Jews, Soviet

The collection contains papers Abraham Silverstein, an American Soviet Jewry movement activist who co-founded and co-chaired the Academy of the Air for Jewish Studies, an agency that prepared educational shortwave radio programs for Jews in the Soviet Union. The materials include correspondence, memos, project descriptions and reports, news clippings, transcripts of lectures, research materials and 18 audiocassettes with recordings of the programs.

This collection is comprised of protest and community action handbooks, Refusenik lists of names, miscellaneous reports on Soviet Jewry, and the following publications: Jewish Chronicle (November 23, 1973), and The Spotlight (November 1965, December 1967, and March 1969).

The collection contains photographs and video recordings taken by Kansas City, Missouri rabbi, Alan L. Cohen, during his trips to visit the Jewish Communities in the Former Soviet Union in 1989 and 1993. Included in Rabbi Cohen’s papers are photographs of a protest demonstration organized by Refuseniks in front of the Moscow Kremlin in 1989.

The collection contains papers of Alan M. Kohn, a former emergency preparedness operations officer at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and a former president of Temple Beth Sholom, the Conservative Synagogue of Brevard County, Florida. It documents Mr. Kohn's participation in the Rally for Soviet Jewry outside of the John F. Kennedy Space Center of NASA on July 15, 1975. The occasion for the rally was the launch of the Apollo spacecraft manned with three astronauts for a rendezvous with the Soviet Soyuz manned spacecraft on the Apollo-Soyuz Space Mission. The purpose of the rally was to raise public awareness of the plight of the Jews in the Soviet Union and to demand their freedom. The collection includes part of an unpublished, novelized memoir written by Alan M. Kohn in 1995, that focused on the rally. The collection also contains a letter of introduction to the memoir.

The collection contains audio and video interviews with activists of the American Soviet Jewry Movement, former Refuseniks and Prisoners of Conscience.

This is an artificial collection that contains digitized photographs and slides selected from various collections in the Archives of the American Soviet Jewry Movement, and other related collections at the American Jewish Historical Society. The physical part of the collection consists of one manuscript box containing 415 photographs that were separated from their parent collections.

This is an artificial collection that contains digitized posters and ephemera selected from various collections in the Archives of the American Soviet Jewry Movement at the American Jewish Historical Society.

The AMIT records contain correspondence, periodicals, program, project, and subject files, films, reports, convention and chapter material and photographs that document the organizational activities, educational and humanitarian achievements in Israel, and fundraising efforts of this American Jewish Zionist volunteer organization from 1933-2005. The AMIT Records were donated to the American Jewish Historical Society in 2010. The donation, while incomplete, represents the most complete set of documents, to date, related to the projects and achievements of AMIT and its history as the American Mizrachi Women's Organization.

The papers of the president of Arizona Action for Soviet Jewry Ann Polunsky contain audio recordings documenting activism on behalf of Soviet Jews in the Greater Phoenix, AZ.

The Annual and Mid-Winter National Conventions Records document the proceedings and outcomes of the conventions and conferences attended by Hadassah’s National Board as well as by convention delegates from the various regions of Hadassah. The conventions in particular are where local and regional leaders meet with each other and the National Board and learn about Hadassah’s various projects and committees. This record group also includes annual reports from 1926-2001.

The papers of the Soviet Jewry movement activist Professor of Computer Science, Emeritus at the State University of New York at Stony Brook Dr. Arthur Bernstein contain a copy of his petition on behalf of fellow computer scientist and Soviet Jewish Prisoner of Conscience Anatoly Sharansky signed by over 230 prominent American computer scientists and mailed to the Soviet and American officials and to the United Nations in 1977. The collection also contains an autobiographical note with a brief history of the Sharansky petition.

This collection contains the papers of Babette Wampold and the Alabama Council to Save Soviet Jews and documents their activities on behalf of the American Soviet Jewry Movement. The collection is comprised of correspondence, case files, clippings, newsletters, photographs, and trip reports.

Personal papers of the Soviet Jewry Movement activist Rabbi Barry Marks, a spiritual leader of Temple Israel of Springfield, IL and a founder of the Greater Springfield Interfaith Association. The collection reflects Rabbi Marks' and the Springfield, IL Jewish community's involvement in the Soviet Jewry movement. The materials include clippings, correspondence, memoranda, newsletters, and speeches.

The papers of Bayard Rustin, a prominent American civil rights leader, LGBT rights activist, and advocate for the Black-Jewish cooperation in the United States, that focus on his involvement in the American Soviet Jewry movement. The collection contains speeches and articles on Soviet Jewry by Bayard Rustin from 1960s-1980s. Also included are publications by the executive secretary of the Conference on the Status of Soviet Jews, Moshe Decter— Redemption! Jewish freedom letters from Russia with foreword by Rustin, and "Silence and Yearning: A Report and Analysis of the Status of Soviet Jewry" based on the findings of the Ad Hoc Commssion on the Rights of Soviet Jews, chaired by Rustin.

The collection documents the activities on behalf of Soviet Jewry of Bert Silver who served as president of the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington, worked on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and chaired the commission on international affairs of the American Jewish Congress in Washington, D.C.

The Papers of the American Soviet Jewry movement activist Betty Golomb represent one collection housed within the Archive of the American Soviet Jewry Movement (AASJM). Ms. Golomb was a board member of the Women's Auxiliary of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, served as the chair of the task force on Soviet Jewry for the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and in the executive committee of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry and led Women's Plea for Human Rights for Soviet Jews, sponsored by the Leadership Conference of National Jewish Women's Organizations. The papers of Betty Golomb contain documents of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Leadership Conference of National Jewish Women’s Organizations’ Committee on Soviet Jewry, Women’s Plea for Human Rights for Soviet Jewry, National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, Congressional Wives for Soviet Jewry, National Conference on Soviet Jewry and National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council. The materials include correspondence, memos, agenda, organizational guidelines, manuals and proposals, publications, photographs.

