- Part Of
- Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario Region fonds
- Committee for Soviet Jewry series
- Protest activities sub-series
- Level
- Sub-series
- Fonds
- 17
- Series
- 3-5
- Material Format
- textual record
- graphic material
- Date
- 1967-1988
- Physical Description
- 70 cm of textual records
- 1238 photographs : b&w ; 20 x 25 cm or smaller
- Admin History/Bio
- Activities undertaken by the Committee for Soviet Jewry in Ontario and its affiliated partner organizations included political lobbying, telephone and letter-writing campaigns, product boycotting, symposiums, public rallies, petitions, marches and demonstrations. Among the highest profile activities were the annual Simcha Torah rallies in October and the annual commemorations of the execution of twenty-four Soviet Jewish writers and intellectuals, which had occurred on August 12, 1952 at Moscow's Liubianka prison. As well as organizing public protest activities, the Committee for Soviet Jewry established, in the 1980s, the Ida Nudel Humanitarian Award which emphasized the humanitarian work of a number of prominent Canadian women. Other non-protest activities included bar/ bat mitzvah twinning, family and prisoner sponsorships, and holiday greetings, all programmes that tied the daily lives of Soviet Jews to their Canadian counterparts.
- Scope and Content
- Sub-series consists of records documenting the wide range of above-listed protest activities in which the CJC and various affiliated organizations participated. The files include numerous photographs of mass rallies and group demonstrations, planning notes, correspondence, event notices and other promotional materials.
- Subjects
- Demonstrations
- Arrangement
- Records of protest activities in this sub-series have been organized chronologically and by event. Indicated date ranges at the file level are of the documents themselves and are not necessarily indicative of the dates of specific events, such as rallies or marches, though such dates are noted in the file description where known.
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Part Of
- Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario Region fonds
- Committee for Soviet Jewry series
- Refusnik cases sub-series
- Individual refusnik case files sub-sub-series
- Level
- Sub-sub-series
- Fonds
- 17
- Series
- 3-6-1
- Material Format
- graphic material
- textual record
- Date
- 1970-1986
- Physical Description
- 63 cm of textual records
- 382 photographs : b&w; 20 x 25 cm or smaller
- Scope and Content
- Sub-sub-series consists of case files of individual refusniks and includes detailed documentation about several very well known Russian Jews, such as Anatoly Scharansky, Dr. Benjamin Levich, Ida Nudel, and Esther Markish. Files vary in their content from very cursory information to files that include articles, correspondence and/or photographs in addition to information about the status of individual emigration applications and the living conditions of Jews in the Soviet Union.
- Related Material
- Records documenting refusnik groups may be found at Fonds 17, Sub-sub-series 3-6-2.
Publications about refusniks may be found at Fonds 17, Sub-sub-series 3-6-3
- Arrangement
- Sub-sub-series records are organized alphabetically by surname.
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Part Of
- Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario Region fonds
- Committee for Soviet Jewry series
- Refusnik cases sub-series
- Refusnik groups sub-sub-series
- Level
- Sub-sub-series
- Fonds
- 17
- Series
- 3-6-2
- Material Format
- textual record
- graphic material
- Date
- 1970-1983
- Physical Description
- 17 cm of textual records
- 74 photographs : b&w; 20 x 25 cm or smaller
- Scope and Content
- Sub-sub-series consists of various types of group documents: listings of groups of Soviet Jews; group and unidentified photographs of refusniks; and records pertaining to advocacy groups organized by former refusniks, both in Canada and internationally. Several of the files in this sub-sub-series also include publications by these groups.
- Related Material
- Individual refusnik case files may be found at Fonds 17, Sub-sub-series 3-6-1.
Publications about refusniks may be found at Fonds 17, Sub-sub-series 3-6-3.
- Arrangement
- Sub-sub-series records are organized alphabetically at the file level.
