Metadata: World Conference of the Jewish Communities for the Jews of the Soviet Union
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- Jewish Museum of Belgium
- Holding institution (official language):
- Musée Juif de Belgique
- Postal address:
- Miniemenstraat 21 / Rue des Minimes 21, 1000 Bruxelles
- Phone number:
- +32 (0)2 512 19 63
- Web address:
- http://www.new.mjb-jmb.org
- Email:
- info@mjb-jmb.org
- Reference number:
- JM-Brussels-CMCJ
- Title:
- World Conference of the Jewish Communities for the Jews of the Soviet Union
- Title (official language):
- Conférence Mondiale des Communautés juives pour les Juifs d’URSS
- Creator/accumulator:
- Conférence Mondiale des Communautés juives pour les Juifs d’URSS; Wereldconferentie van Joodse Gemeenschappen over de Joden in de Sovjetunie; World Conference of Jewish Communities on Soviet Jewry
- Date(s):
- 1971/1978
- Language:
- French
- Hebrew
- English
- Russian
- Dutch; Flemish
- Extent:
- 3.5 linear metres
- Scope and content:
- This fonds contains documents concerning the First World Conference of the Jewish Communities for the Jews of the Soviet Union (1971) and the Second World Conference of the Jewish Communities for the Jews of the Soviet Union (1976). We mainly note correspondence, administrative documents concerning the organisation of the conference, workshops and speeches, as well as petitions in favour of the emigration of Jews from the USSR [3 boxes (1978)], invitations, material concerning the interpreters, documents related to the steering committee, programs, photographs (taken at the Second Conference), individual files of varying size of the delegates (ordered alphabetically), questionnaires mentioning the contact details, affiliations of the delegates and bookings of their flights and hotels, identification forms of journalists accredited for the conference (ordered alphabetically) and press clippings. (See boxes Y 1 to Y8, Y38, Y40, Y47 to Y57.)
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Between the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 and the First World Conference in favour of Soviet Jewry, almost 10,000 Jews were allowed to leave the Soviet Union. The Soviet Jews had declared their willingness to leave the USSR. The effect of the ‘Brussels I’ Conference (1971) was that in the following five years over 112,000 Jews in the USSR received exit visas. They mostly migrated to Israel. This clearly showed the effectiveness of the global pressure exerted on the Kremlin. David Susskind, and on his initiative also the CCLJ, were heavily involved in supporting Soviet Jewry. They organised support demonstrations, created a Comité de Soutien aux Juifs d’URSS and were at the origin of the organisation of the World Conferences of the Jewish Communities on Soviet Jewry – the Brussels I and II conferences, held in 1971 and 1976 respectively. David Susskind held the function of secretary-general. As the president of the CCOJB, Susskind led this organisation to be involved in favour of the Jews in the Soviet Union. The Brussels I Conference was denounced as an “anti-Soviet provocation” and “shameless attempt to interfere with the internal affairs of the Soviet Union” by the Soviets. The Jews who applied for an exit visa had to face public defamation and could expect to lose their jobs, be expelled from university, be conscripted into the militia, be arrested, accused or incarcerated. The potential migrants lost their pension rights, their telephone service was interrupted, their mail intercepted. Those tried and convicted for their Jewish activism – nearly 40 in 1976 – were known as the “prisoners of Zion”. The First World Conference (Brussels I) not only electrified world opinion but also the leaders of the Soviet Union as well as Soviet Jewry itself. For the first time, the Jews from the USSR organised to lead a daring campaign of nonviolent confrontation with the Soviet authorities, inspired by the declaration of Brussels I: “We, assembled at this conference, declare our commitment to work tirelessly to ensure that the condition of the Soviet Jews be brought to the consciousness of the world, until the triumph of the justness of their cause.” Almost immediately afterwards, the gates of the USSR slowly began to open. Five years later, however, they shut again. On the eve of the Brussels II conference, some 3 million Jews lived in the USSR, in a severely deteriorated situation: there was a decline in the number of granted exit visas, an increase in the acts of intimidation and persecution of Jews seeking to migrate, an accentuation of antisemitism (local and ‘exported’), increased anti-Jewish discrimination and efforts to suppress Jewish cultural and religious activities. Jewish representatives from 30 countries gathered at the Brussels II conference in 1976. This conference constituted an international forum, the expression of a reaffirmed commitment to the cause of the Soviet Jews. (“Bruxelles II: le Combat en faveur des Juifs d’URSS entre dans une phase nouvelle”, Comité d’organisation de la Deuxième Conférence Mondiale des Communautés juives pour les Juifs d’URSS, Bruxelles, 17-19 février 1976, Conférence Mondiale des Communautés juives pour les Juifs d’URSS (BE / MJB / CMCJ).)
- Access points: locations:
- Brussels
- Access, restrictions:
- Access requires the authorisation of the archivist of the Jewish Museum of Belgium.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
