| Repository: | Western Reserve Historical Society |
| Creator: | Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism |
| Title: | Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism Photographs |
| Dates: | 1964-1977 |
| Extent: | 0.80 linear feet (2 containers) |
| Abstract: | The Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism is a Cleveland, Ohio, organization founded in 1963, by three NASA scientists, to help Soviet Jews to emigrate and to monitor anti-semitism in the USSR. The movement spread to other cities in North America and led to the formation of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews to coordinate the local groups. The collection consists of photographs and slides of individual and group portraits of Soviet Jews and views of exhibits, rallies, and other events relating to the movement to publicize the plight of Soviet Jews. Also included are photographs taken by western tourists in the Soviet Union, the contents of an unbound scrapbook on Jewish life in Czarist Russia, and prints of microfilm transmitted from the Soviet Union in the 1970s, including a diary, a police summons, and a statement by Soviet Jewish refuseniks. |
| PG Number | PG 287 |
| Location: | closed stacks |
| Language: | The records are in English, Hebrew, Russian and Yiddish |
The Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism (CCSA) is a volunteer organization located in Cleveland, Ohio, whose goals are to assist Soviet Jews to emigrate, to inform the American public about Jewish activities in the Soviet Union, and to monitor anti-semitism in the USSR. The CCSA, the first organization of its kind in the world, was established in 1963 through the efforts of NASA scientists Louis Rosenblum and Abe Silverstein, Veterans Administration Hospital psychologist Herbert Caron, and Rabbit 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 Council organized letter-writing campaigns to government officials, sponsored rallies and protests, corresponded with Soviet Jews, and lobbied Congress and the President in an effort to link economic aid to the Soviet Union to the issue of human rights. Between 1964 and 1969 the CCSA produced a handbook for community activity; created a motion picture and slide show depicting the problem of Soviet Jewry; published Spotlight, the nation's first newsletter on Soviet Jews; and devised patterns for protests against visiting Soviet groups and officials. In 1966, the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland became the first Federation in the United States to allocate funds for this issue by providing funds for the CCSA's educational activities.
By 1965, the CCSA counted 600 members. Its success was recognized nationally, and it became a model for other local groups. CCSA leaders, especially Louis Rosenblum, assisted in the organization of local groups throughout the United States and Canada. 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. Rosenblum served as the first president of the UCSJ and its office was initially located in Cleveland. In 1972, a Washington, D.C. office was opened and staffed by one salaried employee who acted as Congressional and media liaison. In 1985 the UCSJ included 32 member council representing a membership of 50,000.
The Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism Photographs, 1964-1977 and undated, consist of photographs and slides of individual and group portraits of Soviet Jews and views of exhibits, rallies, and other events relating to the movement to publicize the plight of Soviet Jews. Also included are photographs taken by western tourists in the Soviet Union, the contents of an unbound scrapbook on Jewish life in Czarist Russia, and prints of microfilm transmitted from the Soviet Union in the 1970s, including a diary, a police summons, and a statement by Soviet Jewish refuseniks. The collection includes 622 black and white and color photographs and 238 color slide transparencies.
This collection is of value to researchers seeking illustrative material depicting the movement for religious freedom in the former Soviet Union in general, and specifically the activities of the Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism. Of note are portraits of Soviet refuseniks Anatoly Sharansky, now a member of Israel's parliament, artist Yevgeny Abezgaus, dancers Valeri and Galina Panov, and activists Ida Nudel, Alexander Luntz, Vladimir Slepak, and others from many cities in the former Soviet Union. The scrapbook documents important views of synagogues, cemeteries, anti-Semitic literature and theater from the 1800s to the 1950s. Noted Cleveland photographs are a portrait of Louis Rosenblum, a founder of the CCSA, as well as views of local rallies in support of Soviet Jews. This collection will also be useful to researchers studying the history of the Jewish community in Cleveland, Ohio, in the 1960s and 1970s.
None.
Related MaterialThe researcher should also consult MS 4011 Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism Records; MS 5110 Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism Records, Series II; and PG 577 Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism Photographs, Series II.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] PG 287 Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism Photographs, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
These photographs were removed from MS 4011 Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism Records. Gift of Louis Rosenblum in 1983.
Processed by Louis Rosenblum and Jane A. Avner in 1999.
