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Subcollections 4-7, the Ralph Goldman Research Interviews, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee 90th Anniversary Interviews, Additional Interviews, and Jacob H. Schiff Oral History Project, are listed below.

Subcollections 1-3, the Yehuda Bauer Interviews, United Jewish Appeal Oral History Project, and Herbert Katzki Oral History Project, are available here. Subcollection 8, the 2021-2022 JDC Archives Oral History Project, is available here.

Some interviewees may appear in multiple oral history projects.

Subcollection 4: Ralph Goldman Research Interviews

Please see JDC Mourns Global Jewish Leader Ralph I. Goldman for extended biographical information.

This subcollection contains materials related to long-time JDC Executive Ralph Goldman. Included are interview transcripts, audio recordings, and clippings, compiled by researcher Janice Ditchek, author Tom Shachtman, and JDC staff members between 1994 and 1998.

In 1994, Ditchek began an oral history project about Goldman’s tenure as JDC Executive Vice-President from 1976 to 1988. She conducted extensive interviews with Goldman and his colleagues from JDC and elsewhere. The focus of these interviews was Goldman’s background and his leadership in securing permission from the respective Communist governments in Eastern Bloc countries for JDC to reenter and provide aid to Holocaust survivors.

In partnership with JDC, Shachtman published I Seek My Brethren: Ralph Goldman and the Joint: Rescue, Relief, and Reconstruction in 2001.

Record Group: Administration, 1987-1998

Extent: 6 folders

Budgets, clippings, correspondence, inventories, memos, notes and speeches.

File 165A: Administration, 1994-1995: Budgets

Extent: .10 inch

Languages:

English

File 165B: Administration, 1994-1995: Clippings and Memos

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

File 166: Administration, 1995-1998: Correspondence

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

File 167: Administration, 1997: Inventories

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

File 167A: Goldman, Ralph 1993-1994: Correspondence

Extent: .10 inch

Languages:

English

File 167B: Goldman, Ralph 1987-1994: Notes and Speeches

Extent: .50 inch

Languages:

English

Record Group: Averbuch, Yitzchak, 1996-1998

Extent: 2 folders; 1 sound cassette: analog; 2 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Yitzchak Averbuch on October 10, 1996.

Yitzhak Averbuch was born in 1948 in Odessa, Ukraine, and made aliyah to Israel in 1971. He trained as an architect and construction engineer. From 1987 to 1990, he served as the official representative of the Jewish Agency for Israel in Vienna. He joined JDC in 1991 as Chief Logistics Officer for JDC’s FSU operations in Mosow. In 1994, Averbuch became Country Director for Central Russia and Volga region; in 1998, he was named Country Director for Eastern and Northern Ukraine.

From 2002-2008, Averbuch served as Country Director for Central, Western and Southern Ukraine. From 2008-2014, he was Deputy Director of Field Operations in the FSU. He retired in 2014.

File 1: Averbuch, Yitzchak, 1996: Audio Recording
File 168: Averbuch, Yitzchak, 1998: Correspondence

Extent: .10 inch

Languages:

English

File 169: Averbuch, Yitzchak, 1996: Transcript

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Russia

Record Group: Barenkai, Hilda, 1997

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Hilda Barenkai on July 22, 1997.

Hilda Barenkai was born in Hungary in 1898. She was a teacher and administrator at a private Jewish school in Budapest from 1932 to 1936. In 1942, Barkenkai and her husband were sent to labor camps in Ukraine. Upon liberation in 1945, she was assisted by JDC. Barenkai later worked for the Kosponti Szocialis Bizottsag (KSB), the Central Assistance Agency, a Hungarian social welfare organization that received funding from JDC.

File 1: Barenkai, Hilda, 1997: Audio Recording
File 170: Barenkai, Hilda, 1997: Transcript

Extent: .10 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Hungary

Record Group: Barkowitz, Olga, 1997

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an Interview conducted by Janice Ditchek and Amy Kaslow with Olga Barkowitz on February 6, 1997.

Olga Barkowitz was Director of the Central Russian Archives of the Scientific Information Center. She studied the history of JDC’s American Jewish Joint Agricultural Corporation (Agro-Joint).

File 1: Barkowitz, Olga, 1997: Audio Recording
File 171: Barkowitz, Olga, 1997: Transcript

Extent: .10 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Russia
Soviet Union

Record Group: Bim-Bad, Boris, 1997

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek and Amy Kaslow with Boris Bim-Bad on February 7, 1997.

Boris Mikhaylovich Bim-Bad is a professor and holds a doctorate in pedagogical sciences. Bim-Bad was born in 1941 in Iletskay Zashchita, Russia. He studied at Pertozavodsk University and the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute. He began his teaching career in 1965 and joined the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences (today the Russian Academy of Education) in 1968. Bim-Bad founded the Russian Open University in 1989 and serves as a fellow at the Russian Academy of Education.

File 1: Bim-Bad, Boris, 1997: Audio Recording
File 172: Bim-Bad, Boris, 1997: Transcript

Extent: .10 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Russia

Record Group: Brem, Jack, 1997

Extent: 1 folder

Contains notes on an interview conducted with Jack Brem on April 28, 1997.

Jack Brem was born in 1925 in Piotrkw, Poland, and raised in an Orthodox Jewish household. Brem’s family perished during the Holocaust at the Treblinka extermination camp. Brem was sent to Buchenwald and Theresienstadt, but was liberated by the Soviet Army and survived. He made his way to the Landsberg DP camp in the U.S. Zone in Germany, where he met his wife.

Brem started working for JDC in 1946 at Landsberg. He later immigrated to the U.S. and started a clothing manufacturing business. Brem partnered with JDC to send relief supplies to the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s.

File 173: Brem, Jack, 1997: Interview Notes

Extent: .10 inch

Languages:

English

Record Group: Brenner, Frédéric, 1996

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 2 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek on May 1, 1996.

JBorn in Paris in 1959, Frédéric Brenner attended the Sorbonne, where he received a B.A. in French Literature and Social Anthropology in 1981. He later studied at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales and earned an M.A. in Social Anthropology at the Sorbonne.

Brenner has spent 25 years photographing the Jewish diaspora in Rome, New York, India, Yemen, Morocco, Ethiopia, Sarajevo, and other locations. He has had solo exhibitions at the International Center of Photography in New York and the Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne. Brenner has also published several books, including Jerusalem: Instants d’Eternité (1984), Israel (1988), Marranes (1992), Jews/America/Representation (1996), Exile at Home (1998), DIASPORA: Homelands in Exile and an Archeology of Fear and Desire (2014).

File 1: Brenner, Frederic, 1996: Audio Recording
File 174: Brenner, Frederic, 1996: Transcript

Extent: .10 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

France
Soviet Union
Tunisia

Record Group: Datner, Helena, 1997

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek and Amy Kaslow with Helena Datner on July 23, 1997.

Helena Datner was born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1949. She holds a PhD in sociology and chaired the Research Group on Modern Jewish History/Culture and its Links with Polish History at the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw. She was the first woman elected to be the Chairperson of the Board of the Jewish Community of Warsaw. Previously, she served as Director of the JDC-sponsored Jewish Culture Educational Centre in Warsaw, and Chairperson of the Warsaw Jewish Community.

File 1: Datner, Helena, 1997: Audio Recording
File 175: Datner, Helena, 1997: Transcript

Extent: .25 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Poland

Record Group: Dominitz, Yehuda, 1995

Extent: 6 folders; 8 sound cassettes: analog; 12 sound files: digital

Contains audio recordings and interviews conducted by Janice Ditchek with Yehuda Dominitz on July 3, 1995, July 4, 1995, July 5, 1995, August 21, 1995, August 24, 1995, and August 27, 1995.

Yehuda Dominitz was born in Czechoslovakia in 1926. When the Nazis invaded in 1939, Dominitz was sent to Israel with Youth Aliya. His parents and siblings perished in the Holocaust. From 1946 to 1949, he served with Youth Aliyah in Italy, working with Jewish orphans.

Upon his return to Israel, Dominitz joined the Jewish Agency, serving in a number of leadership positions in the Immigration and Absorption Department, including Deputy Director from 1968 to 1978 and Director-General from 1978 to 1986. In 1988, Dominitz became the first Director of the U.J.A.- Federation’s Israel office. He died in 2009.

File 1: Dominitz, Yehuda, 1995: Audio Recording
File 176: Dominitz, Yehuda, 1995: Transcript, Part 1
File 177: Dominitz, Yehuda, 1995: Transcript, Part 2

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English<

Geographic Locations:

Israel
Romania
Soviet Union
United States

File 178: Dominitz, Yehuda, 1995: Transcript, Part 3

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Austria
Israel
Italy
Romania
Soviet Union
United States

File 179: Dominitz, Yehuda, 1995: Transcript, Part 4

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Ethiopia
Israel
Palestine
Sudan

File 180: Dominitz, Yehuda, 1995: Transcript, Part 5

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Ethiopia
Israel
Morocco
Sudan
Yemen

File 181: Dominitz, Yehuda, 1995: Transcript, Part 6

Extent: .10 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Ethiopia
Israel

Record Group: Eppler, Heinz, 1994

Extent: 3 folders; 4 sound cassettes: analog; 14 sound files: digital

Contains audio recordings and transcripts of interviews conducted by Janice Ditchek with Heinz Eppler on November 23, 1994, December 14, 1994, and December 15, 1994.

Heinz Eppler was born and raised in Mutterstaadt, Germany. With the rise of Nazism, the Eppler family immigrated to the United States in 1938. A long-time supporter of the United Jewish Appeal, Eppler was recruited to the JDC Board in 1977 to oversee JDC’s package program, where merchandise and supplies were shipped to Soviet Jewish Refuseniks. in the 1970s and 1980s. He also worked closely with then-Executive Vice-President Ralph Goldman when JDC was formally invited back into the Soviet Union in 1988.

Eppler served as JDC President from 1985-1988 and as Chairman of the Board from 1989-1992. He passed away in October 2012.

File 1: Eppler, Heinz, 1994: Audio Recording
File 183: Eppler, Heinz, 1994: Transcript, Part 2

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Bulgaria
Ethiopia

File 184: Eppler, Heinz, 1994: Transcript, Part 3

Extent: .10 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Soviet Union

Record Group: Epstein, Seymour, 1996

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Seymour Epstein on November 27, 1996.

Seymour Epstein was born in Toronto in 1946. From 1973 to 1978 he was an assistant professor at McGill University, where he directed the Jewish Teacher Training Program of Montreal. In 1981, he moved to Morocco to serve as the educational consultant in Casablanca for JDC; he subsequently served as Country Director for Morocco.

Epstein then served as JDC’s Global Director for Jewish Education. He was among the original staff who developed JDC’s community development models in the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. From 1999-2009, Epstein served as director of Toronto’s Board of Jewish Education. In 2009, he wrote From Couscous to Kasha: Reporting From the Field of Jewish Community Work.

File 1: Epstein, Seymour, 1996: Audio Recording
File 185: Epstein, Seymour, 1996: Transcript

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
Morocco
Russia
Soviet Union

Record Group: Feder, Marika, 1997

Extent: 1 sound cassette: analog; 2 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Seymour Epstein on November 27, 1996.

Audio recording of an introduction read by Nancy Recant on October 8, 1997.

