Emigration and immigration

Contains newsletters and related documents composed by San Francisco area organizations pertaining to Soviet Jewry. The newsletters are composed by American Jewish activists on behalf of Soviet Jewish refuseniks and refugees. The documents provide insight into the daily lives of Soviet Jewry and the American Jewish fight for Soviet freedom during the 1970s and 1980s. The newsletters document different organizations and attempts to aid Soviet Jewry, their status and their plight. Organizational newsletters included are from such organizations as: The Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, Bay Area Council on Soviet Jewry and Northern California Lawyers' Committee for Soviet Jews. Highlights of the collection include UN Human Rights documents, the Pesach Project (1978-1979) and Twinning programs for Bar/Bat Mitzvah.

The collection contains papers of Joel Sandberg and Adele Sandberg, among the co-founders of the South Florida Conference on Soviet Jewry. It covers the period from the mid-1970's to the early 1990's and documents the Sandbergs' activities as leaders of the South Florida Conference on Soviet Jewry, as well as their individual efforts in the American Soviet Jewry movement. The documents include correspondence, memos, minutes, news clippings and photos.

This collection focuses on the work and lives of author Johannes and poet Gertrude Urzidil. It contains drafts of published works, correspondence, clippings, personal documents, financial and legal documents, objects, photographs, and audio cassette tapes.

This collection documents the professional and personal lives of John (Hans) and Trude Schiff, with emphasis on John Schiff's career as a professional photographer. Although the greater part of the collection focuses on his photography, the collection additionally holds papers pertaining to the Schiffs' immigration, legal and financial papers pertaining to restitution from Germany, documentation of Trude Schiff's early medical career, and personal correspondence and photographs. Aside from the preponderance of photographs, the collection holds letters, address books, exhibit catalogs, and official documents, and a few clippings.

This collection contains correspondence, family keepsakes, legal records and other papers of the John Peters family, descended from the Pinkus family of Upper Silesia. The family was notable for its large textile factory in Neustadt, Germany (now Prudnik, Poland) and involvement in local culture, politics, and civil life. "Aryanization" forced Hans Hubert Pinkus, John’s father, to emigrate and take his family to the UK in 1939. The John Peters (Pinkus) Family Papers document the lives and the relationships of these men and their families in the decades after WWII, including legal applications for restitution.

The Joseph Hirsch Collection contains papers of the Hirsch family and other related families and documents gathered during genealogical research. There is correspondence concerning his research, as well as family trees and information about Schaffa, the town where Joseph Hirsch's fathers' family came from.

The collection contains the papers of Judith A. Manelis, the Executive Director of the Communications Department of the United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York. The papers pertain to the UJA-Federation Campaign for Soviet Jewish Emigres. The materials include ads, mailings, news releases, position papers, stationery, a button, and a poster.

This collection consists of a published copy of Cheney's Master's thesis, Narratives of Courage: Oral Histories of Jewish Émigrés from the Former Soviet Union, which she submitted to the Public History program of California State University, Sacramento in 2002. As part of her research, Cheney conducted oral history interviews with five Russian Jewish immigrants and one non-Jewish spouse of a Jewish immigrant. The collection includes audiotapes of these interviews, biographical worksheets, release forms, and transcripts. These materials offer a kind of coda to the long epic of the Soviet Jewish struggle to emigrate, as the speakers look back and relate, in English, their struggles in the USSR and subsequent life in the U.S.

This collection contains correspondence and other materials related to the Braun-Vogelstein family.

The Julius and Elisabeth Hirsch Collection holds the papers of this couple, with much of the collection consisting of family correspondence. Prominent subjects include the immigration of family members and genealogy of the family. In addition to extensive correspondence and family trees the collection includes notebooks, essays and articles, newspaper clippings, photographs, early drafts of Julius Hirsch's family memoir, and research notes.

The collection holds documents related to Julius Sofer including his memoirs as well as pocket calendars, which were used as diaries by Julius Sofer and his daughter Lisl in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

This collection documents the life and work of the law librarian Kate Wallach. Contained in this collection are papers relating to her personal life, mainly her correspondence between her and her parents and her brother when she was already in the United States, as well as official documents and professional correspondence between her as a law librarian and members of other academic libraries. Kate Wallach was among the first 150 women to practice law in the state of Wisconsin.

Kathleen M. Hyman of La Grange Park, IL is a former Soviet Jewry movement activist, who was involved with Chicago Action for Soviet Jewry, grass-roots non-profit organization that has advocated for Jews in the U.S.S.R. In 1976 Mrs. Hyman traveled to U.S.S.R., where she established contacts with prominent Soviet Jewish Refuseniks. She has been involved with the West Suburban Synagogue in Oak Park and their adopted village Penza in the Former Soviet Union and has been a liaison between her synagogue, Congregation Beth Shalom, Naperville, IL and the remnants of the Jewish community in Jekabpils, Latvia. The collection contains Mrs. Hyman’s correspondence with Refuseniks, memos, notes, and clippings related to the Soviet Jewry movement.

The Kern-Martin Family Collection contains extensive family correspondence and documentation of members of the related Kern-Martin, Kern, Temple, and other families. Correspondence with friends, colleagues, and more distant relatives is included. Other family members' papers include many family photographs, education documents, writings and diaries, official documents, obituaries, and other papers.

