Jews -- Societies, etc

This collection contains the records of the Society for the History of Czechoslovak Jews, an organization founded in 1961, in New York City, by members of the Joseph Popper unit of B’nai B’rith, to foster and disseminate knowledge about the history and culture of Jews in the Czech and Slovak lands. Along with the Joseph Popper unit and, later, the Holocaust Survivors of Slovakia, the society sponsored an annual memorial service held in New York City to honor Czechoslovak Jews who perished in the Holocaust. A majority of the records are from the tenure of Rabbi Norman Patz as president (1994-2008). The materials primarily comprise correspondence, and items related to the annual memorial service, including texts of addresses, and yizkor memorial booklets. Also included are meeting minutes, letters to the membership, financial reports, writings, speeches, obituaries, clippings, photographs, and printed ephemera. The society's correspondence reflects its participation in cultural events related to Czech and Slovak Jewish history, as well as its relationship to the Jewish communities in the Czech Republic and, to a lesser extent, Slovakia; some correspondence with members contains genealogical information.

This collection contains original and photocopied correspondence, documents and clippings pertaining to Jews and the Jewish community in Dortmund, Germany.

Folder 1 contains genealogical tables of the family Schwarzadler (later Adler) from Frankfurt/Main. Folder 2 holds materials pertaining to Frank J. Adler’s mother, Dora Adler, née Jacobsohn. Biographical information about Frank J. Adler is included in folder 1.

The Freedom Benevolent Society was a mutual aid and fraternal organization founded by Jewish immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1882, on the Lower East Side of New York City. Originally known as the Erster Kaiser Franz Josef Kranken Unterstützungs–Verein, or the First Franz Joseph Sick and Benevolent Society, it was incorporated in 1883. Its main purpose was to provide its members with sick benefits, and relief in times of need, as well as fellowship and entertainment. Eventually it also functioned as a burial society, and maintained cemetery plots. The collection documents the society's activities over more than a century, from 1884 until its initiation of dissolution proceedings, in 1991. It includes membership applications from the early decades of the society's history (1884-1927), anniversary programs spanning fifty years (1932-1982), and a visitors' register for the 1500th meeting, in 1950, as well as account books, meeting notices, and two cemetery plans, one of which relates to the Franz Joseph Ladies Sick and Benevolent Society.

The collection contains various documents pertaining to Gustav Tuch's activity in various Jewish communal organizations.

This collection contains the proceedings of the 1. Allgemeiner Jüdischer Studententag (First Jewish Students’ Conference: Vienna, Austria: 1919), as well as two speeches delivered on the 50th anniversary of the student Zionist association Kadimah (1933) and an exchange of letters regarding the unseating of Weizmann as head of the Zionist World Organization.

Various items pertaining to Karl Wolfskehl.

The collection contains arious materials pertaining to the Kartell Jüdischer Verbindungen in Palestine/Israel (KJV or ק.י.פ.).

The bulk of this collection consists of anniversary or souvenir journals for approximately ninety landsmanshaftn benevolent organizations.

This collection contains the personal and professional papers of rabbi, Hebrew scholar, author, and editor Israel Elfenbein. These materials include correspondence with and relating to congregations, Hebrew periodicals, organizations, Elfenbein’s writings, personal correspondence, sermons, clippings, and manuscripts by Elfenbein and by other writers.

The collection contains documents pertaining to the Preussischer Landesverband Jüdischer Gemeinden, including descriptions of the organization and its activities; constitution and procedures; minutes; reports; accounting statements; petition to the Prussian Minister of Culture; list of member communities; and correspondence, including a letter from Arthur Lilienthal to Alfred Klee with a draft agreement for the merger of the Preussischer Landesverband Jüdischer Gemeinden and the Preussischen Landesverband gesetzestreuer Synagogengemeinden. There is also a photograph of a meeting of the organization in the former Prussian House of Lords, 1930.

This collection contains photographs and personal items of the Rafalowsky family as well as memorabilia and photographs of the Bialystoker Somech Noflim (Mutual Aid Society). Aaron Raphael was an active member in the Bialystoker Somech Noflim which operated in New York City in the early twentieth century. The Bialystoker groups were some of the most active Landmanshaftn or hometown organizations.

This collection includes ledgers consisting of two types; those arranged chronologically (1934-36, 1939-42) and those arranged alphabetically by member (1925-27, 1929, 1932-7, 1942-47). The records also include periodic reports of the society's finances. Of special interest are the accounts of sickness and death benefits provided, payments to doctors, operating expenses, savings and investments, and salaries of the society's officials.

TThe file contains various documents pertaining to the activity of the Reich Association of Jews in Germany (Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland) and comprises three folders.

The file contains various documents pertaining to the activity of the Reich Representation of German Jews (Reichsvertretung der Deutschen Juden) and comprises ten folders.

The file contains various documents pertaining to the educational activity of the Reich Representation of German Jews (Reichsvertretung der Deutschen Juden) and comprises six folders.

The collection includes member lists for the organization, invoices, and an insurance policy, as well as a 1935 member list for the Gesellschaft der Freunde.

The collection contains the papers of Shalom Schwarzbard (1886-1938), the Russian-born French Jewish watchmaker, revolutionary, writer and activist for Jewish self-defense. In May 1926 in Paris, Schwarzbard assassinated the exiled Ukrainian nationalist leader Simon Petlyura, whom he held responsible for the pogroms against the Jews in the Ukraine in 1918-1921. His trial in October 1927, at which he was acquitted, drew worldwide attention. The collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts of Shalom Schwarzbard's autobiographical writings, personal documents, clippings, and printed ephemera, as well as poems by Schwarzbard's wife Anna and others. Materials in this collection mostly relate to Shalom Schwarzbard's writings, his speaking engagements following his acquittal, and his efforts in the 1930s to organize Jewish war veterans and war victims of the First World War.

The ledger contains the list of the organization's membership, noting each member's payment of dues.

The file contains various materials pertaining to the activity of the Central Relief Committee (Zentralausschuss der deutschen Juden für Hilfe und Aufbau) of the Reich Representation of German Jews (Reichsvertretung der Deutschen Juden), and comprises eight folders.