Marika Feder was born and raised in Hungary. She was assisted by JDC after World War II and was a physician. She was married to Ted Feder, a long-time prominent JDC staffer.

File 1: Feder, Marika, 1997: Audio Recording

Record Group: Feder, Theodore, 1997

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Theodore Feder on January 6, 1997.

Born in Milwaukee, Theodore (Ted) Feder served in the U.S. Army for four years and embarked on a career of social service with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) after the war. He joined JDC in 1946 as Deputy Director in the U.S. Zone of Germany, also acting as liaison with the U.S. Army and the IRO (International Refugee Organization). In this capacity, he was instrumental in setting up vital programs and services for displaced persons and survivors and providing emergency aid for Jews from Central and Eastern Europe streaming into the DP camps in Germany in the immediate postwar years. Appointed JDC Country Director of Germany in 1955, he took part in the closing of the last DP camp at Foehrenwald.

Following the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, which flooded Vienna with thousands of Jewish refugees, Feder was assigned to Austria as Country Director and oversaw JDC’s emergency relief program. From 1959 to 1962, he served as Country Director of Iran, where he grappled with the problems of an impoverished community and helped JDC administer critical medical, education, and public health programs.

In his next role, as Director of JDC-Malben in Israel, Feder supervised a vast welfare network of social and medical services for elderly, disabled, and vulnerable populations. In 1966, he was transferred to JDC’s overseas headquarters in Geneva as Deputy Director-General, with responsibility for operations in the Middle East, Iran, Rumania, Eastern Europe, Italy, and other countries. At the same time, he was liaison officer to the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees, the International Red Cross, and the International Council of Voluntary Agencies.

In 1974, Feder was appointed JDC’s Director of Overseas Operations. Feder officially retired from JDC in 1984, but took on the post of JDC Country Director for Romania. In 1988, he relocated to New York, where he continued his work with JDC as a consultant on overseas missions. He died in 2004.

File 1: Feder, Theodore, 1997: Audio Recording
File 186: Feder, Theodore, 1997: Transcript

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Czechoslovakia
Germany
Hungary
Romania
Russia
Switzerland

Record Group: Fixler, Hermann, 1997

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 2 sound files: digital

Audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek and Amy Kaslow with Hermann Fixler on July 21, 1997.

Hermann Fixler was born in 1913 in Hungary. He served as president of the Hungarian Autonomous Orthodox Jewish Community for over 35 years and worked closely with JDC in the 1970s and 1980s.

File 1: Fixler, Hermann, 1997: Audio Recording
File 187: Fixler, Hermann, 1997: Transcript

Extent: .10 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Hungary

Record Group: Goldman, Ralph, 1994-1999

Extent: 30 folders; 53 sound cassettes: analog; 190 sound files: digital

Contains audio recordings and transcripts of interviews with Ralph Goldman. Interviews conducted by Janice Ditchek from June 2, 1994 to June 4, 1996; Tom Shachtman from December 29, 1997 to August 5, 1998; and Shelley Helfand in 1999.

Please see About Ralph Goldman for extended biographical information.

File 1: Goldman, Ralph, 1994: Audio Recording

All audio recordings from 1994 are associated with this file. Original recordings may pertain to the following file numbers: 190, 191, 193, 197, 195, 198, 192, 188, 189, 196, and 194

File 1: Goldman, Ralph, 1995: Audio Recording

All audio recordings from 1995 are associated with this file. Original recordings may pertain to the following file numbers: 200, 207, 217, 213, 215, 216, 211, 202, 212, 214, 203, 205, 208, 199, 206, 209, 210, 201.

File 1: Goldman, Ralph, 1996: Audio Recording

All audio recordings from 1996 are associated with this file.

File 1: Goldman, Ralph, 1997: Audio Recording

All audio recordings from 1997 are associated with this file.

File 1: Goldman, Ralph, 1998: Audio Recording

All audio recordings from 1998 are associated with this file.

File 1: Goldman, Ralph, 1999: Audio Recording

All audio recordings from 1999 are associated with this file.

File 188: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: his early years, June 2, 1994

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
Palestine
United States

File 189: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: Teddy Kollek, June 15, 1994

Extent: .25 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

United States

File 190: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: Point Four and UNTA, June 21, 1994

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
United States

File 191: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: David Ben-Gurion, July 29, 1994

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
United States

File 192: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: Israel, August 16, 1994

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Irael
United States

File 193: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: Israel, August 19, 1994

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
United States

File 194: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: David Ben-Gurion, August 22, 1994

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
United States

File 195: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: Israel Museum and America-Israel Cultural Foundation, October 25, 1994

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
United States

File 196: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: Israel Museum and America-Israel Cultural Foundation, October 27, 1994

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
United States

File 197: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: Israel Museum and America-Israel Cultural Foundation, December 5, 1994

Languages:

English

p

Geographic Locations:

Israel

File 198: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: Israel Museum and America-Israel Cultural Foundation, December 6, 1994

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

United States

File 199: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: Romania, January 3, 1995

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Hungary
Israel
Romania

File 200: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: Malben and JDC-Israel, February 17, 1995

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel

File 201: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: Malben, February 21, 1995

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel

File 202: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: Malben, February 22, 1995

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel

File 203: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: JDC operations in Israel, February 23, 1995

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
United States

File 204: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: JDC operations in Israel, February 27, 1995

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
United States

File 205: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: Brookdale, March 6, 1995

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
United States

File 206: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: Israel Education Fund, April 18, 1995

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
United States

File 207: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: Israel Education Fund, April 19, 1995

Extent:

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
United States

File 209: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: Hungary, September 15, 1995

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Hungary

File 212: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: Czechoslovakia, October 17, 1995

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Czechoslovakia

File 213: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, December 12, 1995

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Russia
Soviet Union
United States

File 214: Interview with Ralph Goldman, December 22, 1995

Languages:

English

File 216: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: Philosophy as a Jewish Professional, May 6, 1996

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Albania
Czechoslovakia
Ethiopia
Hungary
Iran
Israel
Poland
Russia
Yemen

File 217: Interview with Ralph Goldman re: Poland, June 4, 1996

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Czechoslovakia
Hungary
Poland
Russia

Record Group: Goldschmidt, Pinchas, 1997

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Pinchas Goldschmidt on February 9, 1997.

Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt was born in 1963 in Zurich, Switzerland. He has served as the Chief Rabbi of Moscow since 1993 and the President of the Conference of European Rabbis since 2011. In addition to his rabbinical ordination, Goldschmidt holds an M.A. from Ner Israel Rabbinical College and a M.S. from Johns Hopkins University.

File 1: Goldschmidt, Pinchas, 1997: Audio Recording
File 218: Goldschmidt, Pinchas, 1997: Transcript

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Russia

Record Group: Goldstein, Melvin, 1999

Extent: 1 sound cassette: analog; 6 sound file: digital

Contains an audio recording of an interview conducted by Shelley Helfand with Melvin Goldstein in the spring of 1999.

Melvin Goldstein joined JDC in 1941. He served as an assistant in JDC’s wartime Lisbon office during World War II and later as Assistant Secretary General of the European Executive Council in Paris. In these capacities, Goldstein worked very closely with Dr. Joseph J. Schwartz, Director General of the European Executive Council and Chief of JDC’s Overseas Operations. Goldstein retired from JDC in 1951.

File 1: Goldstein, Mel, 1999: Audio Recording

Record Group: Halachmi, Haim, 1995

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Haim Halachmi on August 22, 1995.

Haim Halachmi was born in Sousse, Tunisia, in 1925. He studied in France after World War II and was a member of the Eclaireuses Eclaireurs Israélites de France (Jewish Guides and Scouts of France). Along with 35 other members of this association, Halachmi immigrated to Israel.

Starting in 1961, Halachmi worked with the Jewish Agency and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) to help North African Jews immigrate to Israel.

File 1: Halachmi, Haim, 1995: Audio Recording
File 219: Halachmi, Haim, 1995: Transcript

Extent:

Languages:<

English

Geographic Locations:

Ethiopia
Greece
Israel
Sudan
United States

Record Group: Hamra, Avraham, 1997

Extent: 1 folder; 2 sound cassettes: analog; 6 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Rabbi Avraham Hamra on May 28, 1997.

Rabbi Avraham Hamra was the Chief Rabbi of the Syrian Jewish Community. He currently lives in Israel.

File 1: Hamra, Avraham, 1997: Audio Recording
File 220: Hamra, Avraham, 1997: Transcript

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
Syria

Record Group: Hibshoosh, Yechiel, 1996

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 6 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Yechiel Hibshoosh on May 14, 1996.

Yechiel Hibshoosh was a Yemeni-Jewish historian and poet.

File 1: Hibshoosh, Yechiel, 1996: Audio Recording
File 221: Hibshoosh, Yechiel, 1996: Transcript

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Israel
Palestine
United States
Yemen

Record Group: Hutas, Imre, 1997

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek and Amy Kaslow with Imre Hutas on July 21, 1997.

Imre Huts was born in 1926 in Miskolc, Hungary. After graduating from secondary school in 1944, he was sent to forced labor camps in Germany. Upon liberation, Huts returned to Hungary and received assistance from JDC-supported aid organizations. He later became a physician and professor of pulmonology.

File 1: Hutas, Imre, 1997: Audio Recording
File 222: Hutas, Imre, 1997: Transcript

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Germany
Hungary

Record Group: Katz, Israel, 1994

Extent: 1 folder; 2 sound cassettes: analog; 6 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Israel Katz on October 12, 1994.

Dr. Israel Katz was the first director of the Brookdale Institute of Gerontology and Adult Human Development (today the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute) from 1973-1977. He then returned to government service and served as Israel’s Minister of Labor and Social Welfare under Prime Minister Menachem Begin from 1977-1981. Katz served as the first Director for the Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel (now the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies) from 1982-1992. He died in October 2010.

File 1: Katz, Israel, 1994: Audio Recording
File 224: Katz, Israel, 1994: Transcript

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
United States

Record Group: Katz, Karl, 1994

Extent: 1 folder; 2 sound cassette: analog; 6 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Karl Katz on October 20, 1994.

Karl Katz graduated from Columbia University’s Department of Fine Arts and Archaeology. In 1953, he began working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1955, Katz was made Fellow at The American Schools of Oriental Research and spent the next two years studying traveling and excavating in Israel, Egypt, Cyprus, Turkey, and Iran. In 1958, he was invited to co-head the team that created Israel’s National Museum of Art and Archaeology in Jerusalem, where he worked alongside Ralph Goldman.

File 1: Katz, Karl, 1994: Audio Recording
File 225: Katz, Karl, 1994: Transcript

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
United States

Record Group: Katzki, Kate, 1996

Extent: 1 sound cassette: analog; 2 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording of an interview conducted by Shelley Helfand with Kate Katzki in June 1999.

From 1946-1950, Kate (Mendel) Katzki served as a JDC representative in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, where she was responsible for planning and organizing critically needed services for children moving out of the refugee camps. The program she developed included clinics, welfare services and continuing care.

In 1968, Katzki was appointed Secretary-General of the International’ Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) and served for ten years in the office of the Secretariat in New York. She was married to Herbert Katzki, a former associate executive vice president of JDC. She died in 2002.

File 1: Katzki, Kate, 1999: Audio Recording

Record Group: Kharchev, Konstantin, 1997

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek and Amy Kaslow with Konstantin Kharchev on February 9, 1997.