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Part Of
- Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario Region fonds
- Committee for Soviet Jewry series
- Refusnik cases sub-series
- Reference publications sub-sub-series
- Level
- Sub-sub-series
- Fonds
- 17
- Series
- 3-6-3
- Material Format
- textual record
- text
- Date
- 1972-1986
- Physical Description
- 11 v. text
- 1 folder of textual records
- Scope and Content
- Sub-sub-series consists of widely-distributed publications listing large numbers of refusniks as well as assorted folders of refusnik file listings and fact sheets. These publications and lists were utilized by the committee and its associated member agencies both to enhance public awareness concerning the extent of the problems and also to create mailing lists that could be used by the agencies to assist in expanding direct contact with individual refusniks.
- Related Material
- Individual refusnik case files may be found at Fonds 17, Sub-sub-series 3-6-1.
Publications about refusniks may be found at Fonds 17, Sub-sub-series 3-6-2.
- Arrangement
- Sub-sub-series records are organized chronologically.
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Part Of
- Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario Region fonds
- Committee for Soviet Jewry series
- Refusnik cases sub-series
- Level
- Sub-series
- Fonds
- 17
- Series
- 3-6
- Material Format
- textual record
- graphic material
- text
- Date
- 1970-1988
- Physical Description
- 81 cm of textual records
- 11 v. text
- 456 photographs : b&w; 20 x 25 cm or smaller
- Admin History/Bio
- Individual case files and refusnik listings were assembled by numerous Soviet Jewry advocacy groups and distributed internationally. Such records were then used by groups like the Committee for Soviet Jewry in their promotional material such as leaflets and news briefs to inform the Jewish community, interest groups and members of the general public about updates to the status of individual refusnik cases and the plight of Soviet Jews within the Soviet Union.
- Scope and Content
- Sub-series consists of files documenting individual refusniks, some very well known, as well as files and publications containing lists and/or groups of Soviet Jews and documents related to group activities. Sub-series is organized into three sub-sub-series: individual case files, groups, and publications.
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Part Of
- Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario Region fonds
- Committee for Soviet Jewry series
- Refusnik cases sub-series
- Individual Refusnik cases sub-sub series
- Level
- File
- Fonds
- 17
- Series
- 3-6-1
- File
- 18
- Material Format
- textual record
- Date
- 1977-1983
- Physical Description
- 1 folder of textual records
- Admin History/Bio
- Iosif Begun was a mathematics and engineering teacher born in 1932 in Moscow who taught himself Hebrew and worked as a Hebrew teacher. He was first denied permission to emigrate in 1971 and was subsequently dismissed from his job as a researcher at the Moscow Central Research Institute. While working as a Hebrew teacher Begun was arrested in 1977 for parasitism, for "avoiding socially useful work and living on unearned income". He was exiled to Magadan in Siberia and following appeals and hunger strikes was recharged in 1983 for anti-Soviet agitation. His case received a lot of attention because of his role in building a grassroots Jewish culture in the Soviet Union and his attempts to have Hebrew recognized as a national language, protected under Soviet law. In 1988 Begun was released and granted permission to emigrate to Israel with his son Boris's family, his wife Inna and his mother-in-law, Dvoira Lazar.
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Part Of
- Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario Region fonds
- Committee for Soviet Jewry series
- Refusnik cases sub-series
- Individual Refusnik cases sub-sub series
- Level
- File
- Fonds
- 17
- Series
- 3-6-1
- File
- 50
- Material Format
- textual record
- Date
- 1981-1986
- Physical Description
- 1 folder of textual records
- Admin History/Bio
- Lev Elbert was a construction engineer from Kiev. He and his wife Inna, a cardiologist, were active in promoting the Hebrew language in Kiev and were also fluent in English. His case garnered international attention when he went on a hunger strike and threatened suicide over his treatment during incarceration in Siberia in 1983, on draft evasion charges. Charges of drug smuggling were fabricated by prison authorities against Lev while he was in prison and he was subsequently held in isolation with violent inmates. In 1988 he emigrated to Israel with his family where he eventually became director of the Department of Construction of Power Stations for the Israel Electric Company.
- Source
- Archival Descriptions