Name/Title
American Jewish Historical Society finding aid for the records of Action for Soviet JewryEntry/Object ID
SJ-942Scope and Content
The collection contains the records of the Action for Soviet Jewry, and records of its legal arm-Soviet Jewish Legal Advocacy Center. The bulk of the collection belongs to the late 1970s-late 1980s. The ASJ records reflect the beginnings of the organization and include documents from the New England Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry as the forerunner of ASJ (before and in 1975). The ASJ administrative records include documents related to establishment of the organization, bylaws, minutes, financial and taxation documentation, correspondence and memoranda, are not complete and are mostly of the first half of 1980s (see Series I).
Some materials of the predecessor of ASJ, the New England Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (NESSSJ) can be found along with administrative files of ASJ (Series I). The NESSSJ activists Bob Gordon and Morey Schapira (moved to California in 1977) were co-founders of ASJ.
As the ASJ activists stressed their first-hand experience in the life of Soviet Jews and gathering information on Refuseniks preferably from Refuseniks themselves, the records of both ASJ and SJLAC contain a large volume of reports on trips to the USSR made by the ASJ activists as well as other ASJM activists (Series VI). Tourists not involved in the Movement on permanent basis, but who wished to help Soviet Jews also provided reports. The reports are searchable according to the date/ period, names of visitors and place names in the USSR.
ASJ gathered a large database on Refuseniks and prisoners of conscience in the Soviet Union that contains information on Refuseniks, prisoners and their family members. Along the computer-readable database, geared for a computer system, which is now obsolete, there is a large amount of alphabetically arranged personal files on individual Refuseniks and prisoners (Series II, Series III, Series V). About a dozen of files have restricted access because of the sensitive personal information.
Series IV contains personal folders of the Soviet Jewish refugees in Italy (sometimes called "noshrim", "drop outs" by strongly pro-Israel Jewish activists), who waited for the decision concerning their immigration to the U.S. after leaving the Soviet Union on Israeli visas. All refugees received aid from the American Jewish community via the Joint Distribution Committee. The folders are arranged alphabetically and contain personal and family information of refugees, most of who came to the U.S. by the end of the 1980s.
The collection also includes correspondence, legal documents, memorandums, large volume of press releases (Series IX) and newspaper clippings, pamphlets, publications and reports (Series X). The collection contains a considerable number of photographs and audio recordings of the phone conversations with Refuseniks. There are some posters segregated in the oversize section of the collection.
The ASJ collection is a valuable part of the ASJM materials at the AJHS that reflects the grass roots efforts of American Jews which along with the more official and pro-establishment efforts of organizations like NCSJ (described in "Related Materials" section) helped to bring the American Jewish community together in order to rescue their brothers and sisters in the Soviet Union.Lexicon
LOC Thesaurus for Graphic Materials
Correspondence, Photographs, Newsletters, Clippings, Pamphlets, Reports, Case files, Legal documents, Memorandums, Transcripts, Broadsides, Posters, Press releasesArchive Details
Creator
Action for Soviet JewryDate(s) of Creation
1943 - 1994Archive Size/Extent
108.6 Linear Feet (139 manuscript boxes and 23 [16x20"] oversized boxes)Primary Language
English, Hebrew, Russian, German, ArmenianArchive Items Details
Subjects
Jews, Soviet, Refuseniks, Emigration & immigration, Antisemitism, Human rights, Political activists, Former Soviet republics, Bar mitzvah, Bat Mitzvah, International law, Political prisoners, Psychological abuse, Refugees, Propaganda, Soviet, Jews--Italy, Travel, National Conference on Soviet JewryLocation
* Untyped Location
American Jewish Historical SocietyRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Nudel, Ida, Shcharansky, Anatoly, Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, Shcharansky, Avital, Schapira, Morey, Sakharov, Andreĭ, 1921-1989, Drinan, Robert F., Taratuta, Aba, Action for Post-Soviet Jewry, New England Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, Soviet Jewry Legal Advocacy Center., Gordon, Robert G.Copyright
Notes
The copyright and related rights status of this item has not been evaluated. You are free to use this item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For all other uses please contact the American Jewish Historical Society.
