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{{short description|Jewish American nonprofit organization providing humanitarian aid and assistance to refugees}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2018}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2018}}
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| logo = File:HIAS logo only RBG lores.jpg
| status = [[501(c)(3)]] [[nonprofit organization]]{{r|990-2014}}
| headquarters = [[Silver Spring, Maryland]], United States<ref>{{cite web |title=Financials |publisher=HIAS |url=https://www.hias.org/financials |accessdateaccess-date=May 15, 2016}}</ref>
| leader_title = [[President (corporation)|President]] and [[chief executive officer]]
| leader_name = Mark J. Hetfield<ref name="HIAS-staff">{{cite web |title=Staff |publisher=HIAS |url=https://www.hias.org/staff |access-date=May 15, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160523041706/https://www.hias.org/staff |archive-date=May 23, 2016}}</ref>
| leader_title2 = [[Chairman|Chair]] of the [[Board of Directors|board]]
| leader_name2 = RobertJeff D. AronsonBlattner{{r|HIAS-staff}}
| subsidiaries = Charitable Remainder Unitrust{{r|990-2014}}
| volunteers = 25{{r|990-2014}}
| formerly = Hebrew Sheltering Aid Society;<br /> Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society;<br /> Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society;<br /> United HIAS Service, Inc.;<br />Association for the Protection of Jewish Immigrants
| name = HIAS, Inc.
| purpose = To rescue people whose lives are in danger for being who they are; to protect the most vulnerable refugees, helping them build new lives and reuniting them with their families in safety and freedom; to advocate for the protection of refugees and assure that displaced people are treated with the dignity they deserve.{{r|990-2014}}
| tax_id = 13-5633307{{r|990-2014}}
| founded = {{start date and age|1881|11|27}}<ref name= provision>"[https://www.newspapers.com/image/36024769/ Provision for Persecuted Jews]". ''The Inter Ocean'' (Chicago, Illinois, U.S.). November 28, 1881. p. 5.</ref>
| founded = 1881{{r|990-2014}}
| founding_location = New York, New York, U.S.<ref name= provision/>
| employees = 67{{r|990-2014}}
| employees_year = 2014
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| expenses_year = 2014
| endowment = $62,944,322{{r|990-2014}}
| website = {{url|httphttps://www.hias.org/}}
}}
'''HIAS''' (founded as the '''Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society'''<ref name="HIAS-history">{{cite web |title=History |publisher=HIAS |url=https://www.hias.org/history |accessdateaccess-date=October 31, 2018}}</ref>) is a [[American Jews|Jewish American]] nonprofit organization that provides humanitarian aid and assistance to refugees. It was originally established inon November 27, 1881, originally to aidhelp the large number of [[Russian-Americans|Russian]] [[American Jews|Jewish]] refugee[[immigration to the United States|immigrants]] to the United States who had left Europe to escape [[Pogroms in the Russian Empire#1881–1882|antisemitic persecution and violence]]s.<ref name= provision/> In 1975, the [[State Department]] asked HIAS to aid in resettling 3,600 [[Vietnam]] refugees.{{r|HIAS-history}} Since that time, the organization continues to provide support for [[refugee]]s of all nationalities, religions, and ethnic origins. The organization works with people whose lives and freedom are believed to be at risk due to war, persecution, or violence. HIAS has offices in the United States and across Latin America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Since its inception, HIAS has helped resettle more than 4.5 {{nbsp}}million people.
 
== Name ==
According to HIAS, the [[acronym]] ''HIAS'' was first used as a [[telegraphic address]] and eventually became the universally used name of the organization. A 1909 merger with the Hebrew Sheltering Aid Society resulted in the official name Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society, but the organization continued to be generally known as "H.I.A.S." or more usually as "HIAS",<ref name="HIAS-early-years">{{cite web |title=The Early Years |publisher=HIAS |url=https://www.hias.org/the-early-years |accessdateaccess-date=December 18, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219140829/http://www.hias.org/en/pages/the-early-years |archive-date=December 19, 2013}}</ref><ref name="NYT-Mason-obit">{{cite news |date=January 25, 1950 |title=Samuel Mason, 71, Ex-Aide of H.I.A.S. |page=25 |department=Obituary |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> which eventually became the official name.
 
