us-005578-irn631121
type: RecordSet
archival history: World ORT
biographical history: 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 th…
conditions of use: Copyright Holder: World ORT
has beginning date: 1920-01-01
has end date: 1983-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had identifier: 2
has or had some members with language: heb
has or had some members with language: eng
has or had some members with language: lit
has or had some members with language: deu
has or had some members with language: fra
has or had some members with language: ces
has or had subject: 843
has or had subject: 993
has or had subject: 701
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn631121
record resource extent: 9,354 digital images, PDF
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Records of the World ORT (formerly World ORT Union), its governing bodies and associate organizations world-wide. The archive include minutes of meetings, reports, correspondence, fund-raising and PR, research and development, administrative and financial records (1920s-1950s). Also included are pamphlets and bulletins from various countries; reports, correspondence, and photos of the Berlin ORT school transferred to Leeds (1939-1943), private papers of former students and teachers of ORT; as well as the Shapiro Collection: consisting of materials collected on ORT's history by the American ORT Federation (AOF) and Dr. Leon Shapiro between 1977 and 1980 in preparation for ORT's centenary and the publication of Shapiro's"The History of ORT" Also included are some additional materials and correspondence collected following the publication of the book between 1980-1983. The accretion includes a file WO-2-36-1 with various correspondence and papers from the 1930s-1960s. Note: This ongoing duplication project.
title: Selected records of the World ORT Archive (WOA), London