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Guide to the Joel G. Ackerman Soviet Jewry Collection, undated, 1948, 1965, 1967, 1975-1988
 
*P-787

Processed by Vital Zajka and Andrey Filimonov

American Jewish Historical Society

Center for Jewish History

15 West 16th Street

New York, N.Y. 10011

Phone: (212) 294-6160

Fax: (212) 294-6161

Email: reference@ajhs.org

URL: http://www.ajhs.org

© 2010, American Jewish Historical Society, Boston, MA and New York, NY. All Rights Reserved.
Machine-readable finding aid created by Vital Zajka as MS Word document, September 28, 2006. Finding aid was encoded by Marvin Rusinek on April 24, 2007. Description is in English.

Descriptive Summary

Creator: Ackerman, Joel G.
Title: Joel G. Ackerman Soviet Jewry collection
Dates:undated, 1948, 1965, 1967, 1975-1988
Abstract: Contains newsletters and related documents composed by San Francisco area organizations pertaining to Soviet Jewry. The newsletters are composed by American Jewish activists on behalf of Soviet Jewish refuseniks and refugees. The documents provide insight into the daily lives of Soviet Jewry and the American Jewish fight for Soviet freedom during the 1970s and 1980s. The newsletters document different organizations and attempts to aid Soviet Jewry, their status and their plight. Organizational newsletters included are from such organizations as: The Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, Bay Area Council on Soviet Jewry and Northern California Lawyers' Committee for Soviet Jews. Highlights of the collection include UN Human Rights documents, the Pesach Project (1978-1979) and Twinning programs for Bar/Bat Mitzvah.
Languages: The collection is predominantly in English, with Russian.
Quantity: 5 linear feet (10 manuscript boxes), and 1 oversized folder
Identification: P-787
Repository: American Jewish Historical Society
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Historical Note

The American Soviet Jewry Movement was the effort of thousands of American Jews of all denominations and political orientations to stop the persecution and discrimination of Soviet Jews. It was initiated in the early 1960s and triumphed at the end of the Soviet era, when approximately 1.5 million of Soviet Jews left the USSR for Israel, United States and other democratic countries. The Movement, though not a formal structure but rather a network of loosely connected structures, unified various Jewish organizations and Jewish people from all walks of life, and was instrumental in influencing the U.S. government to pressure the Soviet authorities in order to assure freedom of emigration for Soviet Jews. It was perhaps the most influential movement within the American Jewish community in the 20th century.

As a lawyer active in the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco, Marin and the Peninsula and chairman of its Soviet Jewry Commission, Joel Ackerman also took an active part in the work of the Northern California Lawyers Committee for Soviet Jews and the Soviet Jewry Legal Advocacy Center.

The Jewish Community Relations Council served as an umbrella for local Jewish communities and synagogues in the Bay Area, and centralized and coordinated Soviet Jewry movement efforts made by individual local organizations. Its primary activity was to aid in the development of Soviet Jewry related programs by local organizations and to represent the entire Jewish community in regards to public policy.

Ackerman served as Vice-Chairman and then Chairman for the Northern California Lawyers Committee for Soviet Jews, a group of attorneys, judges, professors and law students concerned with the Soviet government's legal treatment of Soviet Jews. The Committee's work included monitoring criminal cases involving Refuseniks, violations of Soviet and/or international law, and general principles of human rights. In addition the Committee provided legal support to Refuseniks through letters, legal briefs and other means, and presented seminars and published articles related to Soviet criminal law. The committee's newsletter, "Soviet Jews under Soviet Law," contained articles on Soviet law and information on recent cases. The Committee was affiliated with, among other organizations, the National Conference on Soviet Jewry.

The Soviet Jewry Movement felt a need, as it broadened in the early 1970s, to augment its public demonstrations and campaigning within the American Jewish community with legislative lobbying that focused on exposing violations of international law. As a signer of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Soviet Union pledged to respect and uphold the rights and freedoms of an individual. The Soviet Jewry Legal Advocacy Center, a liaison for the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, a leading Soviet Jewry Movement organization, was created by a group of lawyers based in Boston, MA. The SJLAC informed and lobbied the American government and Congress on restrictions imposed by the Soviet Union on Soviet Jews and urged action against Soviet authorities. A SJLAC became an information clearinghouse with specialists able to analyze the questions related to the legal aspects of the Soviet regime and prepared briefings and policy analyses memoranda for the use of the Soviet Jewry Movement as well as Congress and the administration.