== History ==
HIASThe wasHebrew foundedImmigrant inAid 1881{{r|HIAS-history}}{{efn|name=foundation}}Society inwas responseestablished toon theNovember late27, 19th-1881, andoriginally earlyto 20th-centuryhelp exodusthe large number of [[JewRussian-Americans|Russian]]ish [[emigrantAmerican Jews|Jewish]]s from [[Imperialimmigration Russiato the United States|immigrants]]. Itto mergedthe withUnited theStates Hebrewwho Shelteringhad Houseleft Association,Europe foundedto inescape New[[Pogroms Yorkin the sameRussian yearEmpire#1881–1882|antisemitic persecution and violence]].<ref name="UNHCR" provision/>{{citeefn|Up to 2013, HIAS's web |last=Irwinsite |first=Timgave no founding |date=February 3,but 2011stated |title=Q&A:that Jewishthe agencyorganization inwas USoperating markssince 130at least 1891.{{refn|name=HIAS-early-years}} ofThe protectingsite now gives the persecutedfoundation |publisher=[[UNHCR]]date |url=http://wwwof 1881.unhcr.org/print/4d4ab6556.html {{refn|accessdatename=December 19, 2013HIAS-history}}</ref> [[Lawrence J. Epstein]] writeshas written that the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society was founded in 1904;<ref>{{harvnb|Epstein|2007|p=40}}. "HEAS Agents were notorious in their mistreatment of immigrants at [[Castle Clinton|Castle Garden]]. The group&nbsp;— not to be confused with HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society&nbsp;— ceased functioning in 1884. The work of HEAS was taken over by [[United Hebrew Charities]] ..."</ref> several other sources give a date of 1902.<ref>"The Jewish Migration Problem: How It Has Been Met, by Albert Rosenblatt, Vice President, Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), 1924," reproduced in Jacob Rader Marcus, ''The Jew in the American World: A Source Book'' (1996), Wayne State University Press, {{ISBN|0-8143-2548-3}}. p. 371.</ref>{{sfn|Cohn-Sherbok|1992}}<ref>{{Citecite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/heritage/episode7/documents/documents_10.html |title=HIAS Offers Aid to New Arrivals |website=[[PBS]] |access-date=August 29, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011106101144/https://www.pbs.org/wnet/heritage/episode7/documents/documents_10.html |archive-date=November 6, 2001 |url-status=bot: unknown }} in {{cite episode |date=1984<!--from series description--> |title=The Golden Land, 1654–1930s |series=Heritage: Civilization and the Jews |network=[[PBS]]}}</ref>{{sfn|Karesh|Hurvitz|2005|p=201}} An article in the ''[[Chicago Inter Ocean]]'' announced the organization's founding in 1881,<ref name= provision/> and ''[[The Baltimore Sun]]'' mentioned the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society in an article published in 1882.<ref>"[http://search.proquest.com/docview/534635066/ Alleged Clubbing of Immigrants: Was This a Police Outrage]". ''The Baltimore Sun''. June 14, 1882. p. 1. ''"The New York Herald states that two Russian Hebrew immigrants were subjected to very severe usage by a policeman in that city Monday, their offense consisting in having complained of ill treatment by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society when asked for assistance. It is stated, on the authority of an eye witness, that a policeman became angry because of a request from one of the immigrants to be allowed to go into an office of the society in a basement, and dealt the immigrant a powerful blow with a club, the blood spurting from a terrible gash and pouring in streams over his face and neck."''</ref> HIAS has reported its date of formation as 1881 on its [[Form 990|annual return]] with the [[Internal Revenue Service]].<ref name="990-2014">{{cite web |title=Form 990: Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax |publisher=HIAS Inc |via=[[GuideStar]] |url=http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2014/135/633/2014-135633307-0c3cb10b-9.pdf |accessdateaccess-date=December 31, 2014}}</ref>}} J. Harwood Menken was its first [[President (corporation)|president]].<ref>"[https://www.newspapers.com/image/530303609/ Local and Domestic]". ''The American Israelite''. December 30, 1881. p. 215.</ref> The organization merged with the Hebrew Sheltering House Association, which had been founded in New York earlier that year.<ref name="UNHCR">{{cite web |last=Irwin |first=Tim |date=February 3, 2011 |title=Q&A: Jewish agency in US marks 130 years of protecting the persecuted |publisher=[[UNHCR]] |url=http://www.unhcr.org/print/4d4ab6556.html |access-date=December 19, 2013}}</ref>
 
