|
History
The Early Years
Historians have estimated that one out of every two Americans can trace his or her roots back to an immigrant who landed at Ellis Island. Growing from organizations founded in 1881 to assist Jewish migrants arriving there, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society has touched the life of nearly every Jewish family in America.
From humble beginnings in a storefront on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the agency provided much-needed comfort and aid to thousands of new arrivals to these shores. It soon became famous worldwide - and in many languages - as HIAS, the abbreviation that was its first cable address.
In the 1880s, waves of pogroms (anti-Jewish riots) engulfed the Jewish Pale of Settlement in Russia and Eastern Europe. After the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881, a calculated policy of anti-Semitism became the law of the land in the Pale. Suddenly those living in the heartland of the Jewish population were struck with a passion to emigrate.
 |
1912-HIAS clients, refugees from Russia, celebrating their first Passover in America
|
In New York City, the tiny Russian Jewish population took note as their numbers swelled by the thousands. As an emergency measure, they formed the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society to provide meals, transportation and jobs for the new arrivals to Manhattan. To temporarily house those without relatives, a shelter was established on the Lower East Side. In 1889, under the auspices of Eastern European Jews, this shelter adopted the name of the Hebrew Sheltering House Association. Dormitory space, a soup kitchen and clothing were made available to any needy Jew.
In 1891, Jewish residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kiev were expelled and many came to America. Ellis Island was the place of entry for these new arrivals. The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society was there to facilitate legal entry, reception and immediate care for them. In the half-century following its establishment in 1904, the Society's bureau on Ellis Island helped more than 100,000 Jews who might otherwise have been turned away. The bureau provided translation services, guided immigrants through medical screening and other procedures, argued before the Boards of Special Enquiry to prevent deportations, lent some needy Jews the $25 landing fee and obtained bonds for others guaranteeing their employable status.
 |
Ellis Island, NY circa 1900
|
The Society also spent a great deal of effort searching for the relatives of detained immigrants in order to secure the necessary affidavits of support guaranteeing that the immigrants would not become public charges. By 1917, the activities of the bureau illustrated the importance of this location service; of 900 immigrants detained during one month, 600 were held because they had neither money nor friends to claim them. Through advertising and other methods, the Society was able to locate relatives for the vast majority of detainees, who in a short time were released from Ellis Island.
Many of the Jews traveling in steerage on the steamship lines across the Atlantic refused the non-kosher food served on their journeys and arrived at Ellis Island malnourished and vulnerable to deportation on medical grounds. In 1911, the Society had a kosher kitchen installed at the Island. Between 1925 and 1952, HIAS' kosher kitchen provided more than half a million meals to immigrants; in the peak year, 1940, 85,794 meals were served. The Society also provided religious services and musical concerts at Ellis Island. It ran an employment bureau and sold railroad tickets at reduced rates to immigrants headed for other cities.
In 1909, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society merged with the Hebrew Sheltering House Association and had became universally known as HIAS. By 1914, HIAS had branches in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston and an office in Washington, D.C.
The War Years
 |
A citizenship class at the HIAS shelter
|
The outbreak of World War I in 1914 brought the largest influx of Jews from Eastern Europe yet; 138,051 in that year alone. But soon after, restrictions on immigration hampered HIAS' efforts. A literacy test was legislated in 1917 and quota legislation was passed in 1921 and 1924. The National Origins Quota restricted the number of immigrants allowed into America to no more than two percent of the number of each nationality residing in the U.S. in 1890. This severely restricted the entry of Jews from Eastern Europe.In 1921, HIAS bought the former Astor Library on Lafayette Street in Manhattan to serve as a shelter and provide all the same care and maintenance for those settling in New York that had formerly been provided at Ellis Island. Offices on the first two floors gave way to housing on the third and fourth floors. Kosher kitchens, a small synagogue, classrooms for job training and civics education, a playground for immigrant children, and a weekly bazaar all provided for the needs of the thousands of immigrants who passed through the shelter's doors each year. (The north wall of the building, since 1965 the Joseph Papp Public Theatre, still bears faded paint reading "HIAS." You can see it looking south from Astor Place.)
Among the Society's proudest operations are those that were conducted through the shelter. Though precious few refugees were rescued during World War II, due to the restrictive National Origins Quota of 1924, HIAS provided immigration and refugee services to those who were. After the war, HIAS was instrumental in evacuating the displaced persons camps and aiding in the resettlement of some 150,000 people in 330 U.S. communities, as well as Canada, Australia and South America.
Since 1950
 |
Displaced persons from Europe after WWII
|
Since 1950, HIAS' activities have mirrored world events. In 1956, HIAS rescued Jews fleeing the Soviet invasion of Hungary and evacuated the Jewish community of Egypt after their expulsion during the Sinai Campaign. During the Cuban revolution in 1959, HIAS set up operations in Miami to rescue the Jews of Cuba. During the early 1960s, HIAS rescued Jews from Algeria and Libya and arranged with Morocco's King Hassan for the evacuation of his country's huge Jewish community to France and, eventually, Israel.
In 1965, HIAS was instrumental in the passage of an immigration law that finally replaced the National Origins Quota, liberalizing decades of restrictive admissions policies. In 1968, HIAS came to the aid of Czechoslovakia's Jews after the suppression of "Prague Spring" and to Poland's Jews after rabid anti-semetic campaigns racked that country.
By the early '70s, the first Jews were coming out of the Soviet Union and HIAS was there to help. In 1975, following the fall of Saigon, HIAS began to work with refugees from Southeast Asia. In 1977, HIAS began working to help evacuate the Jews of Ethiopia, which culminated in several dramatic airlifts to Israel. In 1979, the overthrow of the Shah precipitated a slow but steady trickle of Jews escaping the oppressive theocracy of Iran.
 |
Moroccan Jews arriving in freedom
|
In two modern waves, the Jews of the former Soviet Union have found their way to freedom with the help of HIAS. The first wave peaked in 1979. The second wave, which began in the late '80s, has so far brought more than 140,000 Jews to these shores for reunification with their relatives.
In the 2000s, HIAS has continued its work, helping Jewish and non-Jewish refugees and immigrants from Afghanistan, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Ethiopia, Haiti, Hungary, Iran, Morocco, Poland, Romania, Tunisia, Vietnam, and the successor states to the former Soviet Union. In 2001, HIAS celebrated its 120th anniversary year, culminating with a "HIAS Day" festival in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, which attracted 45,000 HIAS immigrants and supporters. Special guests included HIAS immigrants Hadassah Lieberman and Olympic gold-medalist Lenny Krayzelburg, and other dignitaries. Two days after the joyful "HIAS Day" celebration, Islamic terrorists attacked America, throwing the entire U.S. immigration system into turmoil. HIAS mobilized its network to continue serving refugees, despite extreme delays in the arrival process brought on by increased security measures and the reorganization of the INS into the new Department of Homeland Security. In 2003, after the U.S. war against Iraq reached a turning point, HIAS was one of the first humanitarian agencies - and the first Jewish organization - to go into that country to assess the situation for Jews. With the help of HIAS, nine of the 34 remaining Jews were safely flown to Israel. In 2006 the 125th anniversary of HIAS was noted throughout the year.
Visas to Freedom
|
