Finding aid for the Soviet Jewish Oral History Collection


Repository: Western Reserve Historical Society
Creator: Cleveland Jewish Archives Advisory Committee, Western Reserve Historical Society
Title: Soviet Jewish Oral History Collection
Dates: 1954-2016
Dates: 2013-2016
Extent: 1.60 linear feet (4 containers)
Abstract: Cleveland's Jewish community played an active role helping Soviet Jews emigrate from the Soviet Union and resettle in the United States, and especially in Cleveland, from the 1960s to the 1990s. Approximately 12,000 Soviet Jews came to Cleveland during these years. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the emigration continued, though at a slower pace. This collection, a project of the WRHS Cleveland Jewish Archives Advisory Committee, includes oral histories with Soviet Jews from the Greater Cleveland area and related materials. The collection consists primarily of abstracts, article drafts, correspondence, descriptions of the project, a dissertation, information sheets, interview protocols, lists, minutes, newspaper clippings, notes, oral history user agreements, procedures, programs, progress reports, reports, a script, a student paper, and transcripts of interviews.
MS Number MS 5389
Location: closed stacks
Language: The records are in English and Russian

History of Soviet Jewish Oral History Collection

From the 1970s to the 1990s Soviet Jews left the Soviet Union to escape antisemitism and to find better opportunities for themselves and their families. Cleveland's Jewish community played an active role helping Soviet Jews emigrate from the Soviet Union and resettle in the United States, and especially in Cleveland, from the 1960s to the 1990s. The Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism (CCSA) was a volunteer organization whose goals were to assist Soviet Jews to emigrate, to inform the American public about Jewish activities in the Soviet Union, and to monitor antisemitism in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The CCSA, the first organization of its kind in the world, was established in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1963 through the efforts of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientists Louis Rosenblum and Abe Silverstein, Veterans Administration Hospital psychologist Herbert Caron, and Rabbi Daniel Litt. The four men, members of Beth Israel The West Temple, were supported by the congregation which provided volunteer workers and office space for the CCSA.

The CCSA sought to educate the public regarding the plight of Soviet Jews at a time when the problem was not generally recognized. The success of the organization was recognized nationally and it became a model for other local groups. By 1969, five other councils had been established and in February 1970 the six organizations joined to create the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (UCSJ) to share information and to strengthen the movement nationally. In 1966, the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland became the first federation in the United States to support this issue by providing funds for the CCSA's educational activities.

In 1973 the Jewish Federation of Cleveland established a task force on Soviet Jewish refugees that urged the United States government to grant refugee visas to Soviet Jewish immigrants and lobbied for sanctions against the Soviet Union for restricting exit visas. The Jewish Family Service Association helped recent immigrants settle into life in the United States by helping immigrants find housing and get access to government programs. Other organizations, including the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the Jewish Community Center, and the Hebrew Free Loan Association, among others, also helped recent immigrants. During the early waves of immigration, Soviet Jewish immigrants settled in Cleveland Heights. Later immigrants began to settle in Mayfield Heights and the eastern suburbs.

In 2011, community leaders serving on the WRHS Cleveland Jewish Archives Advisory Committee began discussing how to record the stories of the region's Soviet Jewish immigrants. The Advisory Committee wished to recognize the important work of the CCSA and to learn more about the immigrant community that settled in Cleveland decades ago. Kathy Hexter chaired the Subcommittee for the Soviet Jewish Oral History Project. This Oral History Collection is the result of the subcommittee's work. The Subcommittee invited others in the community to participate in the planning of the project. Members of the Subcommittee included Sylvia Abrams, Ken Bravo, Cindy Bruml, Lois Goodman, Alan Gross, Norm Keane, Boris Kolker, Esther Kolker, Lisa Powers, Simon Rekhson, Kathy Rockman. Sylvia Abrams and Kathy Hexter designed the interview protocol, and the Subcommittee identified interviewees using their contacts in the Soviet Jewish community and recruited volunteer interviewers. The first test interviews were conducted in late December 2013, and training sessions for volunteer interviewers were held in March 2014. Most interviews were completed throughout 2014 and 2015.

