The Kol Israel Foundation is an organization of Holocaust survivors resident in Cleveland, Ohio. The organization was founded in 1959 to represent area Holocaust survivors while helping secure special education, guidance, vocational training, and economic and social adjustment forimmigrants settling in Greater Cleveland.
Holocaust survivors started the foundation to provide a sense of community and valuable financial, psychological, and emotional support to other survivors. There is also a Kol Israel Sisterhood and Second Generation Kol Israel founded by young people in 1978, dedicated to the continuance of the memory of Holocaust victims. The Second Generation group sponsors educational workshops while the foundation sponsors annual Holocaust commemoration events at different synagogues throughout the city. In the 1980s, the development of a Cleveland Holocaust Center, a focal point for all Holocaust education activities and a stand-alone site for artifacts from the Holocaust, was proposed. Although this organization sponsored events through the 1990s, it did not come to fruition.
All Jews, regardless of their country of origin, are invited to join the foundation. Kol Israel means "All of Israel", and the foundation frequently sends money to aid the state of Israel and to support reunions of survivors and the erection of memorials. The foundation also sponsors the purchase of ambulances for Israel. The foundation puts on numerous events throughout the calendar year including memorials, galas, guest speakers, educational opportunities, reunions, fundraisers, and picnics.
The Kol Israel Foundation Records, 1973-2001, consist of agendas, correspondence, meeting minutes, newspaper clippings, programs, and photographs (5).
This collection is of value to researchers interested in the Holocaust, World War II, and the history of survivors of the Holocaust living in the Greater Cleveland area. The materials document efforts to teach about the Holocaust in the Cleveland area and efforts to commemorate the Holocaust. Of particular interest are the materials stemming from the work of the second generation, the children of the survivors living in the Cleveland area. One piece of particular interest is the table of badges worn by concentration camp inmates. The collection also contains multiple scrapbooks consisting of important newspaper articles and photographs relating to the Holocaust, Holocaust survivors, and Nazi trials. There are also multiple texts about the Holocaust that may be of some interest to researchers. These texts contain first person accounts and unique perspectives of the Holocaust from the 1970s.
The collection is arranged in four series.
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Processed by Jordan Rothkopf, Emily Grucza and Meryl Kaplan in 2016.
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[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 5404 Kol Israel Foundation Records, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
Gift of Kol Israel Foundation in 2016.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.