Konstantin Kharchev served as the Chairman of the Council of Religious Affairs of the Soviet Union during the late 1980s. During glasnost, Kharchev helped to usher in an era of greater tolerance towards religious people and institutions. He allowed JDC and other aid organizations to reopen offices in the Soviet Uniom.

File 1: Kharchev, Konstantin, 1997: Audio Recording
File 223: Kharchev, Konstantin, 1997: Transcript

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Russia
Soviet Union

Record Group: Klepfisz, Rose, 1998

Extent: 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording of an interview conducted by Shelley Helfand with Rose Klepfisz on August 6, 1998.

Rose Klepfisz was a Holocaust survivor, whose husband, Michael Klepfiz, was a hero of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. She emigrated to New York in 1949 and worked at YIVO under Dr. Philip Friedman, Director of the Joint Documentary Projects of Yad Vashem and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, on the Guide to Jewish History Under Nazi Impact.

In 1962, Edward Warburg and Moses Leavitt approached Friedman’s successor at YIVO, Jacob Robinson, to help them identify a candidate to organize JDC’s archives. Klepfisz was recommended for the position. She served as JDC Director of Archives and Central Files from 1962 to August 1985.

File 1: Klepfisz, Rose, 1998: Audio Recording

Record Group: Kohane, Akiva, 1995

Extent: 2 sound folders; 2 sound cassettes: analog; 8 sound files: digital

Contains audio recordings and transcripts of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Akiva Kohane on January 17, 1995 and January 19, 1995.

Born in 1911 and educated in Poland, with a law degree from Krakow University, Akiva Kohane left the country ahead of the Nazis and made his way to Palestine. In 1944, he was recruited by JDC to direct a package program that provided food and critical supplies for European Jewish refugees who had fled to Asiatic Russia.

In the postwar period, Kohane was named Deputy Director for Germany and oversaw JDC’s relief program for displaced persons. In 1954, he was assigned to Brazil to organize activities for Jewish immigrants; he returned to Europe the following year to oversee JDC’s Reconstruction Department.

From 1959 to 1967, Kohane served as JDC representative for Poland, with the job of caring for the thousands of Jews being repatriated from Russia. That role ended when JDC terminated its program at the behest of the Polish government. He was reinstated as Country Director after JDC’s return to Poland in 1982. In 1961, Kohane also assumed responsibility for the JDC program in Austria.

Subsequently, Dr. Kohane served as JDC’s consultant on Eastern Europe and as Director of JDC’s Transmigrant Program for Soviet émigrés in Vienna and Rome. He died in 1995.

File 1: Kohane, Akiva, 1995: Audio Recording, Part 1
File 1: Kohane, Akiva, 1995: Audio Recording, Part 2
File 226: Kohane, Akiva, 1995: Transcript, Part 1

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Germany
Iran
Israel
Palestine
Poland
Soviet Union

File 227: Kohane, Akiva, 1995: Transcript, Part 2

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:
Poland
Soviet Union

Record Group: Kollek, Theodor, 1996

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek and Amy Kaslow on November 8, 1996.

Theodor (Teddy) Kollek was born in 1911 in Hungary and named after the father of modern Zionism, Theodore Herzl. He was raised in Austria and in 1935 immigrated to Palestine, where he helped to establish Kibbutz Ein Gev. Kollek was sent to England in 1938, and throughout World War II (WWII), he aided Jewish underground organizations in Nazi-occupied Europe. During and after WWII, Kollek served as a liaison between the Haganah and Allied intelligence agencies.

During the early years of Israeli statehood, Kollek worked in Washington D.C. for the Haganah, and later served as Minister in the Israeli Embassy. In 1952, Kollek was appointed by David Ben-Gurion to the position of Director General of the Prime Minister’s Office. After serving with Ben-Gurion for 12 years, he devoted his time to founding the Israel Museum, which became a center for art and architecture in Jerusalem. In 1965, Ben-Gurion encouraged Kollek to run for mayor of Jerusalem. He won the 1965 election and served until 1993. He died in 2007.

File 1: Kollek, Theodore, 1996: Audio Recording
File 228: Kollek, Theodore, 1996: Transcript

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
Palestine
United States

Record Group: Kuberski, Jerzy, 1997

Extent: 1 folder; 2 sound cassettes: analog; 8 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek and Amy Kaslow with Jerzy Kuberski on July 23, 1997.

Jerzy Kuberski served as Minister of Religious Affairs in Poland during the early 1980s. Ralph Goldman worked with him to reestablish JDC programs in Poland. He died in 2007.

File 1: Kuberski, Jerzy, 1997: Audio Recording
File 229: Kuberski, Jerzy, 1997: Transcript

Extent: .25 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Germany
Poland
Soviet Union

Record Group: Lehman, Ninon, 1997

Extent: 1 folder

Contains notes on an interview conducted with Ninon Lehman on July 21, 1997.

Ninon Lehman is the sister-in-law of Maitre Erwin Haymann, a lawyer who was active in the Swiss Jewish Community. During the post-war period, Haymann aided Aliyah Bet, was a founder of Bnai Brith in Geneva, and established the Société de Secours et dEnt’raide.

File 230: Lehman, Ninon, 1997: Interview Notes

Extent: .10 inch

Languages:

English

Record Group: Levtzion, Nechemia, 1997

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview with Nechemia Levtzion conducted by Janice Ditchek and Amy Kaslow with Nechemia Levtzion on February 4, 1997.

Nechemia Levtzion was a scholar of African history, and served at many educational institutions in Israel, including as President of the Open University of Israel from 1987-1992, as Director of the Ben-Zvi Institute for the Study of Jewish Communities in the East from 1982-1987, and as Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1978 to 1981. He died in 2003.

File 1: Levtzion, Nechemia, 1997: Audio Recording
File 232: Levtzion, Nechemia, 1997: Transcript

Record Group: Lewinsky, Akiva, 1997

Extent: 1 folder

Contains a transcript of an interview conducted by Dani Bar-Elli with Akiva Lewinsky on July 3, 1997.

Akiva Lewinsky was born in 1918 in Geneva, Switzerland. He immigrated to Israel in 1934 and was a founder of Kibbutz Ma’ayan Zvi in 1936. During the late 1930s and 1940s, Lewinsky worked with Youth Aliya to bring Jewish children from Germany to Israel via Turkey.

From 1952 to 1954, Lewinsky served as Israel’s representative to the Inter-Governmental Committee for European Migration in Geneva. During the 1960s and 1970s, he worked as an executive with Bank Hapoalim and as an advisor to the Organization of American States on bank development. From 1978 to 1987, he served as Treasurer of the Jewish Agency, and was in contact with JDC aid operations in Russia. He died in 2000.

File 233: Lewinsky, Akiva, 1997: Transcript

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:<
Israel
Russia
Soviet Union
United States

Record Group: Lewis, Ellen, 1996-1999

Extent: 2 sound cassettes: analog; 6 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording of reminiscences by Ellen Lewis on September 4, 1996. Audio recording of an interview conducted by Shelley Helfand on May 3, 1999.

Ellen Lewis and her family were German Jews who fled to Shanghai in 1939. She witnessed JDC’s work providing shelter and much-needed services, and funding programs and facilities in a city of some 18,000 Jewish refugees. After the war, JDC supplied food packages with Army rations and special provisions for the holidays. Conditions improved for Lewis’ family, and she found work at JDC.

Ellen’s mother died in Shanghai and was buried there, and the rest of the family left in 1947 on a troop transport, the S.S. General Meiggs. Blankets stamped with the JDC logo were distributed to passengers on the ship and were treasured by Lewis for the rest of her life. She married a former Shanghailander in 1948 and continued to work for JDC in New York, most notably as secretary to senior executive Herb Katzki, until 1985. Lewis passed away in 2010.

The Fred and Ellen Lewis JDC Archives Fellowship is named in her honor.

File 1: Lewis, Ellen, 1996: Audio Recording

Record Group: Luxemburg, Szymon, 1997

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek and Amy Kaslow on July 25, 1997.

Szymon Luxemburg was born in Krakow in 1915. He served with the Polish Army in World War II. Luzemburg worked for JDC from 1944-1946, coordinating the dispersal of relief packages via Teheran to Holocaust survivors and refugees.

File 1: Luxemburg, Szymon, 1997: Audio Recording
File 234: Luxemburg, Szymon, 1997: Transcript

Extent: .10 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Iran
Poland
Soviet Union
United States

Record Group: Macarov, David, 1995

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 2 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek on July 4, 1995.

Dr. David Macarov was a Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Paul Baerwald School of Social Work. He received a Ph.D from Brandeis University in 1968 and began lecturing at the Paul Baerwald School in 1973. He worked closely with JDC.

File 1: Macarov, David, 1995: Audio Recording
File 235: Macarov, David, 1995: Transcript

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:
Israel
United States

Record Group: Maltzin, Gregory, 1997

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek and Amy Kaslow on February 9, 1997.

Gregory Maltzin was the Representative of the Russian Governmental Commission of the Humanitarian and Technical Assistance Program during the early 1990s. JDC aid operations in Russia worked closely with him.

File 1: Maltzin, Gregory, 1997: Audio Recording
File 236: Maltzin, Gregory, 1997: Transcript

Extent: .10 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Russia
Soviet Union

Record Group: Miklos, Imre, 1996-1997

Extent: 3 folders; 3 sound cassettes: analog; 10 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek and Amy Kaslow with Imre Miklos on July 19, 1997, as well as a transcript of an interview conducted on July 21, 1997. Contents also contain correspondence and memoranda.

Imre Miklos was born in 1927 in Budapest, Hungary. From 1951 to 1989, he served in a variety of leadership positions within the Hungarian State Office for Church Affairs. Ralph Goldman worked closely with Miklos in the late 1970s and 1980s, who was instrumental in JDC’s return to Hungary in 1980.

File 1: Miklos, Imre, 1997: Audio Recording
File 237: Miklos, Imre, 1996-1997: Correspondence

Extent: .10 inch

Languages:

English

File 238: Miklos, Imre, 1997: Transcript, Part 1

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Hungary
Soviet Union

File 239: Miklos, Imre, 1997: Transcript, Part 2

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Hungary

Record Group: Mochalova, Victoria, 1996

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 12 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek on October 9, 1996.

Victoria Mochalova is Director of Jewish Civilization (SEFER) and Chair of the Department for Slavic-Jewish Study, Institute for Slavic Studies, in Moscow. SEFER is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting Jewish studies in universities throughout the former Soviet Union, and receives financial support from JDC.

File 1: Motchalova, Victoria, 1996: Audio Recording
File 240: Motchalova, Victoria, 1996: Transcript

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
Russia
Soviet Union
United States

Record Group: Ostrin, Asher, 1996

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek and Amy Kaslow on November 29, 1996.

Asher Ostrin is Senior Executive for International Affairs at JDC. He previously served as Director of JDC’s Former Soviet Union (FSU) Department for 21 years. Prior to this, he headed JDC’s Vienna office and served as Country Director for Hungary and Yugoslavia.

File 1: Ostrin, Asher, 1996: Audio Recording
File 241: Ostrin, Asher, 1996: Transcript

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Austria
Hungary
Israel
Soviet Union
Yugoslavia

Record Group: Parastaev, Andrey, 1997

Extent: 1 folder

Contains an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Andrey Parastaev on February 11, 1997.