The interviews, conducted using a digital audio recorder, vary in length, but most are about 45 to 60 minutes long. A total of 81 interviews were conducted from late 2013 to mid 2016. Eleven interviews were conducted in Russian. The Subcommittee arranged to pay for transcription and translation of the interviews conducted in Russian. In addition, many volunteers and interns, especially Lee Haas and John Clement, also transcribed interviews conducted in English. The interviews were then formatted for uniformity and consistency and then sent to both the interviewee and interviewer for correction and approval. Anna Rasshivkina, professional translator and daughter of interviewee Dora Margolina, translated most of the interviews from Russian.

Interviewees were encouraged to submit additional materials related to their family history and their emigration. Many did, and those materials, including photographs, family histories, and photocopies of emigration related documents, are included with their transcripts. The collection also includes administrative records related to the development of the collection.


Scope and Content

The Soviet Jewish Oral History Collection, 2013-2016 and undated, consists primarily of abstracts, article drafts, correspondence, descriptions of the project, a dissertation, information sheets, interview protocols, lists, minutes, newspaper clippings, notes, oral history user agreements, procedures, programs, progress reports, reports, a script, a student paper, and transcripts.

This collection is of value to those researching immigration to Cleveland in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The collection includes oral histories of Jews from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics who immigrated to Cleveland from the 1970s to the early 2000s. This collection is also useful to researchers studying trends in Jewish religious affiliation and identity, Soviet history, Russian culture, and the history of Jews in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The collection provides information on education, nationalities policies, ethnic identity, and religious affiliation in the Soviet Union and on education and religious affiliation among Jews in the United States. Many of the interviews offer information about the Holocaust, the Soviet military, and World War II. Interviewees also provided details about the role of the Jewish community in the United States in aiding Soviet Jewry. Those with an interest in genealogy will also find the collection of value.


Statement of Arrangement

The collection is arranged in two series.
Series I: Administrative Records is arranged alphabetically by document type and then chronologically..
Series II: Interviews is arranged alphabetically by subject (name of interviewee).

Restrictions on Access

None.

Related Material

The researcher should also consult MS 4011 Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism Records; MS 4926 Louis Rosenblum Papers; MS 5110 Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism, Series II; MS 5156 Louis Rosenblum Papers, Series II; PG 287 Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism Photographs; and PG 577 Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism, Series II.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Immigrants -- Ohio -- Cleveland.
Jews, Soviet -- Ohio -- Cleveland.

Organizations/Corporations:

Jewish Federation of Cleveland.
Western Reserve Historical Society.

Preferred Citation

[Container__,Folder__ ] MS 5389 Soviet Jewish Oral History Collection, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio

Acquisition Information

Gift of Cleveland Jewish Archives Advisory Committee, Western Reserve Historical Society in 2016.

Processing Information

Processed by Sean Martin in 2016.

Detailed Description of The Collection

Series I: Administrative Records 2013-2016 undated

Box Folder
1 1 Abstracts 2016
1 2 Correspondence 2013-2016
1 3 Correspondence, funding 2014-2016
1 4 Correspondence, interviewees 2013-2015
1 5 Description, Soviet Jewish Oral History Project undated
1 6 Dissertation, Jewish Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union: The Formation of New Social Networks, Integration, and Activity Spaces, by Adam Lake, 2012 2012
1 7 Draft, article, Beginnings of the Soviet Jewry Movement in Cleveland, Herb Caron 2013
1 8 Information Sheet 2014
1 9 Interview Protocol 2014
1 10 Interview Protocols 1984, 1995, 2008, 2010
1 11 Lists, Commitee 2015
1 12 Minutes, meetings of Subcommittee, Soviet Jewish Oral History Project 2011-2014
1 13 Newspaper clippings 1977, 1979, 1980
1 14 Notes, general undated
1 15 Notes, Ilya Marmerstein 2013
1 16 Notes, training sessions 2014
1 17 Oral History Usage Agreement 2014
1 18 Procedures for interviewers 2014
1 19 Program, 20th Century Exodus: The Story of Soviet Jewry and its Cleveland Connection, The Temple-Tifereth Israel May 15, 2016
1 20 Progress Reports 2014-2016 undated
1 21 Report, Resettlement of Russian-Speaking Jews to Cleveland, by Rachel Davidson August 2013
1 22 Reports, Soviet Jewish Oral History Project 2016
1 23 Script, "And So we Meet Again," E. Mallet undated
1 24 Student Paper, Kol Yisrael: How Cleveland Jews Aided the Soviet Jewry Movement during the Cold War, by Jonah Ricanati 2014

