Yeshiva University Museum

This article discusses the emergence of the semi-clandestine efforts of a network of international Jewish philanthropies and the Israeli government to send material and financial aid to Jews in early-communist Hungary. Post Second World War Hungary was a special focus for Jewish aid organizations in the west and the Israeli government. They poured resources into Hungary, both to feed, cloth and provide medical care to hundreds of thousands of Jews, and to assist thousands of Jews migrating west through Hungary. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the dominant Jewish aid organization in the world at the time, ran its largest and most expensive program in Hungary. Working with Israeli and Hungarian authorities, it financed a network of welfare services, often through the importation of scarce consumer goods and raw materials. As the Communist Party reshaped the economy, and pushed out “undesirable elements” from Hungarian life, this aid program served a growing population of impoverished, sick, and religious Jews, some exiled in Hungary’s countryside. This program increasingly took advantage of black market networks to distribute aid. Yet, after conditions deteriorated so much that this program ceased officially, Jewish aid providers in the US and Israel adapted their earlier practices and networks to take advantage of the impoverished consumer economy in program to distribute aid clandestinely to Hungarian Jews, with the cooperation of Hungary’s communist authorities.

Excavations conducted at several sites in Antwerpen, a principal city and seaport on the Schelde River in northern Belgium, have uncovered a small but significant collection of glass beads. These range from a decorated specimen of the Roman period to tubular square- and star-sectioned beads of the 16th-17th centuries. The Post-Medieval specimens, found in the cesspits of merchants' homes, give us an idea of what Antwerpen was exporting during the early part of this period.

and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research-providing access to collections with more than 500,000 volumes and 100 million documents in 23 languages and 52 alphabet systems.This grouping creates the biggest repository of modern Jewish experiences outside of Israel.The site is well designed and user friendly, inviting patrons to discover the center, search the collections, or trace their roots in three areas on the homepage.Discover CJH provides information on the Jewish center, exhibitions ("The Kaiser's Call to Arms" or "Echoes of Jewish Morocco: A Photographic Exhibit"), and events.Searching "The Collections" allows one to explore the five institutions, the Lillian Goldman Reading Room (contains the research collections of the five institutions), and use tools to search the library, archive, and museum holdings."Trace Your Roots" provides several family history collections (Hebrew Orphan Asylum, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society), reference, research guides, and an FAQ.A link to the Ackman & Ziff family genealogy provides additional information on genealogy, including beginner and advanced searching guides for genealogical researchers.Many research tools are available for users, including wide-ranging microfilm collections and databases, some exclusive to the center.CJH publications such as Passages through