Memoirs of American Jewish Soldiers

The collection consists of essay submissions, autobiographical sketches submitted by the contestants, index cards in Yiddish summarizing some of the essays, a notebook with the pseudonyms and numbers of each contestant, newspaper clippings, photographs, correspondence between YIVO and some of the contestants, personal correspondence submitted by the entrants, administrative information about the contest and the entrants including demographic information, main themes of the essays, entrant addresses and real names, official announcements of the contest in Yiddish and English, and an invitation to the awards ceremony. Most of the essays are about the soldiers’ experiences in Western Europe and the Pacific theater. The main themes are interacting with Jews in other lands, Judaism and anti-Semitism in the army, interacting with Jews who had been in concentration camps or had hidden and were now Displaced Persons, and how the soldiers’ lives, thoughts and Judaism have changed because of the war and their time in the army. There are some particularly rich essays about the Jewish communities of India and the Philippines as well as Germany and one about Palestine. There is one submission from a woman detailing her experience being Jewish in the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service).

The folders are labeled with the contestant’s number, determined by YIVO staff, and the contestant’s real name, when known. Some entrants have two contestant numbers and thus two folders, either because they submitted two essays or because they sent essays and supplementary materials in separate packages. Some essays and materials were not given contestant numbers, perhaps because they arrived after the contest deadline or they did not meet the contest criteria. All of the essays are undated but were all submitted in 1946. The additional materials date from 1944-1946.