In 1904, HIAS established a formal bureau on [[Ellis Island]], the primary arrival point of European immigrants to the United States at that time.{{r|HIAS-early-years}}{{sfn|Epstein|2007|p=40}}<ref>{{cite news |date=July 30, 1905 |title=Family Split By Law |page=12 |work=[[The New York Times]]}} A contemporary reference to the group.</ref>
 
In March 1909, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society merged with the Hebrew Sheltering House Association to form the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society,{{r|NYT-Mason-obit}}<ref>{{cite news |date=January 24, 1910 |title=Schiff Would Check Jewish Immigrants |page=16 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> which continued to be widely known as HIAS. By 1914, HIAS had branches in [[Baltimore]], [[Philadelphia]],<ref>{{cite web |last=Levy |first=L. E.<!--(1846–1919)--> |year=1915 |title=Correspondence of the President's Office, January–March 1915 |at=001Verso |via=[[Temple University]] |url=https://digital.library.temple.edu/digital/collection/p16002coll28/id/1122 |accessdateaccess-date=November 1, 2018}} Correspondence addressed to Levy in Philadelphia "as President of the Association for the Protection of Jewish Immigrants (currently known as HIAS Pennsylvania)."</ref> [[Boston]], and an office in [[Washington, D.C.]]
 
In 1891, Jewish residents of [[Moscow]], [[St Petersburg|St. Petersburg]], and [[Kyiv]] were expelled and many came to America;{{r|UNHCR}} beginning in 1892, Ellis Island was the point of entry for most of these new arrivals. In the half-century following the establishment of a formal Ellis Island bureau in 1904, HIAS helped more than 100,000 Jewish immigrants who might otherwise have been turned away. They provided translation services, guided immigrants through medical screening and other procedures, argued before the Boards of Special Enquiry to prevent deportations, lent needy Jews the $25 landing fee, and obtained bonds for others guaranteeing their employable status. The Society was active on the island facilitating legal entry, reception, and immediate care for the newly arrived.
 
HIAS also searched for relatives of detained immigrants in order to secure the necessary affidavits of support to guarantee that the new arrivals would not become [[Public charge rule|public chargescharge]]s. Lack of such affidavits and/or material means impacted a large number of immigrants: of the 900 immigrants detained during one month in 1917, 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.{{citationCitation needed|date=December 2013}} In 1911, the Society installed a kosher kitchen on the Island.{{r|UNHCR}}{{sfn|Epstein|2007|p=42}} Between 1925 and 1952, HIAS' kosher kitchen provided more than a half million meals to immigrants; in the peak year, 1940, 85,794 meals were served.{{citationCitation needed|date=December 2013}} The Society also provided religious services and musical concerts at Ellis Island.{{sfn|Epstein|2007|p=42}} It ran an employment bureau and sold railroad tickets at reduced rates to immigrants headed for other cities.{{sfn|Epstein|2007|p=42}}
 
In the summer of 1911, HIAS set up an Oriental Department to meet the growing needs of immigrants from the [[Balkans]] and [[Near East]], who began arriving in the U.S. in considerable numbers. Between 1908 and 1913, approximately 10,000 Jewish emigrants left the [[Middle East]] for the U.S.
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The [[Russian Revolution (1917)|Russian Revolution of 1917]] – and the following [[civil war]], [[famine]], and [[pogrom]]s that left about 50,000 Jews dead – created another surge of emigration from the former [[Russian Empire]]. HIAS continued to help these immigrants find safe haven despite growing anti-immigration sentiments in the U.S.
 
In 1918 HIAS sent a representative, Samuel Mason, on a mission to Japan, Manchuria and Vladivostok on behalf of thousands of European immigrants stranded in the Far East by the World War and the Russian Revolution. He established HIAS offices and international post offices and succeeded in helping both Jews and non-Jews on their journeys to new homes in the USAUS and other countries.{{r|NYT-Mason-obit}} He also established The Central Information Bureau for Jewish War Sufferers in the Far East which worked with HIAS to help Jewish refugees in Shanghai through the end of World War II.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.nli.org.il/sites/NLI/English/collections/personalsites/CAHJP/Holdings/Organizations/Pages/far-eastern-jewish-central-information-bureau-emigrants-daljewcib.aspx|title=Far Eastern Jewish Central Information Bureau for Emigrants (DALJEWCIB)|website=web.nli.org.il}}</ref>
 
