A comprehensive archive of the American Soviet Jewry movement has been digitized and placed online for review by scholars and the public. The American Jewish Historical Society has made available more than 30 years worth of records, testimonials and other material documenting the efforts of Soviet-era dissidents who fled the region and sought to influence policy from outside their home country.
The new, searchable database was made possible with a US$ 200,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The project is mainly based on the operating records of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ), an advocacy group that is still working to influence policy affecting Jews in the former Soviet Union and the Diaspora. The database also contains individual files on so-called refuseniks, prisoners of conscience and Jewish emigrants.
The historical society is still accepting materials in the form of a Memory Bank where participants can share their recollections.