Series I: Prints and Slides 1964-1977 undated |
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Sub-series A: Photographs Revoved From MS 4011 1964-1977 |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Luba Bershadskaya, portrait, individual (20) 1970-1974 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Epelman family, portraits, individual and group (22) 1973-1975 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Victor and Galina Faiermark, portraits, individual (23) 1972-1975 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Lev Gendin, portraits, individual and group (24) 1973-1976 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Alex Goldfarb, portraits, individual (25) 1974-1975 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Aleksander Lerner, portraits, individual and group (28) 1975-1976 | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Alexander Luntz, portraits, group (29) 1974-1977 | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 | Roman Rutman, portrait, group (33) ca. 1972 | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 | Vladimir Slepak, portraits, individual and group (35) 1973-1977 | |||||||||
| 1 | 10 | Alexander and Maria Temkin, portraits, individual and group (36) 1973-1975 | |||||||||
| 1 | 11 | Telephone conversations between CCSA members in Cleveland and Soviet Jews, portraits, group and individual (38) 1971-1972 | |||||||||
| 1 | 12 | American Jewish Conference on Soviet Jewry, portraits, group (70) 1964-1971 | |||||||||
| 1 | 13 | "Before Our Eyes," film project, portraits, group and views (76) 1968 | |||||||||
| 1 | 14 | David Weiss, speaker at the Community Action for Soviet Jewry Conference, portrait, individual (79) 1966 | |||||||||
| 1 | 15 | Day of Dedication for Soviet Jews, Cleveland, Ohio, portraits, group (83) 1966 | |||||||||
| 1 | 16 | Prisoners of Conscience, Soviet Jews, portraits (102) 1973-1976 | |||||||||
| 1 | 17 | Soviet Jewry traveling exhibit, views (118) 1966-1968 | |||||||||
| 1 | 18 | Louis Rosenblum, portrait, individual (122) ca. 1966 | |||||||||
| 1 | 19 | Tourist briefing materials, portraits, individual and group and views of Moscow (124) 1974 | |||||||||
| 1 | 20 | Detroit Action Committee for Soviet Jewry, portraits, group (143) 1971-1976 | |||||||||
| 1 | 21 | South Florida Conference on Soviet Jewry, view (152) 1965-1971 | |||||||||
| 1 | 22 | Community Council of Jewish Organizations, Committee on Soviet Jewry, Chicago, view (163) 1971-1972 | |||||||||
| 1 | 23 | James V. Stanton, (Ohio-D), United States House of Representatives (178) ca. 1966 | |||||||||
| 1 | 24 | Beth Israel-The West Temple, Cleveland, Ohio, students, portrait, group (191) ca. 1968 | |||||||||
| 1 | 25 | Beth Israel-The West Temple, Cleveland, Ohio and Congregation Oer Chodosh Anshe Sfard, University Heights, Ohio student march, views (217) 1966 | |||||||||
| 1 | 26 | Cleveland youth group rally, view (236) ca. 1968 | |||||||||
| 1 | 27 | Kiril and Irina Khenkine, portraits, individual (247) 1974 | |||||||||
| 1 | 28 | Views of food packages sent to imprisoned Soviet Jews (257) 1971-1974 | |||||||||
| 1 | 29 | Women's Interfaith Appeal, Washington, D.C., portraits, group (275) 1972 | |||||||||
Sub-series B: Photographs Taken by Western Tourists 1973-1976 |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 30 | Sally Fried, Leningrad and Moscow, portraits, group and view 1973 | |||||||||
| 1 | 31 | Jerry Klein, Moscow and Leningrad, portraits, individual and group 1974 | |||||||||
| 1 | 32 | Frank Katlin, Kiev, portraits, group 1975 | |||||||||
| 1 | 33 | Rita Laufer, Moscow, Kiev, Leningrad, and Tbilisi, portraits, group, including Anatoly Sharansky 1976 | |||||||||
Sub-series C: Photographs of Soviet Jews 1971-1977 undated |
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Sub-sub-series 1: Moscow 1971-1975 undated |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 34 | Portraits, individual and group, A-B undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 35 | Portraits, individual and group, C-E undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 36 | Portraits, individual and group, F-H undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 37 | Portraits, individual and group, K undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 38 | Portraits, individual and group, L-N, including Ida Nudel 1975 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 39 | Portraits, individual and group, P-R 1974-1975 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 40 | Portraits, individual and group, S-T undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 41 | Portraits, individual and group, U-Z 1973 1975 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 42 | Portraits, group, children 1974 | |||||||||
| 1 | 43 | Portraits, group, Hebrew School teachers 1975 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 44 | Portraits, group, miscellaneous 1971 1973-1974 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 45 | Views, synagogues 1971 1975 undated | |||||||||
