Agudath Israel of America has made thousands of historical documents related to the Holocaust available online for the first time, the group announced on March 16, as part of an ongoing effort to digitize materials from its Agudah Archives.
Among the first collections to be posted are mid-20th-century periodicals produced by Zeirei Agudath Israel of America, including Jewish Opinion and Orthodox Tribune, originally published as Orthodox Youth or Agudah Youth. Issued from the 1940s through the 1960s, the magazines offer a contemporaneous perspective on how Orthodox Jewish communities in the United States reported on events in Europe and responded to unfolding wartime developments and the Holocaust.
More than 50 issues—comprising hundreds of pages of articles, editorials and news reports—have been digitized and uploaded to the archive so far.
According to Agudath Israel, the publications provide insight into how Jewish leaders and communities processed reports from Europe as they emerged. One issue dated Adar 1942 carries the front-page headline “On Nazi Atrocities.”
The same issue also includes updates on rescue efforts, coverage of Agudah initiatives to support religious education for children who had been sent to the Land of Israel and an opinion essay by Jacob Rosenheim titled “The Right Answer to Hitler’s Challenge.”
With the online publication of the archive collections, “Agudath Israel is making a treasure trove of primary source materials accessible to the broad Jewish public,” Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, the organization’s executive vice president, stated.
Until recently, the documents were accessible only in physical form at Agudath Israel’s Orthodox Jewish Archives at its headquarters. The organization has begun organizing and digitizing materials into themed online collections, with support from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, a nonprofit established in 1951 that negotiates compensation and provides funding for Holocaust-related initiatives, backed by the German Federal Ministry of Finance.