AAndrey Parastaev was the Second Secretary at the Soviet Embassy in Washington D.C., circa 1970s and 1980s. He was in contact with JDC Executive Vice-President Ralph Goldman as JDC worked to reestablish offices in the USSR.

File 242: Parastaev, Andrey, 1997: Interview Notes

Languages:

English

Record Group: Pins, Margot, 1995

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Margot Pins on July 2, 1995.

Margot Pins is a retired early childhood consultant for the Israel Association of Community Centers. Her husband, Arnulf Pins, was Deputy Director of JDC-Israel in the mid-1970s.

File 1: Pins, Margot, 1995: Audio Recording
File 243: Pins, Margot, 1995: Transcript

Extent:

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
United States

Record Group: Pliss, Vladimir, 1994

Extent: 1 folder; 2 sound cassettes: analog; 8 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview with Vladimir Pliss conducted by Janice Ditchek on June 9, 1994.

Vladimir Pliss was Director of the Moscow School for Cantorial Arts and Chief Cantor of the Moscow Choral Synagogue in the 1990s. He worked with JDC Executive Vice-President Ralph Goldman on developing Jewish music and religious education programs in Russia.

File 1: Pliss, Vladimir, 1994: Audio Recording
File 244: Pliss, Vladimir, 1994: Transcript

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Russia
Soviet Union
United States

Record Group: Revivi, Menachem, 1995

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 2 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview with Menachem Revivi conducted by Janice Ditchek on July 5, 1995.

Menachem Revivi was born and raised in Israel. He received a B.A. in psychology and sociology from Bar-Ilan University and a Masters degree in educational psychology from New York University. He served as JDC-Israel’s Director of Human Resources Development from 1989 to 1993.

File 1: Revivi, Menachem, 1995: Audio Recording
File 245: Revivi, Menachem, 1995: Transcript

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
Russia
Soviet Union
United States

Record Group: Robinson, Donald, 1995

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview with Don Robinson conducted by Janice Ditchek on May 20, 1995.

Donald Robinson is a philanthropist and long-time JDC board member and lay leader. He served as President of United Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh in the early 1970s and President of JDC from 1978 to 1980, and then as Chairman of the Board.

File 1: Robinson, Don, 1995: Audio Recording
File 246: Robinson, Don, 1995: Transcript

Extent: .125 inch

Languages

:

English

Geographic Locations:

Iran
Israel
Romania
Somalia
Soviet Union
United States

Record Group: Rosenfeld, Ildika, 1997

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 2 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Ildika Rosenfeld on July 21, 1997.

Ildika Rosenfeld was a Hungarian Jew who was assisted by JDC in the late 1980s.

File 1: Rosenfeld, Ildika, 1997: Audio Recording
File 247: Rosenfeld, Ildika, 1997: Transcript

Extent: .10 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Hungary

Record Group: Schaaf, Barbara and Hart, 1994

Extent: 1 folder; 2 sound cassettes: analog; 10 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Barbara and Hart Schaaf on July 22, 1994.

Hart Schaaf, a United Nations official, was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He received a doctoral degree in administration from the University of Michigan and served as a relief worker in London at the end of World War II.

Hart began his career with the United Nations in 1949 and served as head of the United Nations Technical Assistance Program in Israel during the 1950s. Later, he managed a U.N. hydroelectric project on the Mekong River in Southeast Asia and served as Deputy Executive Director of Operations for the United Nations Fund for Population Activities.

File 1: Schaaf, Barbara and Hart, 1994: Audio Recording
File 248: Schaaf, Barbara and Hart, 1994: Transcript

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
United States

Record Group: Schneider, Michael, 1997

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Michael Schneider on July 9, 1997.

Michael Schneider, born in South Africa, began his career with JDC in 1978 after ten years of service as Chief Welfare Officer of the London Jewish Welfare Board. He served as JDC Director for Iran from 1978-1979. In December 1979 and 1980 respectively, he became Country Director for the Iron Curtain countries of Hungary and Czechoslovakia and for Yugoslavia. In 1982, he received permission from the Ethiopian government for JDC to direct non-sectarian health and hygiene projects in Gondar Province. He then served as Director for Israel, 1984-1987, and as JDC’s Chief Executive Officer from 1987 to 2002.

During his tenure, Schneider oversaw the expansion of JDC’s extensive care and maintenance programs for thousands of Soviet Jewish emigres who were awaiting the processing of their emigration applications in transit centers in Vienna and Ladispoli. These individuals were referred to as “transmigrants.” He also coordinated the evacuation of Christians, Jews, and Muslims out of Bosnia during the siege of Sarajevo, after successful negotiations with the military commanders of Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia. After his tenure at JDC, Schneider served as Secretary General of the World Jewish Congress from 2007 to 2010.

File 1: Schneider, Michael, 1997: Audio Recording
File 249: Schneider, Michael, 1997: Transcript

Extent: .25 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Hungary

Record Group: Schweitzer, Josef, 1997

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 2 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek and Amy Kaslow with József Schweitzer on July 22, 1997.

József Schweitzer served as Chief Rabbi of Hungary, Chief Rabbi of Budapest, and Rector of the Rabbinical Seminary of Budapest. He died in February 2017.

File 1: Schweitzer, Josef, 1997: Audio Recording
File 250: Schweitzer, Josef, 1997: Transcript

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Hungary

Record Group: Seifert, Ilona, 1995

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 2 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Ilona Seifert on December 4, 1995.

Ilona Seifert was born to a Jewish family in 1921 in Budapest, Hungary. She graduated from high school in 1939 and survived World War II in hiding. Her husband, Geza Seifert, served as President of the Central Board for Hungarian Jewry (MIOK). After his death in 1976, Seifert took on the role of Secretary-General of MIOK in 1976 and served for 15 years. She also coordinated public relations and missions for JDC’s newly opened Hungarian office in the 1990s.

File 1: Seifert, Ilona, 1995: Audio Recording
File 251: Seifert, Ilona, 1995: Transcript

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Hungary

Record Group: Shachtman, Tom, circa 1990s

Extent: 1 sound cassette: analog; 2 sound files: digital

Tom Shachtman is the author of I Seek My Brethren: Ralph Goldman and the Joint: Rescue, Relief, and Reconstruction in 2001.

File 1: Shachtman, Tom, circa 1990s: Audio Recording

Original recording is undated, but the associated Record Group lists the date as “circa 1990s.”

Record Group: Shashua, Eliahu, 1995

Extent: 1 folder; 2 sound cassettes: analog; 6 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Eliahu Shashua on August 23, 1995.

Eliahu Shashua served as legal counsel to MALBEN, and, later, to JDC-Israel.

File 1: Shashua, Eliahu, 1995: Audio Recording
File 252: Shashua, Eliahu, 1995: Transcript

Extent: .25 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:
Israel

Record Group: Shayevich, Adolph, 1997

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek and Amy Kaslow with Adolph Shayevich on February 5, 1997.

Adolph Shayevich was born in 1937 in Birobidzhan, Russia. He has been considered the Chief Rabbi of Russia by the Russian Jewish Congress, one of the two major Jewish organization in Russia.

File 1: Shayevich, Adolph, 1997: Audio Recording
File 253: Shayevich, Adolph, 1997: Transcript

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Soviet Union

Record Group: Shimron, Shlomit, 1995

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 2 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Shlomit Shimron on July 3, 1995.

Shlomit Shimron served as Director of the Haim Zippori Jerusalem Forest Educational Center. From 1972 to 1976, she was the Assistant Director of the Dimona Community Center in Israel and supervised their parent-child day care program.

File 1: Shimron, Shlomit, 1995: Audio Recording
File 254: Shimron, Shlomit, 1995: Transcript

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel

Record Group: Shmueli, Eliezer, 1995

Extent: 2 folders; 2 sound cassettes: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Eliezer Shmueli on July 4, 1995.

Eliezer Shmueli was born in Greece and immigrated to Israel in the 1930s. He served as the Director General of the Ministry of Education in Israel, and worked with JDC Executive Vice-President Ralph Goldman on the Israel Education Fund.

File 1: Shmueli, Eliezer, 1995: Audio Recording
File 255: Shmueli, Eliezer, 1995: Transcript, Part 1

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel

File 256: Shmueli, Eliezer, 1995: Transcript, Part 2

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
United States

Record Group: Szurmiej, Szymon, 1997

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Szymon Szurmiej on July 23, 1997.

Szymon Szurmiej was an actor, director, and activist in the Polish Jewish Community. He served as the General and Artistic Director of the Ester Rachel Kamińska and Ida Kamińska Jewish Theatre in Warsaw. He died in 2014.

File 1: Szurmiej, Szymon, 1997: Audio Recording
File 257: Szurmiej, Szymon, 1997: Transcript

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Poland

Record Group: Tarmon, Asher, 1995

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 2 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Asher Tarmon on August 22, 1995.

Asher Tarmon served as the Director of the National Jewish Welfare Board’s Israel office and as Associate Director of the World Conference of Jewish Community Centers.

File 1: Tarmon, Asher, 1995: Audio Recording
File 258: Tarmon, Asher, 1995: Transcript

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
Russia
Soviet Union
United States

Record Group: Taub, Henry, 1995

Extent: 1 folder; 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording and transcript of an interview conducted by Janice Ditchek with Henry Taub on November 2, 1995.

Henry Taub, a major philanthropist, served as JDC President from 1981-1984, as Chairman of the JDC Board from 1985-1986, and as Chairman of the United Israel Appeal from 1986 to 1990. He was a significant supporter of the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies, a prestigious think tank enterprise in Israel. He founded ADP, one of the world’s leading providers of human resources, payroll and benefits administration solutions to employers. Taub passed away in 2011.

File 1: Taub, Henry, 1995: Audio Recording
File 259: Taub, Henry, 1995: Transcript

Extent: .25 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

China
Czechoslovakia
Ethiopia
Hungary
Iran
Israel
Poland
Romania
Soviet Union
United States

Record Group: Ukraincik, Merri, 1999

Extent: 1 sound cassette: analog; 2 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording of an interview conducted by Shelley Helfand with Merri Ukraincik on May 18, 1999.

Merri Ukraincik was a Ralph Goldman Fellow in International Jewish Communal Service from 1992-1993. Following her Fellowship, she served in JDC’s New York headquarters as Desk Director for Eastern Europe and later as Assistant Executive Vice-President. She is the author of I Live. Send Help.: 100 Years of Jewish History in Images from the JDC Archives.

File 1: Ukraincik, Merri, 1999: Audio Recording

Record Group: Yanai, Motke, 1994

Extent: 3 folders; 2 sound cassettes: analog; 8 sound files: digital

Contains audio recordings and transcripts of interviews conducted by Janice Ditchek with Motke Yanai on December 15, 16, and 19, 1994.

Motke Yanai was involved with the negotiations between Israel and Romania’s government to secure the immigration of Romanian Jews to Israel during the Cold War and with sending relief packages to communities behind the Iron Curtain.