Between the years 1909 and 1919, HIAS registered 482,742 immigrants arriving in the U.S. HIAS' Ellis Island Bureau interceded with 28,884 held for special inquiry, of whom 22,780 were admitted based on second hearings, with only 6,104 deported. During this period HIAS facilitated the naturalization of 64,298 immigrants.
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The dislocation and turmoil following [[World War I]] led to acts of anti-Semitism throughout the former war zone, especially in [[Poland]], [[Romania]], [[Russia]], and [[Hungary]]. While other Jewish agencies, most notably the [[American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee]] ("The Joint"), supplied Jews in the affected countries with food, clothing, and medical supplies, HIAS created a worldwide network of Jewish organizations to provide assistance in immigration to the U.S., [[Canada]], [[South America]], [[Australia]], and [[China]].<!-- this paragraph could still use citation, HICEM (next para) does not support it. -->
 
The establishment of HICEM in 1927 proved critical to the later rescue operation that saved thousands of Jewish lives during [[World War II]].<ref name="HICEM">{{cite web |title=HICEM |publisher=Shoah Resource Center ([[Yad Vashem]]) |url=http://www1.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206368.pdf |accessdateaccess-date=December 13, 2013}}</ref>
 
HICEM resulted from the merger of three Jewish migration associations: New York-based HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society); [[Jewish Colonization Association]] (JCA), which was based in [[Paris]] but registered as a British charitable society; and Emigdirect (United Jewish Emigration Committee), a migration organization based in Berlin. HICEM is an acronym of these organizations' names.{{r|HICEM}}
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The agreement between the three organizations stipulated that all local branches outside the U.S. would merge into HICEM, while HIAS would still deal with Jewish immigration to the U.S. However, Emigdirect was forced to withdraw from the merger in 1934, and British wartime regulations later restricted the JCA from using its funds outside [[United Kingdom|Britain]]. Thus, for a while, HICEM was funded exclusively by HIAS and could be considered as its European extension.{{r|HICEM}}
 
In 1923, HIAS established the HIAS Immigrant Bank at 425 Lafayette Street in the [[East Village, Manhattan|East Village]] neighborhood of [[Manhattan]]. The bank was licensed by the [[State of New York]].<ref>{{cite news |date=January 12, 1968 |title=Israel Discount Bank Buys Hias Immigrant Bank; Fiscal Statement Gives Details |url=https://www.jta.org/1968/01/12/archive/israel-discount-bank-buys-hias-immigrant-bank-fiscal-statement-gives-details|newspaper=[[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]] |accessdateaccess-date=December 16, 2019}}</ref> Its sole purpose was to facilitate [[remittance]] or money transfers to and from immigrants’immigrants' families abroad, which was then a service not offered by most U.S. banks.<ref>{{cite news |date=June 15, 2018 |title=More than just a pretty facade: HIAS at Lafayette Street |author= Janine Veazue |url=http://www.ajhs.org/blog/more-just-pretty-facade-hias-lafayette-street|newspaper=[[American Jewish Historical Society]] |accessdateaccess-date=December 16, 2019}}</ref>
 
=== World War II and the Holocaust ===
 
By the time World War II broke out in September 1939, HICEM had offices throughout Europe, South and Central America, and the Far East. Its employees advised and prepared European refugees for emigration, including helping them during their departure and arrival.{{citationCitation needed|date=December 2013}}
 