Series II: Interviews 2014-2016

Box Folder
2 1 Alterman, Mikhail May 13-15, 2015
2 2 Alterman, Svetlana May 13-15, 2015
2 3 Auguston, Isay 1954 1996 2011 and July 14, 2014
2 4 Becker, Jack October 12, 2014
2 5 Becker, Zina October 12, 2014
2 6 Bederman, Ilya June 17, 2014
2 7 Bederman, Lona June 17, 2014
2 8 Bederman, Rafail 1990s February 28, 2016
2 9 Bittenbinder, Irina July 2, 2014
2 10 Bogorad, Alex July 21, 2015
2 11 Borshov, Tanya June 26, 2014
2 12 Bridavsky, Anna July 3, 2014
2 13 Bridavsky, Mark July 1, 2014
2 14 Brin, Alexandra Shpaner July 18, 2014
2 15 Chernomorets, Vova June 5, 2015
2 16 Davidson, Natasha June 4, 2014
2 17 Deninzon, Vladimir August 4, 2014
2 18 Dorfman, Michael June 11, 2015
2 19 Dorfman, Nina June 11, 2015
2 20 Dorn, Irina September 4, 2014
2 21 Feldman, Claudia July 29, 2015
2 22 Feldman, Kostia March 15, 2015
2 23 Feldman, Vladimir July 29, 2015
2 24 Ganin, Eti July 23, 2014
2 25 Geordiadi, Milena January 19, 2015
2 26 Gert, Anna April 30, 2014
2 27 Gokhman, Betya May 15, 2014
2 28 Goldin, Natalie August 6, 2014
2 29 Gomer, Elena May 1, 2015
2 30 Greenspan, Alexander 2016
2 31 Grinberg, Tanya November 12, 2014
Box Folder
3 1 Gurevich, Esfir May 28, 2014
3 2 Kelberg, Andre July 30, 2014
3 3 Kelberg, Victoria July 30, 2014
3 4 Klayman, Svetlana July 29, 2015
3 5 Kolker, Boris 2004 August 26, 2014 and undated
3 6 Kozyr, Mira 2016
3 7 Levin, Aron December 20, 2013
3 8 Litvin, Mark December 22, 2014
3 9 Litvin, Zena December 22, 2014
3 10 Margolina, Dora November 19, 2014
3 11 Markovich, Maria June 17, 2014
3 12 Markovich, Marina October 31, 2014
3 13 Marmerstein, Ilya June 18, 2014
3 14 Mayskaja, Tamara October 8, 2014
3 15 Mayzel, Elina 2007 September 4, 2014
3 16 Melman, Arkadiy May 2, 2014
3 17 Mirochnik, Geta April 15, 2016
3 18 Model, Michael August 10, 2015
3 19 Naku, Svetlana August 5, 2014
3 20 Nersesova, Galina January 23, 2015
3 21 Neyman, Yelena January 9, 2014
3 22 Nirenberg, Liliya April 24, 2014
Box Folder
4 1 Novick, Eugene July 2, 2014
4 2 Oklander, Gennady August 6, 2014
4 3 Oblinsky, Regina August 25, 2015
4 4 Papirova, Irina October 23, 2014
4 5 Pavolotsky, Konstantin July 2, 2015
4 6 Pisman, Misha May 8, 2015
4 7 Polinkovsky, Alex August 19, 2014
4 8 Polinkovsky, Sofia August 19, 2014
4 9 Polner, Olga 2016
4 10 Powers, Lisa December 30, 2013
4 11 Rabinovich, Ed June 6, 2015
4 12 Rabinovich, Seymon July 14, 2014
4 13 Rekhson, Mila August 23, 2014
4 14 Rekhson, Simon August 13, 2014
4 15 Rubina, Nellya MAy 6, 2014
4 16 Rutman, Benjamin March 25, 2016
4 17 Sablin, Lana August 11, 2015
4 18 Sapozhnik, Sue 2016
4 19 Shaland, Irene August 6, 2014
4 20 Sherman, Alla June 19, 2014
4 21 Shpaner, Marius July 18, 2014
4 22 Shuster, Margarita July 22, 2015
4 23 Sonis, Mikhail August 24, 2014
4 24 Tarkhanova, Helen June 30, 2015
4 25 Torchinsky, Rita January 14, 2015
4 26 Vainberg, Eugenia July 22, 2015
4 27 Yankelevich, Yefim 2008 August 29, 2015
4 28 Yudovina, Vera July 21, 2015