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The Archives of the World ORT Union Head Office

Document | Digitized | Accession Number: 2019.190.1 | RG Number: RG-68.219

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    Overview

    Description
    Files of the headquarters of World ORT Union in Geneva, which signed an agreement in 1981 with the Central Archives to deposit the material in Jerusalem. The collection includes minutes, organization statuses, correspondence, bank statements, reports and plans, published journals, bulletins, pamphlets, printed booklets, photographs, video materials, and press clippings, and various materials related to emigration, education, welfare, administration of the Jewish communities on international scale.
    Date
    inclusive:  1880-1970
    bulk:  1920-1970
    Collection Creator
    World ORT
    Biography
    World ORT is the world’s largest Jewish education and vocational training non-governmental organization. Obschestvo Remeslenovo i. Zemledelcheskovo Trouda (Society for Trades and Agricultural Labor), called ORT, was founded in 1880 in St. Petersburg, Russia. ORT was created to assist impoverished Russian Jews by instructing them in trades and agriculture, including farming, sewing, and mechanics. During World War I (1914-1918), ORT provided assistance to thousands with soup kitchens, credit offices, cooperative workshops, and a relief-through-work program for displaced Jews. In the 1920’s and 1930’s, the organization expanded across Europe and into North American and South America, opening vocational and agricultural schools. In 1921, World ORT Union was established in Berlin. In 1922, the American ORT Society was founded.

    World War II began when Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. ORT was based in France, where it established vocational courses in internment camps for Jewish refugees who had been imprisoned as enemy aliens. Germany invaded France on May 10, 1940. During the war, ORT established vocational schools in several eastern European ghettos, teaching skills that were necessary for survival. ORT was most active in the Warsaw ghetto in Poland and the Kovno ghetto in Lithuania. In Warsaw, the German authorities only allowed technical courses, but teachers attempted to prepare their students for a future at universities. In Kovno, Jacob Oleiski, the head of ORT Lithuania, established a trade school for 40 children. Vocational schools were also established for Jewish refugees in Shanghai, New York, and Cuba. The war in Europe ended when Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945.

    After the war, ORT became active in displaced persons (DP) camps. DP camps were established to house concentration camp survivors, forced laborers, and other displaced persons, with the goal of returning them to their home countries. However, most survivors did not want to return to their native countries and instead chose to immigrate to Palestine or the United States to begin new lives. In August 1945, the first ORT school was opened in Landsberg DP camp in Germany. ORT opened vocational schools in several DP camps, training over 80,000 Jews. They taught students practical skills that would help them after they immigrated. The courses were short, usually only a few months, because the students wanted to immigrate as soon as possible and did not want to commit to a longer course. Initially the classes were taught by displaced persons who had careers in relevant areas before the war. ORT eventually hired German instructors for some subjects, such as electricians and radio mechanics. Over 700 courses were established by late 1947. In May 1948, Israel was established. ORT formed workshops in Israel to help integrate Jewish refugees. The majority of DP camps in Europe were closed by 1952. The ORT office in Munich closed in 1957. World ORT Union's Technical Assistance department (renamed International Cooperation 1984) was set up to provide technical training programmes to disadvantaged communities outside the Jewish world in 1960. In 1979 ORT moved its administrative office to London, but the headquarters remain in Geneva. In 1991 ORT resumed operations in Russia. Programmes were also established in other countries of the CIS and Baltic States during the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2000 World ORT Union changed its name to World ORT. Today, ORT is active worldwide and provides skills training and self-help projects.
    Reference
    See also: Selected records of the World ORT Archive (WOA), London, RG-59.084.

    Physical Details

    Extent
    261,365 digital images : JPEG.
    System of Arrangement
    Arranged in the following groups [In process]: 1. Files from 1920-1945; 2. Files from 1945-1970. Both parts include photocopies of isolated reports and minutes from the years 1880-1940. Accretions include Files #312-702a; #733a - #820b; #821-906; # 907a to 951b and #952a-1063. Most of correspondence is organized alphabetically. This is an ongoing project.

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    This material can only be accessed in a Museum reading room or other on-campus viewing stations. Users are required to complete a User Declaration in order to gain access to the collection.
    Conditions on Use
    Fair use only. Publication and reproduction of records for commercial purposes for third parties require the written permission of the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People (CAHJP).

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    Source of acquisition is the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, CAHJP (Arkhiyon ha-merkazi le-toldot ha-ʻam ha-Yehudi). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received this collection via the United States Holocaust Museum International Archives Project in June 2019, in August 2019, Feb. 2020, Aug. 2020, October 2020, Jan. 2021, and a transfer of an updated finding aid in in Aug. 2021. This is an ongoing project.
    Record last modified:
    2023-08-24 14:08:12
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn699652

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