activism as an undergraduate student at City College of New York, and her relations with the family of the Soviet Jewish Refusenik, Victor Ozar. The collection includes materials from the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ), such as a Soviet Jewry fact sheet, college campus action outline, and correspondence with SSSJ regarding Soviet Jewish Prisoners of Conscience. Also included is Rutta's correspondence with the Ozar family.

Dates: undated, 1975-1976

Marilyn Labendz Papers

 Collection — Container: Consolidated Box P27, Folder: P-946
Identifier: P-946
Abstract

Personal papers of the American Soviet Jewry movement activist Marilyn Labendz, who participated in the MetroWest Conference on Soviet Jewry, chaired the MetroWest mobilization to Summit II, and Women's Interfaith Plea for Soviet Jewry. The collection contains speeches, memos, correspondence, pamphlets, news clippings and digital photographs.

Dates: undated, 1985-1989

Moshe Decter Papers

 Collection
Identifier: P-899
Abstract

The collection contains papers of one of the pioneers of the American Soviet Jewry Movement. Starting in the early 1960s Moshe Decter instigated broad publicity campaigns to raise global awareness about the persecution of Soviet Jews and authored hundreds of articles on the subject in a variety of publications. Mr. Decter established and directed the Jewish Minorities Research bureau, served as the executive secretary of the Conference on the Status of Soviet Jews and as a director of research at the American Jewish Congress. Moshe Decter Papers consist of materials dating from the late 1950s to the early 2000s, with the bulk of the collection dating in 1960s-1970s. The documents include articles, correspondence, transcripts, notes, memoranda, publications, news clippings, broadsides and photographs.

Dates: undated, 1958-1980, 1982, 1989-1990, 1992, 1995, 1997, 2002-2003

Murray Levine Papers

 Collection — Container: Consolidated Box P29, Folder: P-974
Identifier: P-974
Abstract

Papers of Murray Levine, a rabbi at Temple Beth Sholom in Framingham, MA, worked extensively to help resettle Jewish immigrants arriving from the former Soviet Union and traveled to the Soviet Union to deliver spiritual and material support to Soviet Jewish Refuseniks. The materials include photographs and slides, trip reports, notes, memos, clippings, Refusenik profiles, a notebook with coded names of Soviet Jews, and correspondence, including a letter of support from Senator Edward M. Kennedy.

Dates: undated, 1976, 1978, 1982, 1984-1985, 1990

National Jewish Welfare Board, Records

 Collection
Identifier: I-337
Abstract

The collection documents the National Jewish Welfare Board's (JWB) evolution from an organization founded in 1917 to provide support for soldiers in times of war to an agency involved in all aspects of Jewish life both in the United States and abroad. In 1990 JWB recreated itself as the Jewish Community Centers Association of North America.

Dates: undated, 1889-1995 (bulk 1917-1990)

Records of the Jewish Defense League

 Collection
Identifier: I-374
Abstract

The collection contains the records of the Jewish Defense League (JDL), a militant Zionist organization with a stated goal to protect Jews from all forms of antisemitism. The materials document the origins of the JDL, the organization's mission statement and recruitment strategies and account for its most definitive actions. The collection also reflects the League's turbulent relationship with, and its criticism of the mainstream Jewish agencies, as well as examples of criticism of the League's controversial methods from various sources. The collection prominently covers the JDL's role as a pioneer of the American Soviet Jewry movement. Materials on the 1971 World Conference of Jewish Communities are also included. The documents include the Articles of the Organization, correspondence and press releases, membership and recruitment materials, newsletters, newspaper clippings and ephemera.

Dates: undated, 1969-1974, 1985-1986

Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism Soviet Jewry Collection

 Collection
Identifier: I-538
Abstract

The collection documents the advocacy on behalf of the Soviet Jewry of the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism, a non-profit organization concerned with Jewish social justice and legislative activity in Washington, D.C.

Dates: undated, 1959, 1962-1973, 1976-1990, 1993-1994, 1996

Robert Mednick Papers

 Collection
Identifier: P-1036
Abstract

The collection contains personal papers of the American Soviet Jewry movement activist Robert Mednick. Serving as a worldwide managing partner in a prominent Chicago-based holding company Arthur Andersen LLP, Mednick used his professional connections in big business and in the United States and European governments to obtain exit visas for over twenty Soviet Jewish Refusenik families. The collection consists primarily of Mednick's correspondence with the Refuseniks, other Soviet Jewry movement activists, American and foreign government officials, and international business leaders, including American corporate moguls and philanthropists Armand Hammer and Guilford Glazer, and British historian Sir Martin Gilbert. Also included are reports on Mednick's trip to the Soviet Union, presentations on Soviet Jewry and his Congressional Testimony on Soviet interference with mail.

Dates: 1980-1998, 2017

Ronya Schwaab Papers

 Collection
Identifier: P-909
Abstract

This collection documents the life and activities of dancer and activist Ronya Schwaab. The collection contains material related to her activities advocating for Soviet Jews, lecturing on various topics, her trips abroad, and writing reviews for numerous books. It also includes correspondence with family, friends, and various officials in both the public and non-profit spheres of politics and business. The collection contains numerous photographs and certificates that further document her activities and accomplishments.

Dates: undated, 1877-2001; Majority of material found within 1958-2001

Si Frumkin (1930-2009) Papers

 Collection
Identifier: P-871
Abstract

The Si Frumkin Papers include Mr. Frumkin’s articles on the subject of the Holocaust, Israel, the Soviet Union and Soviet Jews from the mid- and the late 1980’s, and a video interview with him and video recordings of several television programs related to the topic of the Soviet Jewry. The documents include articles, news clippings and video recordings.

Dates: undated, 1985, 1988-1989; Majority of material found within 1988 - 1989

Springfield Jewish Federation Soviet Jewry Collection

 Collection
Identifier: I-532
Abstract

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.

Dates: Undated, 1978, 1981-1984, 1987, 1989-1992, 1994, 1997