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Scope and Content Note

The collection consists of materials related to the work of Joel Ackerman at the Northern California Lawyers Committee for Soviet Jews, the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco, Marin and the Peninsula and the Soviet Jewry Legal Advocacy Center. The collection contains background research material, correspondence, individual case files, memoranda, newsletters, and other publications.

The bulk of the collection concerns the activities of the Northern California Lawyers Committee, Soviet Jewry Legal Advocacy Center, and Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, with additional sporadic publications issued by other Soviet Jewry Movement organizations. The collection includes individual case files on Soviet Refuseniks Yosif Begun, Ida Nudel, and Anatoly Sheharansky. In addition there are background research materials related to the Soviet constitution, Soviet legal system and its regulations on emigration, employment, internal passport system, penal system, secrecy topics, postal correspondence and other spheres. The bulk of materials pertain to the mid to late 1970s until the early 1980s.

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Arrangement

The collection is arranged into five series as follows:

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The collection is open to all researchers by permission of the Director of Library and Archives of the American Jewish Historical Society, except items that are restricted due to their fragility.

Use Restrictions

Information concerning the literary rights may be obtained from the Director of Library and Archives of the American Jewish Historical Society. Users must apply in writing for permission to quote, reproduce or otherwise publish manuscript materials found in this collection. For more information contact:
American Jewish Historical Society, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, N.Y., 10011
email: reference@ajhs.org

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Related Material

Joel Ackerman Papers is a part of the American Soviet Jewish Movement group of collections. Materials at the American Jewish Historical Society that are related to the American Soviet Jewry Movement, include records of National Conference on Soviet Jewry (I-181), Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (I-410), Action for Soviet Jewry (I-487), Medical Mobility for Soviet Jewry; and Papers of Jerry Goodman and Julia Mates Cheney (P-806).

Individual accounts of activities within the Soviet Jewry Movement are preserved in the UJA Oral History Collection (I-433), which include accounts from Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, Bay Area Council on Soviet Jews, Seattle Action for Soviet Jews, Houston Action for Soviet Jews, Chicago Action for Soviet Jews, Colorado Committee of Concern for Soviet Jews, National Conference on Soviet Jewry; accounts by Lillian Forman (BACSJ), Ann Polunsky, Morey Schapira, Myrtle Sitowitz, Deborah Turkin, David Waksberg, Sylvia Weinberg, Dolores Wilkenfeld. There are posters related to the Soviet Jewish Movement in the Jewish Student Organizations Collection (I-61) and the North American Jewish Student Appeal Records (I-338).

The American Jewish Historical Society is actively soliciting new collections regarding America and American Jews' role in the Soviet Jewry Movement. It is best to check with an Archivist to inquire if additional collections have become available.

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Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date (if known); Joel G. Ackerman Soviet Jewry collection; P-787; box number; folder number; American Jewish Historical Society, Boston, MA and New York, NY.

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Acquisition Information

The papers were donated by Joel G. Ackerman in 2003.

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Access Points

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Container List

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

 

Series I: General correspondence and meeting memoranda, 1975-1985, 1987.

English.
Box 1, Folders 1-3.
Arrangement:

Chronological.

Scope and Content:

Series I contains newsletters, memoranda, proposals, action alerts, correspondence, mostly in photocopies, of the Jewish Community Relations Council and the Lawyers Committee and Legal Advocacy Center with individual lawyers, National Lawyers Committee for Soviet Jewry (New York), Israeli consul general in Los Angeles, Medical Mobility for Soviet Jewry, and other organizations. Most of materials in this series are fragmentary. Nevertheless, as a group they inform as to the coordination of efforts and their execution through the distribution of newsletters, action alert letters, appeals and proposals. Jewish lawyers were informed about the legal status and actual conditions of life for Soviet Jewry and urged to join the organizations such as the Lawyers Committee and Legal Advocacy Center, in order to support the Soviet Jews and their right to leave.

BoxFolderTitleDate
11Correspondence1975-1979
BoxFolderTitleDate
1 2 Correspondence 1980-1984, 1987
1 3 Correspondence. Northern California Lawyers Committee for Soviet Jews 1977-1982, 1984-1985
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Series II: Special projects by the Soviet Jewry Movement organizations, undated, 1978-1987.

English.
Box 1, Folders 4-17.
Arrangement:

Chronologically by subject.

Scope and Content:

Union of Councils of Soviet Jews was the first to develop person-to-person programs with Soviet Jews, by mail and phone, that were adopted by many other organizations. This series includes correspondence, memoranda and booklets related to promotion of this kind of person-to-person activism and to other public relations programs. Among materials in the series are letters of protest that reflect the campaign against contacts with representatives of the Soviet state-run organizations of lawyers and of scientists. The protest was a response to the lack of progress with the emigration of the Soviet Jews.

