Materials on the Refusenik Movement (the Jewish Movement to Leave the USSR)

Collection

Postal address:: 191036, St. Petersburg, 1-aia Sovetskaia ul., d. 10, lit. K, 1-N

Title:: Materials on the Refusenik Movement (the Jewish Movement to Leave the USSR)

Title (official language):: Фонд движения «отказников» (еврейского движения за выезд из СССР)

Scope and content:: Op. 1 includes personal files of refuseniks (1976-85). Op. 2 contains a chronicle of the movement, documents, refuseniks’ correspondence with the authorities and literature on the history of the refusenik movement, as well as photographs reflecting everyday events from this movement: ulpan and Jewish Sunday school activities, the staging of Purimspiels (theatrical performances during the Jewish holiday of Purim), demonstrations by refuseniks, etc. (1950s-90s).

Archival history:: Most of the documents were presumably transferred to the archive by members of the movement, former refuseniks, before their departure for Israel in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The photographs were transferred to the archive by I. Dvorkin, former rector of the St. Petersburg Jewish University, in late 2009.

Administrative/biographical history:: In the 1970s-90s, the term “refusenik” was used unofficially to refer to Jewish Soviet citizens who were denied permission to leave the country. The refusenik movement became particularly active after the Six-Day War of 1967. The attempt of the Soviet authorities to limit the flow of Jews leaving the country by issuing so-called “refusals” led to the emergence of the refusenik movement as a political and social phenomenon. These people found themselves as if outside society: they were fired from their jobs and could not find work anywhere except as street cleaners, boiler watchers or watchmen. They were under surveillance and their telephones were tapped. Refuseniks began to fight for the right to leave, holding demonstrations, writing open letters and organising “ulpans” – groups and seminars on the study of Jewish culture and the Hebrew language. (For more on the refusenik movement, see the preface to Documents on Jewish History and Culture in the Archives of St. Petersburg. A Guide, 3.1: 22-28; see also the description of f. 5 [“Materials of the Refusenik Movement in Leningrad/St. Petersburg”] of the Jewish Community Centre of St. Petersburg.)

Subject terms:: Aliyah; Anti-religious activity (Soviet Union); Correspondence; Jewish holidays; Jewish languages; Jewish languages--Hebrew; Personal records; Photographs

System of arrangement:: The fonds comprises two series arranged chronologically.