Association des Israelites Pratiquants. Association of Orthodox Jews Kehillat Haharedim (RG 340)

Association des Israelites Pratiquants. Association of Orthodox Jews (Kehillat Haharedim) was organized in 1936 by Rabbi Schneur Zalmen Schneersohn (Chneerson), to conduct religious and educational activities throughout France. During the German occupation, the organization engaged in underground activities, rescuing and supporting Jews, especially children. Originally centered in Paris, its headquarters were moved to Marseilles in 1940, to Demu in 1942 and to St. Etienne-de-Crossey in 1943. After the war, the organization concerned itself chiefly with searching for children hidden in Christian homes throughout the French countryside and with working for their return to a Jewish environment. A questionnaire was distributed by the Kehillat Haharedim to numerous municipalities in France, inquiring about the existence of Jewish children and expressing the organization's willingness to take custody of such children and to provide for them. Copyright Holder: Yivo Institute for Jewish Research Records of the Kehillat Haharedim (Association des Israelites Pratiquants. Association of Orthodox Jews). Consist of correspondence, letters, list of refugees and internees, lists of students, lists of members of Kehillat Haharedim in Paris, bulletin of the organization, financial records, questionnaires, statistical reports, and minutes. Most of records constitute of correspondence with children's homes, internees of camps, rabbis, with the organizations as: the Union générale des israélites de France (UGIF), Hias-Ica Emigration Association (HICEM), World Union OSE (OSE), Federation de Societes Juives de France, Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJDC), Comite d'Aide Immediate aux Deportes et Victimes de la Guerre, and branches of the Kehillat Haharedim in Moirans, Toulouse, Marseilles. The records relate to the Kehillat Haharedim's activities during and after the World War II, including providing relief work in the camps, sending clothes and religious articles, organizing vocational courses such as tailoring, rescuing Jewish children, organizing Kehillat Haharedim school in Paris, sending relief packages of kosher food, organizing relief projects for Nazi victims.