The collection contains papers of the American Soviet Jewry movement activist Billie Kozolchyk. The documents include a collection of clippings from The Arizona Post that cover the Soviet Jewry movement in the Tucson area during the period of 1977 to 1991. Many of the articles mention Billie Kozolchyk and some are authored by her. The collection also contains excerpts from the diaries of Roz Kaufman, the chairperson of the Tucson-based Chairwoman of Women's Plea for Soviet Jewry. Also included are three t-shirts commemorating the annual Freedom Run for Soviet Jewry that occurred from the late 1970s until the early 1990s in Tucson, AZ.

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.

This collection contains personal papers of the American Soviet Jewry movement activists Carol and Michael Bierman including background materials on Jews in the USSR, documents, and artifacts from demonstrations, rallies and cultural events of the movement, newsletters, pamphlets, and brochures. Also included are photographs and audio and video materials pertaining to Refuseniks, Prisoners of Conscience and Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union.

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.

The papers of Charlotte Gerber Turner represent the activities of the American Soviet Jewry Movement activist. The collection contains reports on visiting Soviet Jews during Mrs. Turner’s visits to U.S.S.R., accompanied by a large number of photos and slides taken during those trips. The materials also include audio recordings from the events related to the Soviet Jewry Movement, including the Second World Conference of Jewish Communities on Soviet Jewry in 1976; a t-shirt, hat and scarf commemorating the Soviet Jewry Summit in Washington, D. C., metal bracelets stamped with names of Refuseniks, a collection of commemorative buttons and 4 posters. The papers of Charlotte Gerber Turner also contain notes, photographs, slides and audio recordings related to her work on behalf of Ethiopian Jewry.

The records of Chicago Action for Soviet Jewry (CASJ, after 1991 known as Chicago Action for Jews in the Former Soviet Union, CAJFSU), a grassroots volunteer organization dedicated to helping Soviet Jews emigrate from the Soviet Union and protecting the Refuseniks. CASJ was founded in the early 1970s as a result of the formation of the national organization, the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, which included approximately 50 other local councils. The collection documents the CASJs activities from its inception until it closed in 2010. The collection also features materials related to the activities of CASJ’s umbrella organization, Union of Councils for Soviet Jews and its legal arm Soviet Jewry Legal Advocacy Center. The materials include correspondence, memoranda, case files, trip reports, publications, photographs, posters, audio, video, and three-dimensional artifacts.

The papers of the Soviet Jewry movement activist Constance S. Kreshtool of Wilmington, DE, who was active in the Delaware Committee on Soviet Jewry contain her correspondence with the Refuseniks in the Soviet Union and postal return receipts, a newspaper article describing her trip to the USSR in 1978, and a letter to the Jewish Family Services on behalf of a Soviet Jewish family.

The collection contains papers of a pioneer activist of the American Soviet Jewry Movement Rabbi David Hill. A New York City Rabbi and businessman Rabbi Hill served as the national president of National Council of Young Israel, member of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and an officer of National Conference on Soviet Jewry. Starting 1971 he ran Operation Lifeline, an independently funded outreach program created by NCSJ Commission on Education and Culture to support Jewish life in the USSR and Former Soviet Union. David H. Hill Papers include materials from late 1950s to 2000 and the bulk of the collection represents the time period from 1963 to 1990. The documents include correspondence, memoranda, publications, news clippings, photographs with negatives, ephemera and a poster.

The David Waksberg Papers are comprised of materials generated while Waksberg served in a variety of leadership roles in the American Soviet Jewry Movement in the 1980s and early 1990s: Executive Director of the Bay Area Council for Soviet Jews (BACSJ); National Vice-President of Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (UCSJ); member of the UCSJ Board of Directors; Director of the Center for Jewish Renewal; Director of Development and Communication of UCSJ; a founder of the Russian-American Bureau on Human Rights in Moscow. The materials primarily consist of correspondence, reports, grant proposals, notes, clippings, newsletters and photographs.

Papers of the Soviet Jewry movement activist Dolores Wilkenfeld of Houston, TX. The materials reflect the Women’s Plea for Human Rights for Soviet Jewry--an interreligious event to promote Soviet Jewry movement, organized by Mrs. Wilkenfeld on December 6, 1971 in Houston, TX. The materials include correspondence, memos, petitions, proclamations, programs (documents), transcripts, pamphlets and clippings.

The papers of Doris H. Goldstein represent the activities of the American Soviet Jewry Movement activist from Atlanta, GA. The collection contains notes, photos and memorabilia from two trips to the USSR to meet with the Soviet Jews, a DVD recording of the program presented at an Atlanta rally on behalf of Soviet Jewry in 1987, local press coverage of Doris H. Goldstein’s activism, her correspondence and memos of the Atlanta Jewish Federation regarding Jews in the Soviet Union. Materials include memorandums, correspondence, clippings, photographs, a DVD and a scrapbook.

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.

Papers of Elaine Pittell cover the period from mid-1970’s to early 1990’s and document her and her husband’s Robert Pittell’s activities as the Chair of the Jewish Federation of South Broward’s Soviet Jewry Committee. The documents include correspondence, memos, minutes, publications, news clippings, audiocassettes, videocassette, disc negatives and pins.

Consists of news clippings written by and about Wiesel, and about Stern's book, Elie Wiesel: Witness for Life.