File 1: Yanai, Motke, 1994: Audio Recording
File 260: Yanai, Motke, 1994: Transcript, Part 1

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Hungary
Israel
Romania
Russia
Soviet Union
United States

File 261: Yanai, Motke, 1994: Transcript, Part 2

Extent: .10 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Israel
Russia
Soviet Union

File 262: Yanai, Motke, 1994: Transcript, Part 3

Extent: .10 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Czechoslovakia
Hungary
Poland
Romania

Subcollection 5: JDC 90th Anniversary Interviews 2003

The majority of interviewees are Holocaust survivors who received assistance from JDC in post-war Europe; additional interviewees include Sephardi and Soviet Jews. Topics discussed include: JDC assistance in the DP camps; emigration from Europe to China, Cuba and other countries in the 1930s and 1940s; Refuseniks and emigration from the USSR in the 1980s; and beginning life anew in the United States or Israel.

There are no transcripts associated with this collection.

The JDC Archives seeks additional information on several interviewees in this subcollection. If you have any additional information, please contact [email protected]

Record Group: Amit, Judy

Contains a recording of an interview with Judy Amit.

Judy Amit was born in a Displaced Persons camp and grew up in New Zealand. At the age of 18, she made aliyah to Israel. Amit served on JDC’s staff in several positions: Country Director for India; Chief Program Officer; and Global Director of JDC’s International Development Program. Prior to these roles, she worked for the Jewish Agency and in the private sector in Israel.

File 1: Amit, Judy : Video Recording

Extent: 2 Mini DV Tapes

Record Group: Avgar, Shoshana

Contains a recording of an interview conducted with Shoshana Avgar.

Shoshana Avgar was a Holocaust survivor who was assisted by JDC. Her son, Amos Avgar, served on JDC’s staff for many years in different capacities.

File 1: Avgar, Shoshana : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Balazs, Gabor

Contains a recording of an interview conducted with Gabor Balazs.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Balazs, Gabor : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Beizer, Michael

Contains a recording of an interview conducted with Michael Beizer.

At time of this interview, historian Michael Beizer was a property reclamation researcher in JDC’s Former Soviet Union Department.

File 1: Beizer, Michael : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

File 1: Beizer, Michael, 2003 : Audio Recording

Record Group: Ben-Hayim, Natan

Contains a recording of an interview with Natan Ben-Hayim.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Ben-Hayim, Natan : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Ben-Hayim, Rachel

Contains a recording of an interview with Rachel Ben-Hayim.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

1: Ben-Hayim, Rachel : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Ben-Natan, Asher

Contains a recording of an interview with Asher Ben-Natan.

Asher Ben-Natan was an Austrian-born Israeli diplomat. He was active in the underground Bricha movement of illegal Jewish immigration to British Mandate Palestine. He became the Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Defense from 1959 until 1965

Ben-Natan led the search for Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, who was captured in 1960. He then served as the first Israeli Ambassador to Germany (then West Germany) from August 1965 until 1970, and as Israel’s Ambassador to France from 1970 until his retirement in 1974. He died in 2004.

File 1: Ben-Natan, Asher : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Bogner, Nachum

Contains a recording of an interview with Nachum Bogner..

Nachum Bogner is a Holocaust survivor and the author of several books on Jewish history and the Holocaust.

File 1: Bogner, Nachum : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape; 1 VHS Tape

Record Group: Borisevic, Lena Gerwitz

Contains a recording of an interview with Lena Gerwitz Borisevic.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Borisevic, Lena Gerwitz : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV tape

Record Group: Brafman, Daniela

Contains a recording of an interview conducted with Daniela Brafman.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Brafman, Daniela : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape; 1 VHS Tape

Record Group: Brafman, Hava

Contains a recording of an interview conducted with Hava Brafman.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Brafman, Hava : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Bramov, Riva

Contains a recording of an interview conducted with Hava Brafman.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Bramov, Rita : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Branover, Herman

Extent: 1 sound cassette: analog; 2 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording of an interview conducted with Herman BranoverSeptember 18, 2003.

Herman Branover is a Russian Israeli physicist and Jewish educator. In 1991, he was invited by the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences to supervise its 8-volume Encyclopedia of Russian Jewry. He was a long-time activist in the Soviet Jewry movement.

1: Branover, Herman : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

File 1: Branover, Herman, 2003 : Audio Recording

Record Group: Brightman, Katya

Contains a recording of an interview with Katya Brightman.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Brightman, Katya : Video Recording

Extent: 2 Mini DV Tapes; 1 VHS Tape

Record Group: Brill, Yakov

Contains a recording of an interview with Yakov Brill.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Brill, Yakov : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Ceresjnjes, Ivan

Contains a recording of an interview with Ivan Cerejnjes.

Ivan Cerejnjes served as head of the Sarajevo Jewish Community from 1992 until 1996, when he moved to Israel. He is a researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem specializing in the documentation of the Jewish architectural-cultural heritage in the former Yugoslavia and Eastern Europe.

File 1: Cerejnjes, Ivan : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Cheprut, Izar

Contains a recording of an interview conducted with Izar Cheprut.

Izar Cheprut is a member of the Turkish Jewish Community.

File 1: Cheprut, Izar : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Davidova, Inna

Contains a recording of an interview with Inna Davidova.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

1: Davidova, Inna : Video Recording

Extent: 2 Mini DV Tapes

Record Group: Davidov, Yitzhak

Contains a recording of an interview with Yitzhak Davidov.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Davidova, Yitzhak : Video Recording

Extent: 2 Mini DV Tapes

Record Group: Davidova, Zhenia

Contains a recording of an interview with Zhenia Davidova..

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Davidova, Zhenia : Video Recording

Extent: 2 Mini DV Tapes

Record Group: Epstein, Elias

Extent: 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording of an interview conducted with Elias Epstein on August 25, 2003.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

1: Epstein, Elias : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

File 1: Epstein, Elias, 2003 : Audio Recording

Record Group: Esai, Ondis

Contains a recording of an interview with Ondis Esai.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Esai, Ondis : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Filiba, Lina

Contains a recording of an interview conducted with Lina Filiba.

Lina Filiba is the former executive vice-president of the Turkish Jewish Community.

File 1: Filiba, Lina : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Finkelberg, Rosa

Contains a recording of an interview conducted with Rosa Finkelberg.

Lina Filiba is the former executive vice-president of the Turkish Jewish Community.

File 1: Finkelberg, Rosa : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV

File 1: Finkelberg, Rosa : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV

Record Group: Flug, Noach

Contains a recording of an interview with Noach Flug.

Noach Flug was a Holocaust survivor, economist, diplomat and advocate for the lefts of Holocaust survivors. An economist, Flug worked in the civil service for over 30 years, including at the Israeli Ministry of Finance and later as a financial advisor to the Finance Committee of the Knesset and to the Israeli Embassy in Bonn. He served as a board member of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference). Flug passed away in 2011.

File 1: Flug, Noach : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Freeman, Vera

Extent: 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording of an interview conducted with Vera Freeman on August 25, 2003.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected]

File 1: Freeman, Vera, 2003 : Audio Recording
1: Freeman, Vera : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Recording

Record Group: Geffen, Abba

Contains a recording of an interview conducted with Abba Geffen.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected]

File 1: Geffen, Abba : Video Recording

Extent: 2 Mini DV Tapes

Record Group: Goldman, Ralph I.

Contains a recording of an interview conducted with Ralph Goldman.

Please see JJDC Mourns Global Jewish Leader Ralph I. Goldman for extended biographical information.

File 1: Goldman, Ralph I. : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Grebenschikoff, Betty

Extent: 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording of an interview conducted with Betty Grebenschikoff on August 26, 2003.

Betty Grebenschikoff was a Jewish refugee assisted by JDC in Shanghai during World War II.

File 1: Grebenschikoff, Betty, 2003 : Audio Recording
1: Grebenschikoff, Betty : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Greenspan, Sophia

Contains a recording of an interview with Sophia Greenspan.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Greenspan, Sophia : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Gutman, Israel

Contains a recording of an interview with Israel Gutman.

Israel Gutman was a Polish-born Holocaust survivor. He was a historian at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and served in a number of prominent positions at Yad Vashem, including as Chief Historian from 1996-2000 and as an advisor to the Polish government on Jewish Affairs, Judaism and Holocaust Commemoration. He died in 2013.

File 1: Gutman, Israel : Video Recording

Extent: 2 Mini DV Tapes

Record Group: Haas, Andrea

Contains a recording of an interview with Andrea Haas.

Andrea Haas was born in Slovakia. She served as a Ralph I. Goldman Fellow in International Jewish Communal Services from 1997-1998 and worked as a Senior Regional Program Manager for JDC’s Former Soviet Union office. She currently works for the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany (Claims Conference).

File 1: Haas, Andrea : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV

Record Group: Hodes, Richard (Rick)

Contains a recording of an interview with Rick Hodes.

Rick Hodes graduated from the University of Rochester Medical School and trained in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins. He first traveled to Ethiopia as a relief worker during the 1984 famine. He returned there on a Fulbright Fellowship to teach internal medicine, and in 1990 was hired by the JDC as the medical director in Ethiopia. His original assignment was to care for 25,000 potential immigrants to Israel.

During Operation Solomon, the airlift of Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 1991, he treated the Ethiopian passengers. He has treated thousands of Ethiopians for spine disease, cardiac disease, and cancer, as well as treating refugees in Albania, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, and Zaire.

In 2007, Hodes was selected as a finalist for “CNN Heroes,” a program that highlights ordinary people for their extraordinary achievements. The American College of Physicians has awarded him “Mastership” and the Rosenthal Award for creative practice of medicine.

File 1: Hodes, Rick : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV tape

Record Group: Ivgey, Talia

Contains a recording of an interview with Talia Ivgey.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Ivgey, Tali : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape; 1 VHS Tape

Record Group: Kadosh, Meir

Contains a recording of an interview conducted with Meir Kadosh.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Kadosh, Meir : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape; 1 VHS Tape

File 1: Kadosh, Meir : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape; 1 VHS Tape

Record Group: Kagan, Saul

Extent: 2 sound cassettes: analog; 6 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording of an interview conducted by Larry Zuckerman with Saul Kagan on April 2, 2003.

Saul Kagan was the founding director of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference). He was born in 1922 in Vilna. He arrived in the United States in 1940, having lost his mother and brother in the Holocaust. He joined the U.S. Air Force and as part of a special intelligence unit he provided close air support to U.S. infantry. At the end of World War II, he was a colonel in the U.S. military government in Berlin and Chief of Financial Intelligence, reporting on the role of the German banking system in financing the war and on the confiscation of Jewish property in Germany.

In 1952, Kagan became the director of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which was founded in 1951 to represent the World Jewish Congress, B’nai B’rith and other Jewish groups in an unprecedented legal action to demand reparations from Germany for the genocide against European Jews. He retired from this position in 1998 and remained involved in compensation negotiations into his final years. He was a long-time member of JDC’s Board of Directors. Kagan died in 2013.

File 1: Kagan, Saul, 2003: Audio Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape; 1 VHS Tape

Record Group: Kolton, Leonid

Contains a recording of an interview with Leonid Kolton.

Leonid Kolton serves as director of the Hesed Avraham welfare centers in St. Petersburg, Russia, which is the first Hesed developed by JDC in the Former Soviet Union.

File 1: Kolton, Leonid : Video Recording

Extent: 1 VHS Tape

Record Group: Lazare, Lucien

Contains a recording of an interview with Lucien Lazare.

