Jewish Labor Committee (U.S.) Records, Part III: Post-war Administrative Files and Anti-Discrimination Department Files
Extent and Medium
258.5 linear feet (259 boxes)
Creator(s)
Scope and Content
The Jewish Labor Committee, an umbrella group of Jewish trade unions and fraternal organizations, was founded in 1934 for the purpose of organizing opposition to Nazism, providing assistance to its victims, and fighting all forms of bigotry and the denial of human and labor rights. After the World War II the Committee continued its program of relief to Holocaust victims by providing shipments of food, clothing, and medical supplies to refugees in many countries. It also provided immigration assistance and offered help with employment and housing for refugees who came to the United States. After organizing labor support for the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, the JLC increasingly devoted itself to educating the labor movement on issues of concern to Israel –- a departure from its earlier anti-Zionist position. During the 1950s the it worked to secure reparations payments to victims of the Holocaust. From the 1960s onward the JLC increasingly focused on a domestic agenda, defining its role as a link or liaison between the U.S. labor movement and the organized Jewish community. It continued to campaign on issues of civil rights, human rights, and trade union rights, and was active in the campaign to publicize and protest the plight of Soviet Jewry. Part III of the JLC Records includes JLC correspondence, reports, publicity material, clipping files, scrapbooks, field office records, staff files, and financial records, as well as materials produced by many other organizations that interacted with the JLC.
Archivist Note
Entry added by EHRI based on online information from The Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives.
Jewish Labor Committee (U.S.) Records, Part III: Post-War Administrative Files and Anti-Discrimination Department Files.
Extent and Medium
258 boxes (ca. 77,6 l.m.).
Creator(s)
- Jewish Labor Committee
Scope and Content
The series “General Files”, contains correspondence, flyers, reports, memos, documentation, … on a wide variety of topics, individuals, events, Jewish and other organisations. We point out the following files: “Belgium” (box 122, folders nrs. 40, 41 and 42; for the years 1957-1968), “Child Adoption Program: Belgium” (box 124, nrs. 35-37; years 1956-1964), “Child Adoption Program: Belgium – Lists” (box 124, nrs. 38-39; years 1957-1964), “Reparations: Belgium” (box 160, nr. 32; years 1961-1962) and “Soviet Jewry: Brussels Conference” (box 168, nrs. 20-21; years 1971, 1975-1976). The “Series VI: Officers’ and Staff Files”, representing files of JLC officers and staff members, also contains relevant files. From its “Subseries VI:A Lasar Epstein Files”, see: “Belgium” (box 221, folder nr. 28; years 1954-1959); “Belgium: Child Adoption Department” (box 221, nr. 29; years 1964-1966); “Poland: Emigration to Belgium” (box 233, nr. 32; year 1957) and “Relative Search: Belgium” (box 234, nr. 19; year 1960). From the “Samuel Estrin Files” (“Subseries VI:B” and “Subseries VI:C”) see “Belgium” (box 236, folder nr. 3; years 1961-1973) and “Belgium” (box 236, nr. 35; years 1949-1967). These files mostly contain correspondence (with annexes) of the JLC with organisations such as Cercle Amical Arbeter Ring asbl, the Peretz School, Secours Mutuel juif, International Confederation of Trade Unions, IAP Achdout Avoda-Poalei Zion Belgique, Belgische Socialistische Partij, the Bund in Brussels, de Centrale (Antwerp), … as well as lists of sponsored children, reports on how the financial aid was used, etc. From “Subseries VI:E Vladka Meed Files”, see the file “Belgium” (box 247, folder nr. 10; years 1967-1971). Lastly, “Subseries VIII:D Yiddish Department” – which documents the efforts of the JLC to stay in touch with Yiddish-speaking contacts around the world and support Yiddish cultural activities – contains a file titled “Belgium” (box 356, folder nr. 21; years 1972-1973).
Finding Aids
A detailed finding aid is available online at http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/wag_025_003/index.html .
Process Info
The EHRI project, in cooperation with the National Archives of Belgium, selected Holocaust-relevant archival descriptions from the finding aid G. DESMET & P. FALEK-ALHADEFF, P.-A. TALLIER (dir.), Bronnen voor de geschiedenis van de Joden en het Jodendom in België (19de-20ste eeuw) - Sources pour l'histoire des populations juives et du judaïsme en Belgique (19e-20e siècles), Brussel, Algemeen Rijksarchief, 2015. Please note that this guide focuses on Belgium-related archival materials in the respective descriptions.
Gertjan Desmet
This archival description was created in the framework of the cooperation between EHRI and the Yerusha project.