Collection Guide: Archive of the American Soviet Jewry Movement

Action for Soviet Jewry Records (I-487) [Photos digitized]

The collection contains the records of the ASJ, an organization active in the Boston area (which is now the Action for Post-Soviet Jewry) as well as those of two other organizations closely related to ASJ: the New England Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry and the Soviet Jewry Legal Advocacy Center. Most of the collection is from the late 1970s through the late 1980s. It includes large databases on Refuseniks, prisoners of conscience and Jewish émigrés. Along with the database spreadsheet forms there are many individual files. Among these files are materials related to Soviet Jewish refugees in Italy from the time of the Ladispoli crisis of the late 1980s. There are a substantial number of reports from visits to the USSR by ASJ activists and other travelers cooperating with the Soviet Jewry Movement and a large number of photographs, posters and publication.

Bay Area Council for Soviet Jews Records (I-505)

The collection documents the activities of a human rights non-government organization on behalf of Soviet Jewry. Organized by Harold Light in San Francisco in 1967, the group worked to bring the Soviet Jewry issue to national and international attention. The collection contains correspondence, minutes, case files, publications, newspaper clippings, card files of Refuseniks, subject files, audio/visual materials, and information on other Soviet Jewry and interreligious organizations. Also included are materials relating to Soviet Jewish emigration, Cold War relations, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and human rights conditions in Russia and the former Soviet republics. 

B'nai B'rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum Soviet Jewry Movement Collection (I-529)

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.

Chicago Action for Soviet Jewry Records (I-530) [Audio files digitized]

The Chicago Action for Soviet Jewry (CASJ, after 1991 known as Chicago Action for Jews in the Former Soviet Union, CAJFSU) was a grassroots volunteer organization dedicated to helping Soviet Jews emigrate from the Soviet Union and protecting the Refuseniks. The collection documents the CASJs activities from its inception until it closed in 2010. It also has 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. 

Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry Collection (I-362)

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.

Houston Action for Soviet Jewry Records (I-500) [Audio Files Digitized]

These are the institutional records of the Houston Action for Soviet Jewry, mainly news clippings, correspondence, files about refuseniks, and various materials and programs for events involving the Houston Action for Soviet Jewry. There are also materials from other organizations set up to aid Soviet Jewry, including the Bay Area Council for Soviet Jews, the Chicago Action for Soviet Jewry and the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews. Many of these materials concern the situation of Jews in the Soviet Union in the 1970s-1990s, soon after the end of the Soviet Union.

Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans Records (I-547)

JFSGNO was a social service agency created in 1948 to establish and preserve the self-sufficiency of Jewish families. The collection focuses on 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. 

National Conference on Soviet Jewry Records (I-181/ I-181A) [Audio/Visual Files Digitized]

The collection contains the records of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, the largest and most influential organization created by the American Jews to coordinate efforts on behalf of Soviet Jews, which survives today as NCSJ: Advocates on Behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia. The bulk of the collection covers the activities from the early 1970s - late 1980s.

Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism Soviet Jewry Collection (I-538)

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. 

Seattle Action for Soviet Jewry Records (I-507) [Photos Digitized]

The Records document the activities of a human rights non-governmental organization on behalf of Soviet Jewry. The records date from 1972-1997, the bulk in the late 1970s-1980s. The collection includes administrative files, documents pertaining to various local and national institutions, programs and activities related to the Soviet Jewry movement, reports of trips to visit Jews in the U.S.S.R., information on U.S.-U.S.S.R. trade relations, Soviet laws and Soviet Antisemitism, information on Seattle's sister city Tashkent. There is a series with files concerning Soviet Jewish Prisoners of Conscience, and Refuseniks and an audio-visual series with photographs of Soviet Jews and local and national coverage of the events related to Soviet Jewry.

Springfield Jewish Federation Soviet Jewry Collection (I-532)

The Springfield Jewish Federation is a charitable organization supporting educational and social service programs for both the local and world-wide Jewish community. It was founded in 1941 to aid in the resettlement of Jews fleeing war in Europe. The Federation took an active part in the American Soviet Jewry movement by coordinating fundraising, community-wide programming, social services and educational activities to help Jews emigrate from the U.S.S.R. and resettle in Springfield, IL. They arranged housing, health care, coordinated schools and jobs placement and provided a general orientation to American life for the newly arrived Soviet Jewish immigrants.

The Jewish Chronicle Soviet Jewry Collection (I-523)

A weekly newspaper covering local, national and global news for the Jewish community of the Pittsburgh area. The collection contains information and photographs used by The Jewish Chronicle for coverage of the situation of Jews in the Soviet Union during the 1960s and 1970s. Most materials originated from the Soviet Jewry movement and includes publications, press releases, correspondence and photographs related to Soviet Jews.

Union of Councils for Soviet Jews Records (I-410/ I-410A) [Audio Digitized]

The Union of Councils for Soviet Jews was an umbrella organization for about 50 grassroots organizations. The records document the UCSJ's operations, programs, and campaigns in the 1980's, when the rescue movement reached its pinnacle of success and international attention, and into the 1990's, reflecting UCSJ's activities following the Soviet Union's collapse. The records are notable for including materials of UCSJ individual councils, materials by the Soviet Jewry Legal Advocacy Center, an affiliate of UCSJ, numerous case files regarding prisoners of conscience, Refuseniks, and those allowed to emigrate to the West.  

United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism Soviet Jewry Collection (I-543) [Digitized]

The collection reflects the involvement in the American Soviet Jewry movement of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ), the primary organization of synagogues practicing Conservative Judaism in North America. 

Washington Committee for Soviet Jewry Records (I-540) [Photos & Audio Digitized]

The Washington Committee for Soviet Jewry was a grassroots volunteer membership organization that was founded in 1968 and existed until 2001. It was renamed the Greater Washington Committee for Post-Soviet Jewry after the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Committee worked to raise awareness of the plight of Soviet Jewry in the U.S. and supported Jewish communities in U.S.S.R. territories during the Soviet regime and after its collapse. The records are from the mid-1960s - 2001, with the bulk of the collection from 1970s-1980s. Materials include correspondence, memoranda, publications, news clippings, photographs, slides, ephemera, audio and video recordings, and objects.

Originally the collection was titled Papers of Carolyn W. Sanger, *P-870 by the name of the Committee's last president.