The programs include a Bar Mitzvah Project (sponsoring a Bar Mitzvah ceremony of a designated Soviet Jewish child), Pesach Project (Establishing and maintaining correspondence with Soviet Jewish families at the time of the Passover celebrations), Run for Soviet Jewry (Sports events to attract public attention to the plight of Soviet Jewry), Matching names (Establishing correspondence with Soviet Jews by American Jews whose last names match, for further possible use as an opportunity for arranging emigration on the grounds of the reunification of families), Pen Pals (Establishing correspondence of American Jewish children with their Soviet Jewish counterparts), Postal Project-Yachad (Correspondence with Refusenik families for support and gaining information on their everyday life), and Bat and Bar Mitzvah Twinning (Finding American counterparts for the Soviet Refusenik's children as prospective Bat and Bar Mitzvahs).

BoxFolderTitleDate
14ABA-ASL Agreement Matter1983-1985
15ABA-ASL Agreement Abrogation Campaign1986
16ABA-ASL Agreement Abrogation Campaign1987
BoxFolderTitleDate
1 7 ACS/NAS [American Chemical Society/National Academy of Sciences] 1985-1986
1 8 Events in Support of Soviet Jewry undated
1 9 Matching Names (Oversized item, see OS1, Folder 1) 1984
1 10 Pesach Letter Writing Project-1978 (Oversized item, see OS1, Folder 1) undated, 1978
1 11 Pesach Letter Writing Project-1979 undated, 1979
1 12 Postal Exchange with the USSR 1979-1985
1 13 Right to Identity (R.T.I.) Project undated
1 14 Runs for Soviet Jewry 1981-1982
1 15 Run [Second Annual Run for Soviet Jewry] 1982
1 16 Bat and Bar-Mitzvah Twinning undated, 1978
1 17 Yachad-Postal Project undated
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Series III: Source materials and information on the legal status of Jews in the Soviet Union, undated, 1948, 1965, 1967, 1975-1986.

English, Russian.
Box 2, Folder 1-Box 3, Folder 7.
Arrangement:

By subject.

Scope and Content:

Series III includes a wide range of general materials such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Constitution of the USSR, and information on the Soviet political and legal system. These materials provide an overview of the Soviet legal system and insight into Soviet legislation regarding passport regulations, residence, military service, and postal correspondence. Some individual laws such as "on Evading Socially Useful Labor and Conducting Parasitic Way of Life," have been translated into English. All of these materials were studied and analyzed in order to more comprehensively understand and then unmask and condemn the legal mechanisms within the Soviet system, that were used to justify and perpetuate the ban on emigration from the USSR for the Jewish Refuseniks. Also included are proceedings of the 1979 Symposium for attorneys and judges in Los Angeles "Soviet Jews Under Soviet Law," which was co-sponsored by the Lawyers Committee.

This series includes four subseries:
Subseries A: International human rights documents, undated, 1948, 1965, 1967, 1975-1977, 1980
Subseries B: General information on Soviet administrative and political system, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1985
Subseries C: Information on Soviet Legal System, undated
Subseries D: Legal Status of the Soviet Jewry, undated, 1976-1982, 1984-1986

Subseries A: International human rights documents, undated, 1948, 1965, 1967, 1975-1977, 1980.

English.
Box 2, Folders 1-3.
Arrangement:

By subject.

Scope and Content:

Subseries A includes documents by the international organizations on the human rights issues, including the Universal declaration of Human Rights.

BoxFolderTitleDate
2 1 Helsinki Final Act 1975-1977
2 2 International Human Rights Documents 1948, 1965, 1967, 1977
2 3 Jurimetrics: Journal of Law, Science and Technology 1980

Subseries B: General information on Soviet administrative and political system, 1977-1978, 1980, 1983, 1985.

English.
Box 2, Folders 4-6.
Arrangement:

By subject.

Scope and Content:

Subseries B includes an English text of the USSR's Constitution (Basic Law) and publications related to the Soviet internal passport system and Soviet state system.

BoxFolderTitleDate
2 4 General information on Soviet Administrative and Political System from Soviet Sources 1980, 1983
2 5 Soviet Constitution and Human Rights 1977-1978
2 6 Soviet Internal Passport System 1985

Subseries C: Information on Soviet Legal System, undated.

English.
Box 2, Folders 7-8.
Scope and Content:

Subseries C includes publications on the Soviet legal system and analysis of the so-called "law against parasitism" that was actively used by the Soviet authorities to persecute Refuseniks.