Lucien Lazare was a member of the French Jewish resistance during World War II. He He wrote Rescue as Resistance (1996) and wrote the section on France of Yad Vashem’s Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations: Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust.

File 1: Lazare, Lucien : Video Recording

Extent: 1 VHS Tape

Record Group: Lee, Leah Fisher

Extent: 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording of an interview conducted with Leah Fisher Lee on August 21, 2003.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

Item 1: Lee, Leah Fisher : Video Recording

Extent: 2 Mini DV tapes

Record Group: Levi, Murat Abat

Contains a recording of an interview conducted with Murat Abat Levi.

Murat Abat Levi is a member of the Turkish Jewish community.

File 1: Lee, Leah Fisher, 2003 : Audio Recording

Extent: 2 Mini DV tapes

File 1: Levi, Murat Abat : Video Recording

Record Group: Littman, Oscar

Contains a recording of an interview with Oscar Littman.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact.

File 1: Littman, Oscar : Video Recording

Extent: Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Lopez Levi, Arturo

Contains a recording of an interview with Oscar Littman

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Lopez Levi, Arturo : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Lulu, Rafi

Contains a recording of an interview with Rafi Lulu.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Lulu, Rafi : Video Recording

Extent: 1 VHS Tape; 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Margolis, Laura

Contains a recording of an interview with Laura Margolis.

A professional social worker, Laura Margolis was sent to Cuba in 1939 by the National Refugee Service, a JDC-supported agency. She worked with American consular officials in Cuba to assist Jewish refugees seeking entry into the U.S., and her success in Cuba led to her next assignment as JDC representative in Shanghai, a haven for some 20,000 refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe. Margolis used her talents as an administrator to raise money and to reorganize the relief program that sustained many. She was interned by the Japanese in February 1943 as an enemy alien and released in a prisoner exchange in September.

The following year, Margolis was sent to Europe, where she established a home for French children smuggled into Spain. In Sweden, she organized a parcel service for inmates in the Theresienstadt and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. After the war, Margolis was sent by JDC to Belgium to set up a welfare program for survivors and to support homes for children and the elderly; she was decorated by the Belgian government for her work.

In 1946, Margolis was assigned to France as JDC’s first female Country Director. She was tasked with providing aid for thousands of survivors and helping to rebuild the Jewish community. In France she married Marc Jarblum, a Zionist leader, and the two immigrated to Israel in 1953. From 1954 to 1955, Margolis served as Director of Social Services for JDC-MALBEN, a network of services and institutions for elderly, chronically ill, and handicapped newcomers to the State. After a stint with the Jewish Agency, she returned to MALBEN in 1958 as director for Special Projects, working with disabled children and adults. She died in 1997.

File 1: Margolis, Laura : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Michel, Ernest

Extent: 1 sound cassette: analog; 2 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording of an interview conducted with Ernest Michel on August 26, 2003.

Ernest Michel is a Holocaust survivor and advocate. After spending six years in Auschwitz from 1939 to 1945, he and two friends escaped the camp in April 1945. After World War II ended, Michel served as a translator on the American side, and then as a reporter for the American occupation government at the Nuremberg war crimes trials.

Michel began worked for the United Jewish Appeal of Greater New York in 1947; he worked there for over 67 years, serving as Executive Vice President of the UJA-Federation of New York from 1970 to 1989, and later as CEO and Executive Vice President Emeritus of UJA-Federation-New York. In 1967, Baron Elie de Rothschild invited Michel to France in order to help organize the French UJA, the Appel Juif Unifie. He was also chairman of the highly publicized World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors in Israel in 1981, which brought together, for the first and only time, 6,000 survivors and their families from 23 countries and four continents. He is the author of Promises to Keep: One Man’s Journey Against Incredible Odds.

1: Michel, Ernest : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

File 1: Michel, Ernest, 2003 : Audio Recording

Record Group: Naride, Isaac

Extent: 1 sound cassette: analog; 2 sound files: digital

Audio recording of an interview conducted with Isaac Naride on August 26, 2003.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Naride, Isaac, 2003: Audio Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Nordheim, Moshe

Contains a recording of an interview with Moshe Nordheim.

Moshe Nordheim was born in Holland and was assisted by JDC as a child in Europe during World War II. He survived the concentration camps as a child between the ages of 9 and 11 and immigrated to Israel in 1946. He served as head of the information technology department in JDC-Israel for many years.

File 1: Nordheim, Moshe : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Norich, Isaac

Contains a recording of an interview with Isaac Norich.

Isaac Norich is a Holocaust survivor and advocate.

File 1: Norich, Isaac : Video Recording

Extent: 2 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Ohad, Itzhak

Contains a recording of an interview conducted with Itzchak Ohad.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Ohad, Itzhak : Video Recording

Extent: 2 Mini DV tapes; 1 VHS Tape

Record Group: Pecanac, Sara

Contains a recording of an interview with Sara Pecanac.

Sara Pecanac is the daughter of a Righteous Gentile, Zejneba Hardaga, who was rescued by a JDC convoy from war-torn Sarajevo during the Yugoslav Wars in 1992 along with her family. She lives in Israel.

File 1: Pecanac, Sara : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV tapes; 1 VHS Tape

Record Group: Pesacho, Riva

Contains a recording of an interview with Riva Pesacho.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Pesacho, Riva : Video Recording

Extent: 1 VHS Tape

Record Group: Petrow, Anna

Contains a recording of an interview with Anna Petrow.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Petrow, Anna : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Pinto, Ben-Tzion

Contains a recording of an interview conducted with Ben-Tzion Pinto.

Ben-Tzion Pinto is a past president of the Turkish Jewish Community.

File 1: Pinto, Ben-Tzion : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Rich, George

Extent: 1 sound cassette: analog; 2 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording of an interview conducted with George Rich on August 25, 2003.

George Rich was a Holocaust survivor from Hungary who was assisted by JDC and was saved by Raoul Wallenberg. He formerly owned Safilo USA, an eyeglass frame manufacturer and importer. He was involved with the MetroWest Federation for many years.

Rich joined the JDC Board in 1998, and chaired the Central and Eastern European Committee. He was also involved with the Europe and Property Reclamation Committees. He passed away in 2015.

1: Rich, George : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

File 1: Rich, George, 2003: Audio Recording

Record Group: Roth, Lilly

Extent: 1 sound cassette: analog; 2 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording of an interview conducted with Lilly Roth on August 19, 2003.

Lilly Roth was assisted by JDC during World War II.

File 1: Roth, Lilly, 2003: Audio Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

File 1: Roth, Lilly : Video Recording

Extent: 2 Mini DV Tapes

Record Group: Roumani-Denn, Vivienne

Extent: 1 sound cassette: analog; 2 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording of an interview conducted with Vivienne Roumani-Denn on September 18, 2003.

Vivienne Roumani-Denn is a Libyan Jewish filmmaker.

File 1: Roumani-Denn, Vivienne, 2003: Audio Recording

Record Group: Rozman, Mordechai

Contains a recording of an interview with Mordechai Rozman.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

1: Rozman, Mordechai : Video Recording

Extent: 2 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Rubin, Evelyn Pike

Extent: 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording of an interview conducted with Evelyn Pike Rubin on August 26, 2003.

Evelyn Pike Rubin is a Holocaust survivor and the author of Ghetto Shanghai, a memoir describing her experiences as a refugee in Shanghai during World War II. Her memoir was subsequently adapted into a documentary film.

File 1: Rubin, Evelyn Pike, 2003: Audio Recording
1: Rubin, Evelyn Pike : Video Recording

Extent: 2 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Salomon, Marcel

Contains a recording of an interview conducted with Marcel Salomon.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

1: Salomon, Marcel : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Salomon, Reuben

Contains a recording of an interview with Reuben Salomon.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Salomon, Reuben : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Samani, Birki

Contains a recording of an interview with Birki Samani.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Samani, Birki : Video Recording

Extent: 1 VHS Tape; 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Samuels, Sammy

Contains a recording of an interview with Sammy Samuels.

Sammy Samuels was born in Yangon, Myanmar. He is the son of a community leader. He graduated from Yeshiva University.

File 1: Samuels, Sammy : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Schor, Yitzhak

Contains a recording of an interview with Yitzhak Schor.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Schor, Yitzhak : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape; 1 VHS Tape

Record Group: Schwager, Steven

Contains a recording of an interview with Steven Schwager.

Contains a recording of an interview with Steven.

Steven Schwager worked at JDC for 23 years, serving as JDC’s Associate Executive Vice-President for Operations from 1988-1999; Director for Israel, 1999-2000; and as Chief Executive Officer from 2002 to 2012. Previously, he was a Chief Business Official of the New York City Board of Education from 1983 to 1989, and from 1976 to 1983, he was the Chief Auditor of the New York City Comptroller’s Office.

File 1: Schwager, Steven : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Shar, David

Contains a recording of an interview with David Shar.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Shar, David : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Sprianov, Sara

Contains a recording of an interview with Sara Sprianov.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Sprianov, Sara : Video Recording

Extent: 1 VHS Tape

Record Group: Stoyanov, Sarah

Contains a recording of an interview conducted with Sarah Stoyanov.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Stoyanov, Sarah : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Teitelbaum, Bernard

Extent: 1 sound cassette: analog; 4 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording of an interview conducted by Jay Levinson with Bernard Teitelbaum on July 26, 2003.

Bernard Teitelbaum was a Transportation Officer for JDC in the U.S. Zone in Germany after World War II.

File 1: Teitelbaum, Bernard, 2003: Audio Recording

Record Group: Turshanski, Linda

Contains a recording of an interview conducted with Linda Turshanski.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Turshanski, Linda : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Ussishkin, Lea

Contains a recording of an interview with Lea Ussishkin.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Ussishkin, Lea : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Venda, Sisai

Contains a recording of an interview with Sisai Venda.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Venda, Sisai : Video Recording

Extent: 1 VHS Tape

Record Group: Weinberg, Al and Ernie

Extent: 1 sound cassette: analog; 2 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording of an interview with Al and Ernie Weinberg on September 17, 2003.

The Archives seeks additional information on these individuals. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Weinberg, Al and Weinberg, Ernie, 2003: Audio Recording

Extent: 1 VHS Tape

Record Group: Wiesel, Israel

Extent: 2 sound cassettes: analog; 6 sound files: digital

Contains a recording of an interview with Yisrael Wiesel.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected]

File 1: Wiesel, Israel : Video Recording

Extent: 2 Mini DV Tapes; 1 VHS Tape

Record Group: Wyszograd, Morris

Extent: 2 sound cassettes: analog; 6 sound files: digital

Contains an audio recording of an interview with Morris Wyszograd on August 18, 2003.

Morris Wyszograd was a Holocaust survivor. He worked as an artist in a number of concentration camps and secretly produced fake IDs for members of the Jewish resistance. He was liberated from Theresienstadt by the Russian army in 1945 and returned to the ruins of Warsaw, where he first encountered JDC. Toward the end of 1945, Wyszogrod joined the JDC staff in Warsaw.