HICEM's European headquarters were in Paris.<ref name="findingaids">{{cite web |title=Guide to the Records of the HIAS-HICEM Offices in Europe 1924–1953 |work=[[YIVO]] Institute for Jewish Research |url=http://findingaids.cjh.org/?pID=1309366 |accessdateaccess-date=December 17, 2013}}</ref> After Germany invaded and conquered France in mid-1940, HICEM closed its Paris offices. On June 26, 1940, two days after France capitulation the main HIAS-HICEM Paris Office was authorized by Portuguese ruler [[António de Oliveira Salazar]] to be transferred from Paris to Lisbon.
{{sfn|Gallagher|2020|p=122}}{{sfn|Lochery|2011|p=53}} Initially this action by Salazar was done against the will of the British Embassy in Lisbon. The British feared that this would make the Portuguese people less sympathetic with the allied cause.{{sfn|Lochery|2011|p=53}} According to the Lisbon Jewish community, Salazar held [[Moisés Bensabat Amzalak]], the leader of the [[Lisbon Jewish community]] in high esteem and that allowed Amzalak to play an important role in getting Salazar's permission to transfer from Paris to Lisbon the main HIAS European Office in June 1940.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.cilisboa.org/sections/tikva_04/bu_4_35_hist.htm |title= Moses Bensabat Amzalak |last1= Levy |first1= Samuel |language= pt |publisher= Israeli Community in Lisbon |accessdateaccess-date= August 6, 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150923203440/http://www.cilisboa.org/sections/tikva_04/bu_4_35_hist.htm |archive-date= September 23, 2015 |url-status= dead }}</ref>{{sfn|Goldstein|1984}}
 
The French office reopened in October 1940, first in Bordeaux, for a week, and finally in Marseilles in the so-called "free zone" of [[Vichy France]].{{r|findingaids}} Until November 11, 1942, when the Germans [[Case Anton|occupied]] all of France, HICEM employees were at work in [[Internment camp|French internment camps]], such as the infamous [[Gurs internment camp|Gurs]]. HIAS looked for Jews who met [[US State Department|U.S. State Department]] immigration requirements, and were ready to leave France. At the time of the German invasion of France, there were approximately 300,000 native and foreign Jews living in France; however, the State Department's policies curbing immigration meant that the number of applicants to America far exceeded the number allowed to leave.{{citationCitation needed|date=December 2013}}
 
When all legal emigration of Jews from France ceased, HICEM began to operate clandestinely from the town of [[Brive la Gaillarde]].{{sfn|Marrus|1995|p=310}} It had an office in the upper level of the building of the Synagogue led by Rabbi [[David Feuerwerker]], the Rabbi of Brive. Here a small group of HICEM employees – establishing contact and cooperation with the local underground forces of the French resistance – succeeded in smuggling Jews out of France to [[Spain]] and [[Switzerland]]. Twenty-one HICEM employees were deported and killed in the [[Concentration camp#Concentration camp|concentration camps]]; others were killed in direct combat with the [[Nazis]].{{citationCitation needed|date=June 2012}}
 
During this period, HICEM in France worked closely with HICEM in Lisbon.{{sfn|Marrus|1995|p=310}} Lisbon, as a neutral port, was the path of choice for Jews escaping Europe to North and [[South America]]. Many of these fled from the [[Netherlands]] and Belgium and through France, or else started directly in France, and then were smuggled and climbed over the [[Pyrenees]] with "passeur" guides to [[Barcelona]], and then by train through Madrid and finally to Lisbon. From Lisbon many refugee Jewish families sailed to America on the [[RMS Ebro|Serpa Pinto]] or its sister ship the Mouzinho.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://digitalassets.ushmm.org/photoarchives/detail.aspx?id=1144450|title=Children on the deck of the Mouzinho en route to America| publisher=[[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]]|accessdateaccess-date=October 27, 2014}}</ref>
 
In the main, HICEM (HIAS) helped intact or semi-intact families to flee. But, often together with [[Œuvre de secours aux enfants]] (OSE) or with the [[American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee]]" ("the Joint," or JDCs), it also helped unaccompanied children to flee without their parents. At French concentration camps, such as the notorious [[Gurs internment camp|Gurs]], many of these children were officially allowed by the Nazis to leave but required to leave their parents in the camps. Those unaccompanied children who were forced to leave their parents behind, and who fled directly to the United States are part of the group known as the [[One Thousand Children]] (OTC) (which actually numbers about 1400). Nearly all the OTC parents were murdered by the Nazis.{{citationCitation needed|date=April 2018}}
 
Other rescue organizations also moved their European offices to Lisbon at that time, including "the Joint" (the [[American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee]]). They also included (the [[American Friends Service Committee]] (the [[Quakers]]) (see [[History of the Quakers]]).{{sfn|Weber|2011|p=171}}
 
