ORT (organization)

After the Second Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth , its eastern territories, together with a very significant local Jewish population , were transferred to the Russian Empire. By decree of Catherine II of 1791, a Pale of Settlement was created, beyond which the permanent residence of Jews was prohibited, with the exception of several categories. According to the decree on the Pale of Settlement, Jews were allowed to live only in specially designated cities and towns , but not in rural areas. The result of these restrictions, as well as restrictions on the choice of occupation, was extreme crowding and poverty in places within the line.

Nikolai Bakst , writer and professor of physiology at St. Petersburg University, saw the solution to this problem in teaching people useful professions. He developed a plan to create an organization that could help them in this important matter, and convinced Samuel Polyakov, the railway tycoon and famous philanthropist, of the reality of his plan. Agreeing to petition the authorities to create a Jewish charitable foundation, Polyakov himself proposed for him a first installment of 25 thousand rubles. He was supported by Baron Horace Gunzburg , one of the most influential Russian Jews and the de facto head of the metropolitan Jewish community. ^[3]

On March 22, 1880, permission was received from the Minister of the Interior to raise funds for the creation of the fund. On April 10, five well-known financiers and industrialists of Russia - Samuil Polyakov, Horace Gunzburg, Abram Zack, Leon Rosenthal and Meer Frynland - sent in personal letters to ten thousand Russian Jews with an appeal to donate "to the formation of a possibly significant fund, the proceeds from which could be used for support and further development of vocational schools already existing for Jews, to facilitate the opening of new such schools, to facilitate the transfer of artisans from one place to another, to support a Jew Yi agricultural colonies, the establishment of new such colonies, the formation of farms and agricultural schools. " The call was effective: more than 12 thousand people from different parts of Russia responded, 204 thousand rubles were collected. To manage the fund, on September 30, 1880, the Provisional Committee for the Education of the Company was created in memory of the 25th anniversary of the reign of Sovereign Emperor Alexander II (the founders called it ORT) and the basic rules of its activity were approved. In particular, it was allowed to spend only interest on fixed capital and annual contributions. Professor Bakst became the head of the Interim Committee. ^[3]

At the beginning of its activities, the Provisional Committee saw the main task in the resettlement of Jewish artisans from the Pale of Settlement in the inner provinces of Russia. They were given a loan from 50 to 300 rubles for moving and device in a new place. By law of 1865, artisans, as well as certain other categories of Jews, were allowed to live outside the Pale of Settlement (provided that they would be engaged in their profession). It soon became clear that the activities of ORT in relocating artisans were not very effective. The main reasons for this failure were also mentioned: firstly, after the assassination of Alexander the Second in 1881, the legal status of Jewish artisans outside the Pale of Settlement became extremely fragile, and secondly, the need for craft work in many places in Russia was not so great that the newcomer immediately found an occupation for himself, and finally, thirdly, a believing Jew could not find suitable conditions for fulfilling religious duties in a new place. With the help of ORT, only 170 artisans relocated to whom 27 thousand rubles were issued in the form of non-repayable loans. After a few years, this activity ceased. ^[3]

Other ORT programs have developed more successfully. Large amounts were given to needy artisans in the Pale of Settlement for the purchase of tools and the arrangement of workshops. Such loans were received by Jewish farmers from the southern and southwestern colonies ; by 1906, their total amount exceeded 150 thousand rubles. But the greatest success was achieved in the development of craft schools and vocational classes at primary schools. Until 1906, more than 200 thousand rubles were allocated to 150 schools. ORT has always considered vocational training for all who needed it to be its main task. ^[3]

After the Jewish pogroms that swept through the country, mass emigration began. About two million Jews immigrated from the Russian Empire (including the Kingdom of Poland) to the United States from 1881 to 1915; immigration to Palestine, Argentina, Brazil and other countries was also significant. In the changed conditions, ORT began to prepare people for work everywhere, no matter where fate had thrown them. ^[3]

In 1892, in St. Petersburg, Baron Gunzburg opened a branch of the Jewish Colonization Society , founded in London by Baron Moris de Hirsch a year earlier with the goal of “Helping the emigration of Jews from any part of Europe or Asia, and especially from countries where they are subject to special taxation, political or other restrictions, in any other parts of the world, to establish colonies in various parts of the Americas for agricultural, commercial and other purposes. ” ECO founded several dozen Jewish agricultural colonies, mainly in Argentina and Canada.

The ORT charter was approved only in 1906. Then, instead of a provisional committee, a standing committee was formed, elected by the general meeting of members of the company, and a minimum membership fee of three rubles a year was established. The head of ORT lawyer Leonty Bramson was elected to the Duma. ^[3]

To help Jews affected by World War I , ORT launched a special program called “Assistance through Labor”: refugee employment agencies were created in 72 cities. In total, 60 thousand people applied to these agencies. Meanwhile, 3100 children were employed in 31 ORT vocational schools. After the war, similar societies appeared in Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. In 1921, at the international conference in Berlin, the World ORT Union was formed to coordinate the activities of Craft Societies in different countries. Its president was Leon (Leonty) Bramson. With the advent of the Nazis, the leadership of the World ORT Union first moved to Paris and then to Marseille. Leon Bramson led the union until 1941. His successors were Dr. A. Sigalovsky and D. Lvovich. ^[3]

