P.37- Archive of Benjamin Arditti: Documentation Regarding the History of Bulgarian Jewry, 1850-1964

P.37- Archive of Benjamin Arditti: Documentation Regarding the History of Bulgarian Jewry, 1850-1964
 
 Benjamin Arditti was born in Vienna in 1897. He lived in Sofia (except for two years during World War II) from 1916-1949. He was one of the outstanding activists in the Zionist movement in Bulgaria: he served as a member of the Central Committee of the Zionist Union in Bulgaria, 1919-1923; he held five terms of office as the representative to the World Zionist Congress; he served as the chairman of the Zionist Organization in Sofia; he was one of the founders of the Revisionist movement in Bulgaria and its chairman from 1925-1935. Arditti was a member of the illegal Committee for the Rescue of Bulgarian Jewry during World War II, maintaining his Zionist activities and encouragement of aliya to Eretz Israel after 1944. Arditti continued to serve as representative of the Revisionists in the Union of Bulgarian Jews during the years 1947-1949. He made aliya to Israel and joined the leadership of the Herut party and the Organization of Sephardi Jews in Israel in 1949. He also served as the chairman of the Central Committee of the World Sephardi Federation and a member of the Knesset. 
 
 As early as the 1930s, Benjamin Arditti expressed interest in the history of the Jews of Bulgaria; he wrote two books and many newspaper articles on the subject. He continued these activities in Israel and concentrated on events in the history of the community during the Holocaust. Additionally, he continued to write articles and newspaper stories regarding events in the history of the Jewish people throughout the world, the Zionist movement in Bulgaria and the world and the history of the Sephardi Jews and their situation in Eretz Israel.
 
 The material in the private collection of Benjamin Arditti can be divided into the following classifications:
 
 1. Personal and family documentation (correspondence, pictures and more);
 
 2. Benjamin Arditti's correspondence with various institutions and public figures;
 
 3. Manuscripts and various publications (articles, essays and more, not including books) by Benjamin Arditti;
 
 4. Documentation regarding Benjamin Arditti's activities as a Knesset member and an activist in Sephardi Jewish organizations;
 
 5. Documentation regarding the history of the Jews in Bulgaria until World War II, Zionism and the Zionist movement in Bulgaria and throughout the world;
 
 6. Documentation regarding the Jews of Bulgaria during World War II. The material consists of the following documentation:
 - Internal policies of Bulgaria during the war and anti-Jewish legislation;
 
 - Implementation of the anti-Semitic policy and Commissariat for Jewish Affairs activities;
 
 - Condition of the various Jewish communities in Bulgaria during the war;
 
 - Unsuccessful aliya attempts to Eretz Israel and the fate of the two illegal immigrant ships, "Salvador" and "Struma";
 
 - The Holocaust of the Jews of Turkey and Macedonia:
 
 - Forced labor camps in Bulgaria;
 
 - Rescue of the Jews of Bulgaria;
 
 7. Documentation regarding aliya from Bulgaria to Eretz Israel, from the late 19th century until the "Great Aliya", 1948-1949.
 
 There is also original documentation in the records group as a whole (mainly personal documentation belonging to Arditti, but also many documents regarding the history of the Jews of Bulgaria before the 1940s, the Zionist movement in Bulgaria and the fate of the Jews of Bulgaria, Turkey and Macedonia during the Holocaust), photographs and copies of various documents, newspaper clippings and journals on a range of subjects.