Zionism

The May Cohn Russia and Soviet Union Collection (Vilna Archives) includes materials dealing with a wide range of topics mostly pertaining to Jewish life in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union and to a smaller extent to everyday life of ordinary Russian citizens. The collection consists of official government documents such as reports, decrees and regulations, circular letters, lists, vital records, Census records, residency and emigration permits. Also included here are manuscripts, correspondence, printed materials, petitions, announcements, posters, questionnaires, and minutes of meetings. Materials collected here shed light on the way Jewish religious and civil life was administered in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.

Over 270 items include: voluntary Jewish organization monthly dues stamps and seals; synagogue and Kosher labels; Berlin Community Council membership booklets; Jewish sport club certificates; multilingual stamps of the Harand Movement ‘against race hatred and human misery’ (including an autographed postcard photo of founder Julie Harand); and a notable collection of Jewish Veterans Relief Stamps of World War l (RJF). Jewish merchants and banks are also represented in colorful advertising labels and seals. Also included are several Nazi anti-Semitic items and post-World War II depictions of restored synagogues destroyed by Nazis.

The Wiener Library in London is one of the world’s leading and most extensive archives on the Holocaust and Nazi era. Formed in 1933, the Library contains some of the earliest primary sources on National Socialism. The Library’s unique collection includes published and unpublished works, press cuttings, photographs and eyewitness testimony.

The Toni Stolper and Gustav Stolper Collection attests to the Stolpers' rich political and intellectual work in Germany and the United States. The materials provide an intimate account of Toni Stolper's life and career. In many respects, they complement the papers of her husband Gustav Stolper, which are located at the Bundesarchiv in Koblenz, Germany.

This collection consists of pamphlets about Palestine, policy statements, programs concerning a memorial exhibition for Ze'ev Jabotinsky, a petition concerning a mass meeting honoring Chaim Weizmann, and miscellaneous regional materials for New England. Of special interest to researchers will be protest statements against the "White Papers" published in the New York Times (1943). The collection also includes the following publications: Herut News (1973), and Newsletter (1962-1966).

The Vilna Collection represents fragmentary materials that were part of the original YIVO Archives in Vilna before WWII. The collection includes a wide array of materials dealing with a great variety of aspects of Jewish life in the Pre-revolutionary Russian Empire and post-revolutionary Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, and Soviet Russia. The Collection consists of personal correspondence, official correspondence with organizations and governmental institutions, financial and statistical reports, minutes of meetings of Jewish communal and political organizations, bibliographic materials, including card catalogues and bibliographies. Also included here are vital documents, such as birth certificates and birth registers, affidavits, certificates, diplomas, and travel documents. Additionally, there are petitions, resolutions, appeals, printed materials, manuscripts, lists, and questionnaires. There is a wealth of materials dealing with Jewish book trade and publishing, youth and sports organizations, education, Jewish communal life, and political activities.

Young Judaea is the oldest Zionist youth organization in the United States, established as a national organization in 1909 by the Federation of American Zionists. It was supported by Hadassah, including direct financial sponsorship from 1967-2011. The major aims of Young Judaea throughout its history have been to advance the cause of Zionism, to further the mental, moral, and physical development of Jewish youth, and to promote Jewish culture and ideals in accordance with Jewish traditions. Young Judaea has remained non-partisan and non-denominational, embracing and recruiting Jewish youth from all backgrounds.

The Youth Aliyah Records in the Hadassah Archives document Hadassah's work with multiple international organizations to rescue Jewish children from continental Europe to Palestine from 1933-1945. The collection also documents Hadassah's involvement with Youth Aliyah since 1946 in providing residential, educational, vocational, rehabilitative and therapeutic care for displaced and at-risk youth from around the world.

This collection is comprised of the following items: Publicity Sheets (1-3), and a map of Palestine, Plan of Partition (1946).

The material in this record group was culled from Hadassah's Central Files in Israel in the early 1980s to document Hadassah's role in Zionist history. Originally formed from a Zionist women's study group, the first Hadassah chapter in New York had a strong relationship with the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA; then known as the Federation of American Zionists). The material in this record group documents Hadassah's relationship to the ZOA and to other Zionist organizations in the United States, Europe, and Palestine/Israel, particularly in the years leading up to Israeli statehood in 1948. Other subjects addressed in this record group include the founding of Hadassah; World War II, particularly relating to Jewish emigration and refugees; the founding of the United Nations and the debate over recognition of a Jewish state; the partition of Palestine; and Arab-Jewish relations. Included are articles, clippings, convention resolutions, correspondence, diary extracts, memorandums, minutes, press releases, printed ephemera, publications, reports, and speeches.