In 1921, the Soviet authorities placed the people they liked at the head of ORT in Russia, and this hindered the cooperation of the Worldwide Society for the Distribution of Labor with its branches in Soviet Russia (later in the Soviet Union). In addition, there was no consensus among the leaders of the Worldwide Society for the Distribution of Labor regarding the Soviet Union. Bramson was a principled opponent of the Soviet regime, another leader of the society, Singalovsky, although he was not a supporter of communism, was nevertheless sympathetic to a number of measures taken by the Soviet government, especially to the policy of “productive” Soviet Jewry, to attracting Jews to agricultural labor . Most of the leaders of the Labor Distribution Society sincerely wanted to help Soviet Jews, and the Soviet side, in turn, needed funds; therefore, in 1923, and then in 1925, agreements were signed on the activities of the world distribution society in the Soviet Union. In the years 1926-30. 4.7 million rubles were allocated to help Soviet Jews, of which 3 million 225 thousand were allocated for the purchase of equipment for Jewish artisans and craft cooperatives; 902 thousand - to help Jewish agricultural colonization; 288 thousand for professional education, 57 thousand for technical assistance, and 288 thousand for various needs. In 1930, the Soviet branch of the Society for the Distribution of Labor was merged with OZET , however, the world-wide Society for the Distribution of Labor (which provided the above amounts) continued to help the Soviet Union. ^[one]

Between the two world wars, society actively participated in solving the economic problems of Eastern European Jews, in particular, helping artisans devastated by the war. In Poland, the Craft Society supported 49 Jewish vocational schools. In Bessarabia, where there were Jewish agricultural settlements , between the two world wars, the Labor Distribution Society helped 37 of them. ^[one]

During this period, the Labor Distribution Society reduced aid to agricultural settlements (in the 1930s it began to decline), nevertheless, and in 1934, the Labor Distribution Society helped 39 collective farms. The society continued to support cooperatives of artisans as well as homeworkers, in most cases religious Jews, who, wishing to observe the Sabbath, could not work in enterprises and institutions and took work home. In 1935, the Labor Distribution Society sent equipment to a number of Birobidzhan enterprises, although some of the public figures were critical of the Birobidzhan project. In 1938, due to the intensification of extremely totalitarian tendencies in Soviet politics, the Jewish cultural and social activities sharply curtailed: the activity of all foreign Jewish organizations, including the Labor Distribution Society, ceased in the Soviet Union. ^[one]

When World War II broke out, ORT offices continued to operate in Nazi-occupied Europe. All Jewish communities needed their help: the Nazis forbade Jews to work in their specialty, and in order not to starve to death, it was necessary to learn new professions. Former lawyers, doctors, economists learned to repair electrical appliances, studied plumbing. ORT workshops saved thousands of Jews in ghettos and labor camps. In Poland in 1940, when almost all Jewish organizations were banned, the Craft Society was allowed to continue working, and 2,300 people then enrolled in professional courses. ORT operated in Vilnius and Bialystok, in Romania and Hungary. Together with those who managed to escape from the war-torn Europe, society developed new cities and countries. In Shanghai, where 17,000 Jews lived in 1941, ORT opened a vocational school that existed until the early 1950s. Schools were created in the USA, Canada, Chile, and in other countries of Latin America. ^[3]

After the defeat of the Nazis, hundreds of thousands of surviving Jews in Europe, who were left without a home or citizenship, needed help. In 1946, more than 140 thousand Jewish refugees were in special camps for displaced persons in Germany, about 30 thousand in Austria, and 25 thousand in Italy. Most of them were between the ages of 16 and 24, and almost no one owned any craft. The first vocational school for Jewish refugees under the motto “Take Care of Your Future - Learn the Profession”, the renewed ORT opened in the Bavarian city of Landsberg. At the end of 1947, under the auspices of the society, 934 teachers led 597 vocational training courses in 78 training centers. In total, about 45 thousand people learned craft there. In 1950, the work of the German ORT ceased: there were almost no Jews in Germany. ^[3]

However, in 1958, the activities of ORT resumed. His name now sounded in English: “Organization, Reconstruction and Training,” and the main task was to collect donations for ORT schools and workshops in Israel. The first such workshops appeared in Palestine back in 1946, before the proclamation of the state of Israel. ^[3]

The ORT World Union strategy has changed, with its headquarters moving to London. ORT helps people get a profession, regardless of origin or religion. Many countries, such as Bangladesh, Bolivia, Bhutan, and Bahrain have asked the community for assistance in training. More recently, ORT has been involved in a return to normal Kosovo and Bosnia. In Russia, the Craft Society, banned by the Soviet authorities in the 1920s, was revived in 1991: special schools and schools were opened in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Samara ... ^[3]

World ORT ("World ORT Union") is a federation of autonomous ORT organizations operating in different countries. Currently, ORT operates in North America, Latin America, Africa, Asia, Western Europe, the Baltic States and the CIS ^[2] . ORT also participates in international economic and social development programs, providing technical assistance and training in third world countries. In 2005, the total budget of these organizations exceeded $ 250 million. ^[four]

The headquarters of the World ORT Union is located in London. ORT has an advisory vote in the information and educational programs of UNESCO , is an observer at the International Labor Organization ^[5] and co-founder of ICVA (International Council of Volunteer Agencies).

In 2003, 90,000 students were trained in a network of schools and colleges in Israel, which includes 159 institutions. ORT graduates make up 25% of the high-tech industry. ^[6] However, in 2006 the Israeli branch of ORT ceased its membership in the World ORT Union. ^[7] Friends of Israel Sci-Tech Schools is a fundraiser for the Israeli ORT in the United States. ^[8] . At the same time, the ORT World Union continues to operate in Israel under the name “Kadima Mada”, financing joint projects with the Ministry of Education, other ministries, regional councils and hospitals.

• Jewish colonization society
• Jewish Land Management Society
• HIAS
• American Jewish World Service

• The Society of Craft and Agricultural Labor among Jews in Russia // Jewish Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron . - SPb. , 1908-1913.
• World ORT
• World ORT International Cooperation