From 1940 onward, HICEM's activities were partly supported by the Joint. Despite friction between the two organizations, they worked together to provide refugees with tickets and information about visas and transportation, and helped them leave Lisbon on neutral Portuguese ships, mainly, as already stated above, the Serpa Pinto and the Mouzinho. In all, some 40,000 Jews managed to escape Europe during the [[Holocaust]] with HICEM's and the [[American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee]] (the Joint's or JDC's) assistance.{{citationCitation needed|date=December 2013}} HICEM was dissolved in 1945; HIAS continued its work in Europe under its own name.{{r|findingaids}}
 
=== Jewish displaced persons ===
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During the 1960s, HIAS rescued Jews from [[Algeria]], [[Tunisia]], and [[Libya]] and arranged with [[Morocco]]'s [[Hassan II of Morocco|King Hassan]] for the evacuation of his country's huge Jewish community to France and, eventually, Israel. Of almost one million Jewish refugees from [[Muslim]] countries, about 80,000 were resettled by HIAS.
 
In 1965, HIAS was instrumental in the passage of an immigration law that finally replaced the [[Immigration Act of 1924|National Origins Quota]], eliminating decades of ethnic admission policies for the US. In 1968, HIAS came to the aid of Czechoslovakia's Jews after the suppression of the "[[Prague Spring]],", and to Poland's Jews after Communist Party factions started an internal fight using an anti-intellectual and anti-Semitic campaign, whose real goal was to weaken the pro-reform liberal party faction and attack other circles ([[1968 Polish political crisis]]).
 
In 1975, following the [[fall of Saigon]], HIAS was asked by the State DeptDepartment to aid in resettling 3600 Vietnam refugees.{{r|HIAS-history}}
 
It was at that time that HIAS broadened its mission, Since that time, the organization has continued to provide support for refugees of all nationalities, religions, and ethnic origins. This has been stated as: "Originally HIAS helped Jewish refugees; now HIAS is Jews helping all refugees."
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In 1977, HIAS helped evacuate the Jews of [[Ethiopia]], which culminated in several airlifts to [[Israel]]. However, in 1981, the [[Jewish Defense League]] protested the "lack of action" to rescue Ethiopian Jews by taking over the main offices of HIAS in [[Manhattan]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.jta.org/1981/09/09/archive/jdl-stages-protests-at-hias-jewish-agency-offices-claiming-lack-of-action-to-rescue-falashas|title=Jdl Stages Protests at Hias, Jewish Agency Offices, Claiming 'lack of Action' to Rescue Falashas|date=September 9, 1981|newspaper=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|location=New York}}</ref>
 
In close coordination with Israel, HIAS played a central role in rescuing Jews from [[Syria]] and [[Lebanon]]. In 1979, the overthrow of the [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah in Iran]] precipitated a slow but steady stream of Jews escaping the [[theocracy]] of that country, home to one of the world's oldest Jewish communities. In addition, to helping Iranian Jew'sJews, many Iranians for religious e.g. Bahia[[Baháʼí]] faith or political reason'sreasons were also aided by HIAS.
 
===The Soviet Jewry exodus===
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On December 3, 1966, Premier [[Alexei Kosygin]] said in Paris that "if there are some families divided by the war who want to meet their relatives outside of the USSR, or even to leave the USSR, we shall do all in our power to help them, and there is no problem." In stark contrast to the premier's words, the Soviet authorities did everything in their power to prevent Jews from leaving the country, implementing [[Antisemitism|anti-Semitic]], anti-emigration campaigns that included harassment, economic pressure, and an increasingly bureaucratic visa-application process. These methods deterred many would-be applicants, who abandoned the process once their initial applications were denied.
 
During the early years of exodus, the number of departures depended largely on the status of the United States-Soviet relationship and on financial pragmatism. In hopes of achieving economic benefits from the US, the Soviet government sporadically opened its emigration gates, sometimes even in contradiction of its own legislation. Thus, despite the "Diploma Tax" that was instituted in December 1972 and required exiting Jews to pay for the higher education they received in the USSR, the government allowed two groups of 900 persons each to leave shortly thereafter without paying. By March 1973, the tax was revoked in the face of extreme pressure from the international public community and the Soviets' fear of not being awarded [[Most favoured nation|Most Favored Nation]] status by the U.S. In December 1973, the [[Jackson-VanikJackson–Vanik amendment|Jackson–Vanik Amendment]], which linked trade agreements with the USSR to freedom of its citizens to emigrate, was passed in the [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] by a landslide. This legislation was an indicator of the degree to which the Soviet Jewry struggle had won the moral support of the West and had spurred the American Jewish community into action. The Soviet authorities were now subject to criticism not only from scattered groups of dissidents and [[refusenik]]s, but from tens of thousands protesting in front of Soviet embassies and consulates around the globe. Over time, these combined factors impacted the numbers of the Jews leaving the Soviet Union.
 
