Photo above: Rabbi David Hill during his trip to the USSR in 1981. (Citation: Photographs and Negatives, 1981-1982. David Hill Papers; P-888; box 1, folder 8; American Jewish Historical Society, New York, NY, and Boston, MA.)
Project Update: Digitization of Soviet Jewry collections from the American Jewish Historical Society
Thanks to generous support from the National Historical Publications & Records Commission…
Refuseniks (отказники)
by Anna Khomina, Research and Special Projects Intern, Center for Jewish History
The refuseniks were Soviet Jews who sought and were denied permission to emigrate out of the USSR in the ‘60s and ’70s, and who organized protests (such as the ones pictured above) to call attention to their plight. Jews in the Soviet Union were systematically discriminated against…