In July 1946, Wyszogrod moved to Paris and continued his work with JDC until he immigrated to the United States on a student visa the following year. He designed JDC’s original three-branched menorah logo and coined the phrase, “Wherever there is a Jew in need, JDC is there.” His memoir, A Brush with Death: An Artist in the Death Camps, was published in 1999. Wyszograd remained a dedicated volunteer in JDC’s New York headquarters until, following the death of his wife Helen, he moved to Jerusalem to be with his daughter and her family. He volunteered in the JDC Archives in Jerusalem and served as Scholar-in-Residence for the Resource Development team. He died in 2015.

File 1: Wyszograd, Morris, 2003: Audio Recording

Record Group: Yedidia, Helena

Contains a recording of an interview conducted with Helena Yedidia.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Yedidia, Helena : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape

Record Group: Yilma, Shmuel

Contains a recording of an interview with Shmuel Yilma.

Shmuel Yilma was employed by JDC-Israel and is the author of From Falasha to Freedom: An Ethiopian Jew’s Journey to Jerusalem.

File 1: Yilma, Shmuel : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape; 1 VHS Tape

Record Group: Yona [last name unknown]

Contains a recording of an interview with Yona [last name unknown].

Yona is a Yemenite Jewish woman helped by JDC.

File 1: Yona: Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape; 1 VHS Tape

Record Group: Yosef, Daniel

Contains a recording of an interview with Daniel Yosef.

The Archives seeks additional information on this individual. Please contact [email protected].

File 1: Yosef, Daniel : Video Recording

Extent: 1 Mini DV Tape; 1 VHS Tape

Subcollection 6: Additional Interviews 1986

This subcollection contains transcripts and audio recordings of interviews with people who worked for JDC or received aid from the organization. The interviewers are independent scholars or are otherwise not associated with JDC

Record Group: Agro-Joint Interviews, 1986

Extent: 2 folders; 3 CDs

Contains transcripts and audio recordings of interviews with members of Agro-Joint colonies conducted by Chizuko Takao, an independent scholar, in 1986, in Israel.

File 281: Agro-Joint, 1986: Transcripts

Extent: .125 inch

Languages:

English

Geographic Locations:

Palestine
Poland
Soviet Union
United States

Subcollection 7: Jacob H. Schiff Oral History Project

The Jacob H. Schiff Oral History Project began in 2015. It contains oral histories of JDC board members and major donors. The Schiff Society was founded to honor individuals who have donated $1 million.

These interviews showcase the personal narratives of contemporary JDC leaders and provide insights regarding their choice to become involved with JDC. The interviews may cover such topics as: interviewees’ personal connections to Jewish life; their choice to support JDC and the leadership positions they held within the organization; stories from their visits to JDC’s work around the world; and their perspectives on future directions for the organization.

Record Group: Blumenstein, Penny

Extent: 1 digital video file; 1 transcript

Contains a digital video file and a transcript of an interview with Penny Blumenstein conducted by Will Recant on December 14, 2015.

Penny Blumenstein is a past President of JDC and a member of the Executive Committee. She is Chair of the Maurice & Vivienne Wohl Charitable Fund Committee, past Chair of the Resource Development Committee, and Policy Group on Future Funding. She is a past President of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit and a Trustee of Israel Bonds-Women’s Division and of the Jewish Women’s Foundation of Detroit.

Blumenstein is a Board member of the national and Detroit Chapter of the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science. She is a Board Member of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Past Chair of the Jewish Fund in the Detroit Community, and a Vice Chair of the Community Foundation of Southeastern Michigan. She is a past member of the Boards of United Way, Hebrew Free Loan, the National Council of Jewish Women and the Henry Ford Health System.

In 2001, Blumenstein received the Golden Torah Award from Yeshiva Beth Yehuda. In 2003, she received the first “Women Lighting the Way” award from the Jewish Women’s Foundation. In 2005, she received the Detroit Federation’s Butzel Award and the George Romney Award for Lifetime Achievement in Volunteerism. She is a past recipient of the Israel Peace Medal from Israel Bonds.

Record Group: Colman, Jane and Morrison, Kate

Extent: 1 digital video file; 1 transcript

Contains a digital video file and a transcript of an interview with Jane Colman and Kate Morrison conducted by Zvi Feine in 2015.

Jane Colman and Kate Morrison are granddaughters of A.G. Becker, a member of one of the constituent committees which founded JDC in 1914 and founder of the banking firm A. G. Becker and Company, and daughters of James H. Becker, a long-time JDC staff member who served as, among other prominent roles, JDC’s Regional Director in Romania in 1918, Representative in Latvia and Lithuania in 1920, Acting European Director General in 1920, and Vice Chairman from 1937-1939 and from 1944-1970. Jane is also married to long-time JDC board member John Colman [please see John Colman’s biography below].

Record Group: Colman, John

Extent: 1 digital video file; 1 transcript

Contains a digital video file and a transcript of an interview with John Colman conducted by Zvi Feine on October 20, 2015.

John C. Colman’s career in investment and commercial banking in Chicago, and his service in Washington as an official in the State and Treasury Departments, was followed by 25 years of business and philanthropic enterprises in the United States and abroad. In Chicago, he served as President of the Jewish Children’s Bureau, President of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, and Chairman of the Jewish United Fund. Colman joined the JDC Board of Directors in 1978 and became an Honorary Member in 1996, a role he served through the end of his life. During his tenure on JDC’s Board, Mr. Colman served on JDC’s Executive Committee, was the Chair of the JDC Rescue Committee during the transport of Jews from Ethiopia, served as Chair of what is now the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel, and chaired various other JDC committees. In 1995, he received the Chicago Federation’s Julius Rosenwald Memorial Award.

Colman graduated from Cornell University and has an M.B.A. from Harvard University. He passed away in February 2020, and is survived by his wife, Jane, and their three children and four grandchildren.

Record Group: Everett, Edith

Extent: 1 digital video file; 1 transcript

Contains a digital video file and a transcript of an interview with Edith Everett conducted by Amir Shaviv in 2016.

Edith B. Everett serves on the Board of Directors of the American Jewish Committee, Human Rights Watch, NPR, the Blaustein Center for Human Rights, the Center for Public Integrity and the Teach for America Advisory Board. She holds a B.A. from Brooklyn College and an M.A. from Columbia University. Edith B. Everett serves on the Board of Directors of the American Jewish Committee, Human Rights Watch, NPR, the Blaustein Center for Human Rights, the Center for Public Integrity and the Teach for America Advisory Board.

Everett holds a B.A. from Brooklyn College and an M.A. from Columbia University. She resides in New York City and has two children and three grandchildren.

Record Group: Grand, Nancy

Extent: 1 digital video file; 1 transcript

Contains a digital video file and a transcript of an interview with Nancy Grand conducted by Amir Shaviv on March 8, 2016.

Nancy Grand is a JDC Vice President and a member of the Executive Committee and Cabinet. She is the immediate past Chair of the Nominating Committee and a past Secretary. She is also past Chair of the Board Relations and Resource Development Committees. Nancy relocated to San Francisco from Detroit twelve years ago. Nancy is an Officer of the San Francisco Federation, and is a past-President of the Federation. She serves on the Executive Committee of the Family House in San Francisco. She has taught mathematics, designed and implemented computer software, and been an instructor of the Dale Carnegie Course.

Record Group: Grossman, Ron

Extent: 1 digital video file; 1 transcript

Contains a digital video file and a transcript of an interview with Ron Grossman conducted by Zohar Neumann on September 30, 2015.

Ron Grossman is President of RG Advisory Services, LLC. He previously served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Freeport McMoRan, Inc., as Chairman of Rio Tinto Minera, SA, and as a Managing Director of Avenue Capital. Ron is currently a member of the Board of Trustees and the Investment and Finance Committees of New York University School of Law. He is a past member of their Executive Committee.

Grossman has also served as a member of the Tax Committees of the American Bar Association, the American Mining Congress, the American Petroleum Institute, the Tax Executives Institute, and the Tax Management Advisory Board. He was a member of the Board of Directors of Touro Hospital and has served on the Board and Executive Committee of UJA-Federation of New York, where he was also Chairman of the Finance Committee. He and his wife, Marilyn, support the Grossman Parent-Child Center in Hadera, as well as the Amen Initiative.

Grossman has a B.S. from New York University and a J.D., LL.B., and LL.M. from New York University School of Law.

Record Group: Heller, Ellen

Extent: 1 digital video file; 1 transcript

Contains a digital video file and a transcript of an interview with Ellen Heller conducted by Rebecca Neuwirth in 2017.

Judge Ellen M. Heller is a past President and Chair of JDC (2004-2011) and has served on the Board since 1994. She has been closely involved in JDC’s worldwide activities having served as Chairperson of its Africa and Asia, Former Soviet Union, Ukraine, and Central and Eastern European Committees. She has also been the Co-Chair of the JDC International Council. Judge Heller is a member of the Executive Committee as well as the FSU Executive Committee. She represents JDC on the World Jewish Restitution Organization. Also, she serves on the board of the Taub Center for Social Policy.

Judge Heller is retired from the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, where she was in charge of the Civil Docket until she was appointed the Chief Administrative Judge over the entire court—-the first woman in Maryland to hold that position. Although not full time, she regularly sits in the Felony Drug Diversion court. She has been Chair and a Trustee of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and served on the Baltimore Community Foundation and Johns Hopkins Bioethics Boards. She remains an active member on the Boards of the University Of Maryland School Of Law, the Independent Lay Review Board of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the Institute of Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies, Behavioral Health System Baltimore, and the Defiant Requiem Foundation.

Among her honors, Judge Heller has received the University Of Maryland School Of Law’s Distinguished Graduate Award, The Daily Record’s Leadership in Law Award, the Maryland State Bar’s Civility Award, the Baltimore City Bar’s Margaret Brent-Juanita Jackson Mitchell Award, Hadassah’s Woman of Distinction Award for Maryland, the Girl Scouts of Central Md. Distinguished Women’s Award, and the American Jewish Committee Blaustein Award. In 2008 she was inducted into the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame and in 2009 named to the Baltimore Jewish Hall of Fame. Judge Heller was named one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women by The Daily Record in 1997, 1999, and 2001 and, as a result, was the recipient of the 2001 Circle of Excellence Achievement Award.

In 2017 the University of Maryland at Baltimore awarded Judge Heller an Honorary Doctor of Laws, and in 2016 she received an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Johns Hopkins University. She is an honors graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland School of Law. She is a member of the American Law Institute. She and her husband, Shale D. Stiller, were the recipients of the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service in 2011.

Record Group: Latchman, David

Extent: 1 digital video file; 1 transcript

Contains a digital video file and a transcript of an interview with David Latchman conducted by David Zackon on May 18, 2015.

David Latchman is a British geneticist and university administrator. He received his doctorate from Cambridge University before undertaking postdoctoral research at Imperial College London and in the Department of Biology at University College London. He has been Professor of Molecular Pathology and Director of the Windeyer Institute of Medical Science at UCL and was Dean of the Institute for Child Health (1999–2002). Since 2003 he has been Master of Birkbeck, University of London, and Professor of Genetics at Birkbeck and University College London. In 2010, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to higher education.

Latchman is the nephew of Maurice and Vivienne Wohl. He is Chairman of the Maurice Wohl Charitable Foundation; Trustee of the Maurice and Vivienne Wohl Philanthropic Foundation; and a Member of Protector Committee of the Maurice and Vivienne Wohl Charitable Foundation. He is also a JDC Board member.

