Records of the American League for a Free Palestine
Scope and Content Note
This collection documents the activities of the American League for a Free Palestine. Documentation consists of correspondence, financial statements, lists, pamphlets, fliers, advertisements, news clippings, ephemera, and an original copy of the script for A Flag is Born.
Dates
- Creation: 1946-1947
Creator
- American League for a Free Palestine (Organization)
Access Restrictions
The collection is open to all researchers, except items that may be restricted due to their fragility, or privacy.
Use Restrictions
No permission is required to quote, reproduce or otherwise publish manuscript materials found in this collection, as long as the usage is scholarly, educational, and non-commercial. For inquiries about other usage, please contact the Director of Collections and Engagement at mmeyers@ajhs.org.
For reference questions, please email: inquiries@cjh.org
Historical Note
American League for a Free Palestine (ALFP) was created in July 1944, by Peter H Bergson (formerly Hillel Kook), for the purpose of supporting and funding his Hebrew Committee of National Liberation in Palestine. The ALFP attracted Jewish and non-Jewish members from all occupations, but especially those in politics and entertainment. The ALFP’s most notable achievement was the work of award winning playwright and director Ben Hecht, a member of the league. Hecht wrote A Flag is Born to propagandize the cause by comparing the fight for a free Palestine against the British to the American Revolution. With money raised from the production of the play, the league purchased a boat for the aliyah of Holocaust survivors from France. The group dissolved in December 1948 as the goal of the league had been achieved.
Source: Kaplan, Erin. "A Rebel with a Cause: Hillel Kook, Begin and Jabotinsky’s Ideological Legacy." Israel Studies, Volume 10, Number 3, Fall 2005, pp. 87-103.
Extent
0.42 Linear Feet (6 folders in a shared box plus 1 OS1 folder)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The American League for a Free Palestine was organized in 1944 to help with the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. The collections consists of correspondence, financial statements, lists, pamphlets, fliers, advertisements, news clippings and other ephemera.
Arrangement
This collection has been arranged into a single series and the folders have been ordered according to folder title and chronology of their content.
Physical Location
This collection is located in Consolidated Box I4.
Subject
- Kook, Hillel, 1915-2001 (Person)
- Gillette, Guy M. (Guy Mark), 1879-1973 (Person)
- Hecht, Ben, 1894-1964 (Person)
- American League for a Free Palestine (Organization)
- Irgun tsevaʼi leʼumi (Organization)
Genre / Form
- advertisements
- broadsides (notices)
- clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence
- Financial statements
- fliers (printed matter)
- Pamphlets
- Printed ephemera
Geographic
Topical
- Title
- Guide to the Records of the American League for a Free Palestine, 1946-1947 *I-278
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Finding aid by Michael Montalbano as part of the CJH Holocaust Resource Initiative, made possible by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany
- Date
- © 2013
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Revision Statements
- February 2021: RJohnstone: post-ASpace migration cleanup.
Repository Details
Part of the American Jewish Historical Society Repository