BoxFolderTitleDate
2 7 Notes on Legislation on Evading Socially Useful Labor and Parasitic Way of Life undated
2 8 Soviet Law: An Overview undated

Subseries D: Legal Status of the Soviet Jewry, undated, 1976-1982, 1984-1986.

English.
Box 2, Folder 9 - Box 3, Folder 7.
Arrangement:

By subject.

Scope and Content:

Subseries D includes publications related to legal implications used by the Soviet authorities to suppress the Jewish emigration movement in the USSR and persecute its individual activists. There are also transcripts of the two symposiums "Soviet Jews under Soviet Law," which was held at the UCLA in 1978 and 1979; English translations of materials from the Soviet press against Zionism; and a book in Russian aimed against Zionism and emigration from the USSR to Israel, which includes references to representatives in the American Soviet Jewry Movement.

BoxFolderTitleDate
2 9 Analysis of Decree on Emigration 1986
2 10 How to Emigrate to Israel from the USSR 1982
2 11 International Law and the Right to Study Hebrew 1981
2 12 Legal Status of Soviet Jewry undated
2 13 Make Freedom for Soviet Jews a Team Effort: A Tribute to Soviet Jews 1984
2 14 Parasitism Law Documents undated, 1978, 1979, 1986
2 15 Representing Dissidents Abroad undated
2 16 "Secret Effort to Aid Soviet Jews Revealed After 40 Years" 1991
2 17 Sourcebook on Soviet Jewry 1981
2 18 Soviet Jewry and the Helsinki Final Act undated, 1976-1977, 1985
2 19 Soviet Jewry and International Law undated
2 20 Soviet Jewry Law Review 1980
2 21 Soviet Jews Under Soviet Law: Symposium Transcript [1 of 3] 1978
2 22 Soviet Jews Under Soviet Law: Symposium Transcript [2 of 3] 1978
2 23 Soviet Jews Under Soviet Law: Symposium Transcript [3 of 3] 1978
BoxFolderTitleDate
3 1 Soviet Jews Under Soviet Law: Symposium Transcript [1 of 3] 1979
3 2 Soviet Jews Under Soviet Law: Symposium Transcript [2 of 3] 1979
3 3 Soviet Jews Under Soviet Law: Symposium Transcript [3 of 3] 1979
3 4 Soviet Media on Jews and Zionism undated, 1980, 1982-1983
3 5 Transparent Bookundated
3 6 White Book(contains Russian) 1979
3 7 White Book Contents Description 1979
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Series IV: Individual case information on the Soviet Jewish activists and Prisoners of Conscience, 1979, 1983.

English, Russian.
Box 3, Folders 8-10.
Arrangement:

Chronological.

Scope and Content:

Series IV contains folders related to three well known Soviet Refuseniks: Anatoly Sharansky, Ida Nudel and Yosif Begun. The folders consist of information that was gathered and distributed by Soviet Jewry Movement organizations, and includes memoranda with general information about particular Refuseniks, updates on the individual Refuseniks' conditions, newspaper clippings, photocopies of publications, and memoranda.

BoxFolderTitleDate
3 8 The Case of Anatoly Shcharansky 1979
3 9 The Case of Ida Nudel 1979
3 10 The Case of Yosif Begun undated, 1979, 1983
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Series V: Printed and Near-print Publications, 1974-1988.

English.
Boxes 4-10.
Arrangement:

Alphabetically by publication's title.

Scope and Content:

Publications issued by the American Soviet Jewry Movement occupy seven of the boxes comprising the Joel Ackerman Papers. The publications include separate issues of the Alert issued by UCSJ, National Conference on Soviet Jewry News Bulletin, News Bulletin (Israel) as well as other organizations' publications, including London's Jews in the USSR (by the Institute of Soviet Jewish Affairs). Publications may generally provide names of Refuseniks and their location, describe their cases and their families, and give updates on their situation. Publication may also discuss changes in Soviet legislation and provide statistics of Jewish Soviet émigrés by year and geographic area within the USSR. There is also information regarding actions and demonstrations at Soviet diplomatic missions in the U.S. and other Western countries, and listings of rallies, seminars and conferences devoted to the Soviet Jews. Not all of the publications could be matched to an organization's name, some publications are unidentified.

