The Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry (GNYCSJ) was founded in 1971, as a non-governmental grassroots organization that worked to secure human rights for Jews in the Soviet Union. It served as an umbrella agency for a number of regional organizations of the Soviet Jewry movement. In the 1980 GNYCSJ was renamed Coalition for Soviet Jewry.

Activities

The organization gathered information on the conditions of Jews in the USSR, mostly from the American tourists visiting

refusenik Refusenik (russian: отказник, otkaznik, ; alternatively spelt refusnik) was an unofficial term for individuals—typically, but not exclusively, Soviet Jews—who were denied permission to emigrate, primarily to Israel, by the authori ...

s in Soviet Union, and informed federal, state, and local government officials, thus influencing the Soviet-American relations during the two final decades of the Cold War. The GNYCSJ organized public events aimed to raise public awareness of the plight of the Soviet Jewry, including annual Solidarity Sunday rallies that gathered large crowds of supporters in New York City. GNYCSJ co-sponsored the 1987 Freedom Sunday for Soviet Jews in Washington, D.C. attended by 250,000 participants.

Leadership

Malcolm Hoenlin was the first director of GNYCSJ. During the 1970S the GNYCSJ was chaired by

Robert Abrams Robert Abrams (born July 4, 1938) is an American attorney and politician. He served as the attorney general of New York from 1979 to 1993 and was the Democratic nominee for the 1992 United States Senate election in New York. Early life and educ ...

and during the 1980s by Seymour P. Lachman, who was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). Zeesy Schnur served as the Executive Director.{{Cite web, url=http://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/30-years-later-the-big-rally-is-little-remembered/, title=30 Years Later, 'The Big Rally' Is Little Remembered, last=Rosenblatt, first=Gary, date=November 15, 2017, website=The New York Jewish Week, access-date=30 January 2018

Footnotes

External links

Guide to the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry collection
at the American Jewish Historical Society. Central Asian American culture in New York (state) Human rights organizations based in the United States Jewish political organizations Organizations established in 1971 Russian-Jewish culture in New York City 1971 establishments in New York City Soviet Jewry movement