Sub-sub-series 2: Leningrad 1973-1977 undated |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 46 | Portraits, individual and group, Evegny Abezgauz, artist, including views of his paintings 1974-1975 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 47 | Portraits, individual and group, B-J 1975 1977 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 48 | Portraits, individual and group, K-M 1974-1975 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 49 | Portraits, individual, Valeri and Galina Panov 1973 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 50 | Portraits, individual and group, R-Z 1973 1975 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 51 | Portraits, group, miscellaneous, including group photos with Louis Rosenblum and Miriam Rosenblum, both of Cleveland, Ohio, and Bob Wolf of Miami, Florida undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 52 | Portraits, group, refuseniks and their families, including handwritten information in Russian and English 1974 | |||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 2 | 53 | Views, synagogue 1974 | |||||||||
Sub-sub-series 3: Other Cities 1973-1974 undated |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 2 | 54 | Portraits, individual, Benderi undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 55 | Portraits, individual, Karkarov undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 56 | Portraits, individual and group, Kiev 1974 undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 57 | Portraits, group, Kishniev undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 58 | Portraits, individual, Kalaipeda undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 59 | Portraits, individual and group, Minsk undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 60 | Portraits, individual, Novosibirsk undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 61 | Portraits, group, Odessa undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 62 | Portraits, individual and group, Riga undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 63 | Portraits, individual, Rostov undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 64 | Portraits, individual, Sverdlovsk undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 65 | Portraits, individual, Tallin undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 66 | Portraits, individual, Tbilisi 1973 | |||||||||
| 2 | 67 | Portraits, individual and views, Vilnius undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 68 | Portraits, individual, Vinnitsa undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 69 | Portraits, individual, Viogradov and Zarcapatia undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 70 | Portraits, group, Zaporazhie undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 71 | Portraits, group, Zhitomir 1973 | |||||||||
| 2 | 72 | Portraits, individual, unsorted undated | |||||||||
Sub-series D: Jewish Life in Czarist Russia and the USSR undated |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 2 | 73 | List [in Hebrew and in English] of photographs in scrapbook, an exhibit on Soviet Jewry, undated, but covering events from the 1800s to the 1950s undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 74-76 | Scrapbook pages undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 77 | Views, including synagogues, cemeteries, anti-Semitic literature and cartoons, and Yiddish newspapers and theaters undated | |||||||||
Sub-series E: Prints of Microfilm 1973-1975 |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 2 | 78 | Diary, Boris Einbinder 1973-1975 | |||||||||
| 2 | 79 | Police summons 1975 | |||||||||
| 2 | 79 | Statement of refuseniks 1975 | |||||||||
Series II: Slides 1966-1976 undated |
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Sub-series A: Images by Western Tourists 1966-1976 undated |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 2 | 80 | Views, including Jewish buildings, cemeteries and activities, taken from photos before 1966, photographer unknown undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 81 | Views, synagogues in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, and Odessa, and Geula Gil concert, photographed by Perry Margolis 1966 | |||||||||
| 2 | 82 | Views, Odessa, photographed by Hillel Levine 1966 | |||||||||
| 2 | 82 | Views, Babi Yar, photographer unknown 1967 | |||||||||
| 2 | 83 | Views, Shepetovka, Berdichev, Ponar, and Ramboli, photographer unknown 1968 | |||||||||
| 2 | 83 | Views, Moscow and Leningrad, photographer unknown 1973 | |||||||||
| 2 | 83 | Views, Tbilisi, photographed by Wade Park 1976 | |||||||||
| 2 | 84 | Views, Moscow, Kiev, and Babi Yar, photographed by Steve Osachey 1971 | |||||||||
| 2 | 85 | Portraits, individual, and views, Moscow, Kiev, and Babi Yar, photographed by Mitch Knisbacher 1972 | |||||||||
Sub-series B: Images by Soviet Jews 1970s |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 2 | 86 | Portraits, individuals, Soviet Jewish activities 1970s | |||||||||
| 2 | 87 | Portraits, Soviet Jewish Prisoners of Conscience 1970-1971 | |||||||||
Sub-series C: Slides Removed From MS 4011 1966-1968 |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 2 | 88 | Slide show, "The Jewish Community in the Soviet Union" (93) 1968 | |||||||||
| 2 | 89 | Soviet Jewry Traveling Exhibit (118) 1966-1968 | |||||||||
| 2 | 90 | Soviet Jewry Traveling Exhibit as displayed in Beth Israel Temple, Cleveland, Ohio (118) 1967 | |||||||||