BoxFolderTitleDate
4 1 Action Alert, [Jewish Community Relations Council] 1977, 1978 (with gaps)
4 2 Action Letter, [Soviet Jewry Action Group] 1977, 1978 (with gaps)
4 3 Alert: Information from the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews 1977-July 1978 (with gaps)
4 4 Alert: Information from the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews August 1978-December 1978 (with gaps)
4 5 Alert: Information from the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews January 1979-June 1979 (with gaps)
4 6 Alert: Information from the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews July 1979-December 1979 (with gaps)
4 7 Alert: Information from the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews 1980 (with gaps)
BoxFolderTitleDate
5 1 Alert: Information from the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews 1981 (with gaps)
5 2 Alert: Information from the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews 1982 (with gaps)
5 3 Alert: Information from the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews 1983 (with gaps)
5 4 Alert: Information from the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews 1984-1985
5 5 The Alert Magazine [UCSJ] 1980-1982
5 6 The Backgrounder 1978, 1980 (two issues)
5 7 Exodus, [UCSJ] (one issue) (Oversized item, see OS1, Folder 1) 1977
5 8 Focus on Soviet Jewry [Jewish Community Relations Council] 1980
BoxFolderTitleDate
6 1 Information 1979 (with gaps)
6 2 Information April 1980-July 1980 (with gaps)
6 3 Information August 1980-September 1980 (with gaps)
6 4 Information October 1980-December 1980 (with gaps)
6 5 Information January 1981-April 1981 (with gaps)
6 6 Information May 1981-December 1981 (with gaps)
BoxFolderTitleDate
7 1 Information 1982 (with gaps)
7 2 Information 1983 (with gaps)
7 3 Information 1984 (with gaps)
7 4 Information January 1985-May 1985 (with gaps)
7 5 Information June 1985-December 1985 (with gaps)
7 6 Insight: Soviet Jews 1975, 1977-1980 (with gaps)
7 7 Insight: Soviet Jews 1981-1984, 1986-1988 (with gaps)
BoxFolderTitleDate
8 1 Jews in the USSR 1974-1976, 1978
8 2 Jews in the USSR [1 of 2] 1979
8 3 Jews in the USSR [2 of 2] 1979
8 4 Jews in the USSR [1 of 2] 1980
8 5 Jews in the USSR [2 of 2] 1980
8 6 Jews in the USSR [1 of 2] 1981 (with gaps)
8 7 Jews in the USSR [2 of 2] 1981 (with gaps)
8 8 Jews in the USSR [1 of 2] 1982
8 9 Jews in the USSR [2 of 2] 1982
BoxFolderTitleDate
9 1 Jews in the USSR [1 of 2] 1983 (with gaps)
9 2 Jews in the USSR [2 of 2] 1983 (with gaps)
9 3 Jews in the USSR 1984 (with gaps)
9 4 Jews in the USSR [1 of 2] 1985
9 5 Jews in the USSR [2 of 2] 1985
9 6 National Conference on Soviet Jewry Activities Report (four issues) 1977, 1979
9 7 Newsbreak, [NCSJ]1984 (with gaps)
9 8 National Conference on Soviet Jewry News Bulletin 1978-1979 (with gaps)
9 9 National Conference on Soviet Jewry Press Service 1980 (with gaps)
BoxFolderTitleDate
10 1 National Conference on Soviet Jewry Press Service 1981 (with gaps)
10 2 National Conference on Soviet Jewry Press Service 1982-1983 (with gaps)
10 3 News Alert on Falashas, [UCSJ] 1979
10 4 News Bulletin, [Scientists Committee of the Israel Public Council for Soviet Jewry] 1977-1978, 1981
10 5 Newsletter, South Florida Conference on Soviet Jewry (one issue) 1979
10 6 Outcry! [Bay Area Council on Soviet Jewry] 1975-1979 (with gaps)
10 7 Outcry! [Bay Area Council on Soviet Jewry] 1980-1986 (with gaps)
10 8 Press Releases 1978-1979, 1982
10 9 Soviet Jewry Action Newsletter, [Minnesota-Dakota Action Committee for Soviet Jewry] (one issue) 1980
10 10 Soviet Jews Under Soviet Law, [Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco, Marin and the Peninsula, Northern California Lawyers' Committee for Soviet Jews] 1981-1982 (with gaps)
10 11 Soviet Jewry Update [Jewish Community Relations Council] 1977-1979 (with gaps)
10 12 The Vigil [Washington Committee for Soviet Jewry] (two issues) 1978
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Separated Oversized Materials, 1977-1978, 1984.

BoxFolderTitleDate
OS11Newspaper advertisements for the Pesach Project for Soviet Jews (Removed from Box 1, Folder 9)1978
OS11Soviet Jewry Matched Names Project (Removed from Box 1, Folder 10)1984
OS11Exodus newspaper (Removed from Box 5, Folder 7). March/April 1977
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