HIAS was involved from the beginning of the Jewish exodus from the USSR. In December 1966, HIAS organized a campaign to encourage American Jews to invite their Soviet relatives to join them in the U.S. The Soviet Union initially allowed limited [[Exit visa#Exit visas|exit visas]] to the U.S., though eventually, regardless of their final destination, Soviet Jews who received permission to emigrate were granted exit visas only to Israel.
 
Early on, Vienna became the first stop for all Jews exiting the USSR. There they were greeted by a representative of the [[Jewish Agency for Israel]] (JAFI) and by HIAS, and were asked to determine their final destination. Those who were going to Israel were assisted by JAFI; those headed for the U.S. or elsewhere were processed by HIAS. After a short stay in Vienna, those destined for the U.S. were transferred to [[Rome]], where they were processed by the [[Immigration and Naturalization Service|U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)]]. This route came to be known as the [[Vienna-Rome Pipeline]].<ref>[{{Cite web|url=https://www.jta.org/1989/11/07/archive/u-s-takes-step-toward-shutting-down-vienna-rome-pipeline-for-refugees]|title = U.S. Takes Step Toward Shutting Down 'vienna-rome Pipeline' for Refugees|date = November 7, 1989}}</ref><ref>[{{Cite web |title=Stateless - a documentary film about the emigration of Soviet Jews during the late 1980's |url=http://www.stateless.us/] |access-date=2022-06-17 |website=www.stateless.us}}</ref>
 
In August 1972, HIAS obtained [[Parole (United States immigration)|U.S. parole status]] for hundreds of Russian refugees waiting in Rome, cutting their transit time from six months to six weeks. Parole made immigration possible without delay for all members of a family unit reunifying with their relatives in the U.S., who were formally considered their "sponsors.".
 
In an effort to alleviate the financial burden on communities accepting increased numbers of Russian refugees, HIAS negotiated with the U.S. State Department a one-time $300 per-capita grant for Russians who emigrated from Europe to the U.S. after January 1974. HIAS passed along the full amount to each resettlement agency.
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In Washington, then-Attorney General [[Richard Thornburgh]] announced a new policy of unilateral review of all previously denied cases, using "the most generous standards for that review." The effect was immediate: INS began its review of the denied caseload in October, resulting in the overturning of more than 95 percent of the previous denials. As a result, the percentage of denials dropped from 40 to 2, eliminating the backlog.
 
Parallel activity was taking place in Congress, as this issue was brought to members' attention by HIAS and the Council of Jewish Federations (the precursor to the [[United Jewish Communities]]). In November 1989, President [[George H. W. Bush]] signed into law the Morrison-Lautenberg Amendment, which established that a member of a category group "may establish a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion [...] by asserting a credible basis for concern about the possibility of such persecution." This amendment, which has been renewed a number of times, is still in force today and greatly facilitates processing for refugees from the FSU, [[Indochina]], and Iran.
 
In late September 1989, the State Department announced a major change in processing refugee admission for Soviet applicants. With a decreasingly hostile environment inside the USSR, the U.S. instituted a system that allowed Soviet Jews to apply and remain in country while waiting for notification of status. From autumn 1989, those seeking family reunification in the U.S. applied for immigration processing at the U.S. Consulate in Moscow.
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Overall, during the 40 years of Soviet Jewish emigration, HIAS assisted more than 400,000 Soviet Jews to immigrate to the U.S.
 
Among the recipients of HIAS aid was [[Sergey Brin]], who at the age of six immigrated to the United States from the Soviet Union with his family, and later became the multi-billionaire co-founder of [[Google]]. BrinIn later2009 becameBrin adonated benefactor$1 ofmillion HIAS,to joiningthe itsorganization; boardhis andmother donatingserved $1on millionHIAS' toboard theof groupdirectors.<ref>Stephanie Stromoct, [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/us/25donate.html Billionaire Aids Charity That Aided Him], ''New York Times'' (October 24, 2009).</ref>
 
== HIAS today ==
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HIAS also advocates in the United States Congress on policies affecting refugees and immigrants.
 
