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Josef Schneider collection

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Josef Schneider (b. 1927 Riga, d. 2006 Jerusalem) was a Jewish activist, refusenik and photographer. Born in Riga to a Zionist family, he was drafted into the Soviet army in 1944. After demobilization in 1951 he returned to Riga. His request to emigrate to Israel in the early 1950's was refused and he subsequently became one of Riga’s most prominent Jewish activists. While working in a photo studio, he copied, duplicated and distributed Jewish "samizdat" (printed material banned by the state). He also taught Hebrew, maintained connections with the Israeli Embassy in Moscow and established a Latvian snipers’ club in Riga where young Jewish people could be trained in self-defense. Schneider was arrested in 1957 by the KGB for anti-Soviet activities and sentenced to four years in a labor camp. There, he continued to engage in Zionist activities by teaching Hebrew to other prisoners, talking about Israel and celebrating Jewish holidays. Schneider was released in 1961 and repatriated to Israel in 1969 where he found work as a photographer for the Israel Police. Josef Schneider's private collection contains many photographs of synagogues, Jewish sites and Jewish events as well as unique photographs taken by Schneider during his imprisonment in Dubrovlag (a Gulag labor camp). Also included are photographs of Waffen-SS officers and Nazi collaborators during WWII, photographs from Schneider’s army service, subjects photographed at his Riga studio and portraits of refuseniks. The collection includes personal family photographs and images taken by Josef Schneider after his emigration from the U.S.S.R - in Israel as well as countries in Central and Western Europe. Some depict demonstrations for Jewish repatriation from the U.S.S.R. The archive also contains documents about Schneider’s Jewish activities in the U.S.S.R. and his life in Israel: photocopies of letters from the family to his uncle and aunt in Israel (1929-1932); Josef Schneider’s personal file and materials held by the KGB (1957-1958); personal documents; Anti-Zionist publications from the U.S.S.R. as well as press clippings and publications about Schneider’s Jewish activities. There are also letters to Josef Schneider from correspondents in Latvia, Israel, Germany and other countries regarding Nazi collaborators, political prisoners and more (1967-1986) as well as copies of letters from Soviet labor camps.--

Reference Code
P332
Dates
1930s-1990s
Languages
Russian; Hebrew; Yiddish; German;
Description
Josef Schneider's private collection contains documents and photographs relating to his life and Jewish activities in the U.S.S.R. and Israel, as well as images from Western countries. There are photographs of cemeteries and Jewish sites in the U.S.S.R. and images of synagogues in Riga, Kaunas, Tallinn, Moscow, Leningrad, Minsk, Kyiv, Odesa, Chișinău, Quba and more. There are photographs of commemorative events honoring victims of the Holocaust in Rumbula (near Riga) and the Ninth Fort (Kaunas) as well as photographs of mass murder sites of the Jews in Ponary, Babi Yar and others. Records relating to Jewish events in the U.S.S.R. include photographs of Nechama Lifshitz in concert and an event devoted to I.L. Peretz in Kaunas (1965) as well as images from Geula Gill's visit to the U.S.S.R. in 1966 and photographs taken at the Israel pavilion in VDNKh (all-Russia Exhibition Center) in May 1966. Images captured by Schneider during his imprisonment in Dubrovlag (Soviet labor camp) form a unique part of the collection. There are also photographs of Waffen-SS officers and Nazi collaborators during WWII as well as photographs from Schneider’s Soviet army service, portraits of refuseniks and people photographed by Schneider in his Riga studio (including Jewish singers Sidi Tal, Benjamin Haitovsky (Hayatauskas), Avraham and Tzipora Rave, Nehama Lifschitz and Geula Gill). There are family photographs in the collection, images from his service in the Israel Police as well as photographs taken in Israel of demonstrations for Jewish repatriation from the U.S.S.R. Records in the collection include: Josef Schneider’s personal documents; photocopies of letters from Schneider family to Josef’s uncle and aunt in Israel (1929-1932); Josef Schneider’s personal file and materials held by the KGB (1957-1958); letters to Schneider from different correspondents and institutions (including the Red Cross) in Latvia, Israel, Germany and other countries regarding Nazi collaborators, the plight of Jewish prisoners in the Soviet Union and more (1967-1986). Also included are: copies of letters from Soviet camps; lists of political prisoners from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia; a list of Latvian prisoners – Nazi collaborators - who killed Jews in Latvia. Included also are Anti-Zionist publications from the U.S.S.R., press clippings and publications about Schneider’s Jewish activity in the U.S.S.R. and material on the history of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union.--
Title Josef Schneider collection.
Contributors Soviet Union. Komitet gosudarstvennoi bezopasnosti
Israel. Shagrirut
Mishṭeret Yiśraʼel
Notes סגור לעיון עקב צנעת הפרט.
Host Item Schneider, Josef - Private Collection
Level of Description Fonds Record
Biographical summary Josef Schneider was born in Riga in 1927 to a Zionist family. At the onset of the war with Nazi Germany Josef and his mother evacuated from Riga to the Urals and from there to Kyrgyzstan. In 1944 Josef was drafted into the army and returned to Riga after demobilization in 1951. In the early 1950s, he requested permission to emigrate to Israel but this was refused. He soon became one of Riga's most prominent Jewish activists. Working in a photo studio, he copied, duplicated and distributed Jewish samizdat. He maintained connections with the Israeli embassy in Moscow and received Jewish-related materials. He also established a Latvian snipers’ club in Riga where young Jewish people could be trained in self-defense. Josef Schneider revealed and explained the meaning of Jewish heritage and the State of Israel to these people and also taught them Hebrew, using textbooks sent from his uncle in Israel. In 1957, Schneider was arrested by the KGB for anti-Soviet activities and accused of listening to ‘Voice of Israel’ radio broadcasts, keeping records with fabrications against the Soviet Union, maintaining a written connection with his uncle, planning an illegal departure from the Soviet Union to Israel, possessing illegal weapons, preparing an assassination attempt against the Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser and more. He was sentenced to four years in a labor camp. There, in Mordovia, Josef continued to engage in Zionist activities. He taught Hebrew to others prisoners, spoke with them about Israel and Jewish holidays. Schneider was released in 1961 and repatriated to Israel in 1969. He worked as a photographer for the Israel Police's photography laboratory. He was also a photographer at the Chancery of the Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (1970-1971). Josef Schneider died in Jerusalem in 2006.
Ownership history The documents were transferred to The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People by Josef Schneider's son - Uri Schneider.
Language Note Russian, Hebrew, Yiddish, German
National Library system number 990043423590205171
Links פרטים על מיקום החומר/Location&access
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