The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence from Fanni Blatny, née Klein in England to her niece Alice Jaffé, née Rice in Maryland. Also included are correspondence and immigration documents pertaining to the extended Klein family. There are explanatory notes by Alice Jaffé throughout the collection.

The Kornstein-Rosenthal Collection documents the most notable events in the lives of members of the Kornstein and related families, especially of Adolf and Suse Kornstein. Prominent in this collection is the comprehensive family correspondence, providing a view of the daily events of family members for nearly two decades. In addition, the collection contains a detailed narrative based on these letters. Other material includes educational and official papers, some compositions of family members, family trees and other genealogical information and photographs.

This collection mainly consists of documents pertaining to the conductor Kurt Adler. Primarily there are documents about his life and his professional career, but there are also documents concerning the restitution of lost property of his parents.

The collection contains materials relating to Kurt Goldsmith, a New York-based photographer, and his wife Grete née Lendt. Kurt and his family escaped Nazi Germany to ultimately settle in New York City. The materials trace the journey that they and their family took to seek asylum in the United States. The collection is made up of personal documents, correspondence, photographs, and other archival materials.

This collection mainly consists of documents related to Kurt Baeck’s emigration to the Dutch East Indies and Shanghai and immigration to the United States. The materials include immigration documents, identity cards, financial papers, travel documents, and employment records.

This collection documents the personal life and professional career of art director, editor, and photographer Kurt Safranski (1890-1964), who co-founded the photo agency Black Star in 1935. The collection also includes information about the career and life of Kurt’s daughter, Tina Fredericks-Koch, née Safranski (1922-2015), who worked as an art director for magazines and in real estate.

Legal records contain census, employment, marriage (including Ketubahs), and naturalization records for Rebecca (Rae) Drucker Kuttenplum (1896- ) and her husband Louis Kuttenplum (1892- ). Of interest is an application Rae Kuttenplum signed to maintain her citizenship with the United States, having married a British subject. Also included are the couple's Workmen's Circle membership certificates.

The collection contains papers of Laurel Gould and her lawyer husband Alan J. Gould, activists of the American Soviet Jewry Movement involved with the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews in Washington D. C. area and in the San Fracisco Bay area, Northern California Lawyers Committee for Soviet Jews and the National Conference on Soviet Jewry. The bulk of the collection covers the decade of 1970 through 1980. The materials include correspondence, memoranda, individual files on Soviet Jewish Refuseniks, documentation of special projects, events and visits to USSR, publications, legal materials pertinent to the Soviet Jewry, photographs, slides and audio recordings of conversations and interviews with the Soviet Jews.

The Lekisch Family collection documents personal and professional activities of Kurt Lekisch, a medical doctor originally from Mainz, Germany, who was active in his profession as well as academic research until his death in Texas in 1994. The collection also includes a small series on other members of the Lekisch family. The material mainly reflects his work as a doctor in the US but also as a volunteer practitioner in India and as a practitioner in Rhodesia. His active life as a medical researcher and publisher can be seen in his numerous publications; some of which derive from his studies at universities in Germany, Switzerland, and the US. Although the bulk of the documents consist of manuscripts and printed material, the collection also includes correspondence, photos, vital documents, and a range of certificates.

The Leo Baeck Collection documents the life and work of Rabbi Leo Baeck, well-known as a leader, scholar, and spokesman for German Jewry. Although the most prominent items in this collection are articles, clippings, and biographical material on Leo Baeck, the collection also holds original manuscripts of his writing, as well as personal documents, correspondence, and a small amount of photographs and artwork.

The Leo Glueckselig Collection includes materials pertaining to Leo Glueckselig and other members of the Glueckselig family and consists mostly of personal correspondence, photographs, and documents, whereas other document types such as printed materials, manuscripts, art works, and a cookbook constitute a smaller part of the collection.

This collection describes the work and life of the physiognomist and writer Leo Herland. The papers found here emphasize his written work, and the largest portion of the collection is made up of manuscripts of his compositions. The collection also holds personal and professional correspondence, published articles, some personal documents, diaries, clippings, and a few photographs.

This collection consists primarily of research material for Leon Kane’s book, Robert Danneberg, ein pragmatischer Idealist (1980). There are correspondence, writings and articles concerning the political work and arrest of the Austrian social democrat Robert Danneberg (1885-1942). The actual manuscript of Robert Danneberg, ein pragmatischer Idealist is included as well as reviews and some personal documents about Leon Kane.

The Leonie and Ernst Steiner collection contains photographs of three generations, official and legal documents and certificates of the time when the family members became American citizens. There is also some correspondence, for example from the young Eva Steiner in London to her father Ernst in the United States.

This collection centers on the restitution claims of Leonie R. Field and her siblings, as well as on payments made to her by the German government. A smaller amount of papers pertains to her immigration, with biographical information also present. The collection includes copious correspondence and financial records along with official documents and a small amount of official and financial correspondence related to immigration.

Papers of the Soviet Jewry movement activist Leslie Schaffer of Reno, Nevada document her trip to the Soviet Union to visit Soviet Jewish Refuseniks in Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev in March of 1982. The collection includes trip reports notes and photographs, correspondence, biographies of the Refuseniks, travel documents and receipts and background materials on the U.S.S.R.