Record Group: Pletka, Irene

Extent: 1 digital video file; 1 transcript

Contains a digital video file and a transcript of an interview with Irene Pletka conducted by Rebecca Neuwirth in March 2015.

Irene Pletka is founder and chairman of the Kronhill Pletka Foundation, which supports Holocaust survivors, Jewish secular culture, Yiddish language, education and the arts. The foundation’s projects span Israel, Australia, the United States and Poland. Pletka’s parents fled Poland in 1939 for Vilna, where they lived until January 1941. A Japanese diplomat provided them with life-saving transit visas to Japan, and Pletka was later born in Shanghai.

After the war, the family settled in Australia, where Pletka received her undergraduate degree. She later spent five years in London doing graduate work in psychology, then attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and received a M.F.A. in photography at the Rhode Island School of Design. Fluent in six languages, Pletka was a visiting artist at the Bezalel Art Academy in Jerusalem for 20 years, and worked as a photographer, designer and real estate manager. She started the Kronhill Pletka Foundation in 2007 in honor of her parents.

Record Group: Rabin, Stan

Extent: 1 digital video file; 1 transcript

Contains a digital video file and a transcript of an interview with Stan Rabin conducted by Nancy Grand on May 1, 2018.

Stanley Rabin served as JDC’s President from 2016-2019. He is the immediate past Treasurer, former Chair of the Strategic Finance Committee, and past Chair of the Resource Development Committee and the Annual Board Fund.

Rabin is a past Chairman of the Board of Commercial Metals Company and served as CEO for 28 years. He is a past Chairman of the Board of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas and serves on the boards of Temple Emanu-el of Dallas, the Dallas Jewish Community Foundation, the Dallas Holocaust Museum, the United Way Foundation of Metropolitan Dallas, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He served on the Board of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and the Board of Governors of the American Jewish Committee. He is a past President of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas, Temple Emanu-el, and the Jewish Family Service.

Rabin attended the Bronx High School of Science. He holds an A.B. and B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering from Columbia University and an M.B.A. from the University of Santa Clara. He served in the U.S. Army.

Record Group: Ribakoff, Charles

Extent: 1 digital video file; 1 transcript

Contains a digital video file and a transcript of an interview with Charles Ribakoff conducted by Rebecca Neuwirth on May 18, 2015.

Charles Ribakoff has been active at JDC for nearly 25 years, and a member of the board for 14 years. At JDC, he has chaired Ashalim, Resource Development, Israel, Rescue, Safety and Security, and Entwine. Currently, he is chair of the Israel Committee. He has also been campaign chair, and chair of Israel & Overseas at Combined Jewish Philanthropies in Boston. He serves on the President’s Council of Mass General Hospital, and on the board of American Friends of Israel Navy SEALS.

Ribakoff owned and operated a small chain of auto dealerships, as well as auto, truck and equipment leasing companies. Currently, he and his wife Patty own and operate MHQ, the largest upfitter of public safety and public works vehicles in the United States. He graduated from the University of Virginia with a BA, and received an MBA from Boston University School of Management.

Record Group: Ruderman, Jay

Extent: 1 digital video file; 1 transcript

Contains a digital video file and a transcript of an interview with Jay Ruderman conducted by David Zackon on May 18, 2015.

Jay Ruderman graduated from Brandeis University with honors and received his J.D. from Boston University School of Law. Upon graduating law school, he began his career as an assistant district attorney in Salem, Massachusetts. In the fall of 2001, he became Deputy Director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in New England. In 2005, he enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and became the liaison between the IDF and Diaspora Jewry. After his service in the IDF, Ruderman returned to AIPAC as the Leadership Director for AIPAC in Israel.

Ruderman is Chair of the JDC Task Force on Awareness of People with Disabilities and a member of the Executive Committee. He is currently the President of the Ruderman Family Foundation, which focuses on the inclusion of people with disabilities in Greater Boston, Israel, and around the world. The Foundation also works in Israel to educate Israeli leaders on the American Jewish community. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Jewish Funders Network.

Record Group: Sandler, Annie

Extent: 1 digital video file; 1 transcript

Contains a digital video file and a transcript of an interview with Annie Sandler conducted by Will Recant on May 1, 2018.

Annie Sandler is Chair of the JDC Ralph I. Goldman Fellowship Committee Co-Chair of the Annual Board Fund, Vice Chair of the Engelberg Center for Children and Youth and long term member of Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute, and past Vice Chair of the Board Engagement Committee. Sandler serves on the Executive Committee and will begin serving on the Nominating Committee. She has been involved in building Jewish community for over 30 years.

In her community of Tidewater, Virginia, Sandler is a past President of ORT and the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Women’s Campaign. She has served on the Boards of her synagogue, the Israel and Overseas Committee, the Hebrew Academy of Tidewater, the Executive Board and Board of Directors of the UJF of Tidewater, the Jewish Community Center, and the Community Relations Council. She pioneered many women’s initiatives for her community and has led many missions to Israel as well as to Romania and Cuba.

Sandler was actively involved in the rebuilding and growth of the Romanian Jewish community. Her efforts culminated in the naming of the community center in Cristian in July 2010, “Be’ YAHAD, Together.” Along with her children and husband, Art, she built a school in Chilo, Ethiopia, and supports JDC-IDP Programs.

Sandler has held many leadership positions nationally and internationally, serving on the boards of JTA, Hillel, Panim, and the National Women’s Philanthropy. She is the 2004 recipient of the Kipnis-Wilson Friedland Lion of Judah Award. Additionally, she is a founding Board member of the Hadassah Brandeis Institute and chaired its Board from 2000-2003. Annie also holds a position as Brandeis Fellow the last 20 years.

Record Group: Sisisky, Mark

Extent: 1 digital video file; 1 transcript

Contains a digital video file and a transcript of an interview with Mark Sisisky conducted by Rebecca Neuwirth in 2016.

Mark Sisisky, the noted business and philanthropic leader, became JDC’s President in 2020. Sisisky — a retired Managing Partner of Heritage Wealth Advisors based in Richmond, Virginia and president and chief investment officer of New Dominion of Virginia — has been a member of the JDC Board of Directors since 2009, serving most recently as the organization’s Vice President.

In addition to his wide-ranging work at JDC, Sisisky is an esteemed civic and local Jewish leader in Richmond, Virginia. He currently serves as a Board Member of the University of Virginia Hillel and Prime Minister’s Council of JFNA. He previously served as President of the United Way of Southside Virginia (which became the United Way of Greater Richmond), the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond, the Richmond Jewish Foundation, the American Red Cross of Southside Virginia, as well as a past trustee at the Community Foundation of Greater Richmond and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Foundation. Sisisky was appointed to the Economic Development Strategic Planning Task Force for The Commonwealth of Virginia and has served four times by appointment to the highly successful Virginia-Israel Partnership.

Among his leadership accomplishments at JDC, Sisisky has invested in the rising generation of Jewish leaders through his creation and permanent endowment of the Mark and Susan Sisisky JDC Global Enrichment Fund of Richmond Jewish Foundation, by which dozens of Sisisky Fellows have travelled on JDC Entwine programs to learn about Jewish communities, global issues, and take action to address these concerns. Mr. Sisisky was past Chair of JDC’s Former Soviet Union Committee, Budget & Finance Committee, Strategic Financial Planning Task Force, and Annual Board Fund. He currently serves on JDC’s Audit Committee, CEO Search Committee, Executive Committee, Officer’s Cabinet, Global Program Committee, Government Affairs Committee, Investment Committee, Israel Executive Committee, Officers Cabinet, Resource Development Committee and Strategic Finance Committee.

Record Group: Tisch, Andrew

Extent: 1 digital video file; 1 transcript

Contains a digital video file and a transcript of an interview with Andrew Tisch conducted by Rick Hirschhaut in 2016.

Andrew H. Tisch is Co-Chairman of the Board and Chairman of the Executive Committee of Loews Corporation. He holds a B.S. degree from Cornell University (1971) and a M.B.A. from Harvard University (1977). In addition to Loews, he serves on the Boards of Directors of CNA Financial Corporation and Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc.

Tisch is active at Harvard Business School (Dean’s Board of Advisors), Cornell University (Former Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Chairman, Dean’s Board of Advisors, SC Johnson College of Business), NYU/Tisch School of the Arts (Co-Chair Dean’s Council), The Young Women’s Leadership Network (Co-Founder) and is on the Executive Committee of the Board of Overseers at Weill Cornell Medicine.

He is one of the founders of The No Labels Coalition and Vice Chairman of the Center for U.S. Global Leadership. He participates in many civic organizations including the Economic Club of New York (Past Chairman), The Brookings Institution (Trustee), NY Historical Society (Vice Chairman) and the Council on Foreign Relations. He serves on the boards of the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Foundation, Wildlife Conservation Society, Museum of the Moving Image, Smithsonian National Advisory Board and is Chairman of NYC Police Foundation.

Record Group: Weinberg, Marshall

Extent: 1 digital video file; 1 transcript

Contains a digital video file and a transcript of an interview with Marshall Weinberg conducted by Linda Levi on March 4, 2015.

Marshall Weinberg is a long-time JDC Board member and has served on the JDC Executive Committee for 40 years. He received his B.A. from the University of Michigan and his M.B.A. from Columbia University.

Weinberg is a past Chairman of the JDC Archives Committee and a past Vice-Chair of both the Israel Committee and Eastern European Area Committee. Weinberg endowed the Marshall Weinberg Fund for Professional Collaboration and Development at the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute and serves on the Brookdale board. He is President Emeritus of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and a former National Vice-Chairman of United Jewish Appeal.

Record Group: Weitzman, Jane

Extent: 1 digital video file; 1 transcript

Contains a digital video file and a transcript of an interview with Jane Weitzman conducted by Rebecca Neuwirth and Amir Shaviv on September 30, 2015.

Jane Weitzman is JDC’s Assistant Secretary and a member of the Executive Committee and Cabinet, as well as a former chair of JDC’s Archives Committee. She was the Executive Vice President of Stuart Weitzman and the founding Vice President of Stuart Weitzman Retail. She serves on the Executive Committees and Board of UJA of Greenwich, and the Board of 70 Faces Media. She is a Vice President of the Jewish Book Council and serves on the Trust Board of Boston Children’s Hospital and the Board of the Greenwich JCC.

Weitzman is the author of Art & Sole, published by HarperCollins. She currently serves as JDC’s representative to the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

Record Group: Zimmerman, Etta

Extent: 1 digital video file; 1 transcript

Contains a digital video file and a transcript of an interview with Etta Zimmerman conducted by Amir Shaviv on May 2, 2018.

Etta Zimmerman is Chair of the JDC Resource Development, the FSU Executive Committee, and Executive Committee. She has served as a Co-Chair of the JDC Annual Board Fund, and is past Chair of the Africa and Asia Committee and a past Chair of the Ukraine Committee. She has traveled extensively throughout the world, visiting various JDC programs. She speaks frequently of her overseas travels, using her passion for photojournalism to engage audiences about imperative overseas needs.

Zimmerman is a Wexner Heritage Program alumnus. She served as Chair of the Board of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County from 2005-2007, and currently serves on its Executive Committee.

The cataloguing of this collection was made possible with grants from Mémorial de la Shoah and Donald M. and Sylvia Robinson. The 2021-2022 JDC Oral History Project (subcollection 8) was funded by a group of JDC board members.

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