Colorado Committee of Concern for Soviet Jewry

Abstract Soviet Jews who wanted to emigrate from the Soviet Union were known as "Refuseniks." American Jewish students formed the Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ) in 1964 and the American Jewish Committee on Soviet Jewry (AJCSI) was also organized that year. Rabbi Samuel Adelman, rabbi of the BMH synagogue, spoke at Temple Emanuel and urged the liberal congregation to help Soviet Jews. Rabbi Raymond Zwerin, Sheldon Steinhauser, and Lillian Hoffman formed what became the Colorado Committee of Concern...

Abstract

Fact sheet and materials related to David Azbel who was a Jewish dissident and political prisoner in the Soviet Union.

Abstract

Fact sheet and materials related to Dina Beilina, a Jewish Soviet disident imprissoned by the Soviet Union. In 1978, after seven years, Dina Beilina, considered the USSR’s leading woman Jewish refusnik, received an exit visa to Israel.

Abstract

Fact sheet and materials related to Ephim Davidovich, a Jewish prisoner of conscience.

Abstract

Newspaper clippings related to the Soviet Jewish Dissident Protest.

Abstract Materials related to "The Night of the Murdered Poets." The Night of the Murdered Poets was the execution of thirteen Soviet Jews in the Lubyanka Prison in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union on 12 August 1952. The arrests were first made in September 1948 and June 1949. All defendants were accused of espionage and treason as well as many other crimes. The Colorado Committee was the first in the U.S.to commemorate the execution when a three day fast was held on the steps of the state capitol...

Abstract

Contains materials on the Jackson-Vanik 1974 Trade Act Amendment that in part made trade between the United States and the Soviet Union conditioned upon Soviets relaxing restrictions on Jewish emigration. The bill in the House of Representatives was the Mills-Vanik and in the Senate was the Jackson bill. Members of the Colorado Committee of Concern for Soviet Jewry pushed for the Amendment to prevent the Soviet Union from charging exorbitant fees to Soviet Jews trying to emigrate.