HIAS has a presence in 1822 countries across the globe.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://hias.org/announcements/hias-opens-five-new-international-offices-now-assisting-refugees-22-countries/|title= Assisting Refugees in 22 Countries |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= December 7, 2022|website= HIAS.org|publisher=HIAS |access-date= December 9, 2022|quote=}}</ref> The organization's staff work with refugees living on the margins of foreign cities or in refugee camps. Depending on location, HIAS services can include trauma counseling, art therapy, legal representation, and humanitarian assistance, among others. Working with the U.S. government, the government of Israel, the [[United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees]], and a host of non-governmental organizations, HIAS assists refugees with U.S. resettlement and follows through with immigrant integration and citizenship programs. In 1968, HIAS sold HIAS Immigrant Bank to what is known today as [[IDB Bank]], which operated the acquisition as Israel Discount Trust Company, a member of the [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation]].
 
As of 2017, HIAS operates in the following places.
 
In the United States, HIAS helps resettle refugees from around the world through a national affiliate network of Jewish agencies. It coordinates resettlement services, provides extensive integration and citizenship programs for Russian speaking refugees and immigrants, and gives scholarships to refugees. HIAS also advocates for immigration laws with a network of Jewish, interfaith, and other partners in Washington, DC, and nationwide. Additionally, HIAS promotes educational initiatives that encourage Jewish communities to engage in refugee aid and services. As of 2017, HIAS initiatives include:
* National Rabbinic Letter: HIAS organized an open letter urging elected officials to continue accepting refugees into the U.S. The letter was signed by 2,001 rabbis as of May 2017.
* HIAS Welcome Campaign: More than 430 synagogues participate in this campaign to support newly resettled refugee families in their communities.<ref>[https://www.hias.org/welcome-campaign-congregations "Welcome Campaign Congregations"]''HIAS.org website''</ref>
* Legal Action: In February 2017, HIAS initiated a legal challenge against U.S. President Trump's executive order entitled "Protecting the Nation from Terrorist Entry into the United States.". The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Southern Division on February 7, 2017.
 
In Vienna and Kyiv, HIAS helps Jews and others from 43 countries receive protection and seek asylum or resettlement. In 2016 HIAS opened an office on the Greek island of Lesvos to provide legal services for refugees arriving by sea, predominantly from Syria.
 
In the Middle East, HIAS helps Jewish and other religious minorities from Iran come to the U.S. In Israel, HIAS provides scholarships for those who have recently immigrated to the Jewish stateIsrael and assists African asylum seekers. The organization also supports the resettlement of refugees of the [[Syrian Civil War]] in Jordan.<ref>[http://www.jewishjournal.com/world/article/jewish_groups_sending_aid_to_syrian_refugees_in_jordan "Jewish groups sending aid to Syrian refugees in Jordan."] ''Jewish Journal''. July 25, 2013. July 25, 2013.</ref>
 
In Chad, HIAS provides trauma counseling and social services in 12 of that country's camps for refugees from the [[Darfur]] region of Sudan and facilitates relocation for those who need additional protection. In Kenya, HIAS' trauma counseling and resettlement operations focus on the needs of the most vulnerable of the 250,000 people displaced by conflicts in Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Rwanda, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
 
In Latin America, HIAS provides full-service counseling, legal services, and humanitarian assistance for Colombian refugees fleeing to Ecuador, Venezuela, and Venezuelathe United States. It also facilitates the resettlement and integration of refugees in Argentina and Uruguay. HIAS opened its newest Latin American office in Costa Rica, in February 2017.
 
== HIAS archives ==
Some records of HIAS from 1900 to 1970 (415 linear feet and 851 reels of microfilm) are currently held by [[YIVO]] Institute for Jewish Research and are available for research.<ref>{{cite web |title=HIAS Archive: HIAS and HICEM Main Office, New York |work=Guide to the YIVO Archives |url=http://www.yivoarchives.org/index.php?p=collections/controlcard&id=32625 |accessdateaccess-date=October 31, 2018}}</ref> Other records (more than 1,800 linear feet) are held by the [[American Jewish Historical Society]] (AJHS) and are currently being processed.<ref name="AJHS-HIAS">{{cite web |title=HIAS Collection I-363 |publisher=AJHS |url=http://www.ajhs.org/hias-home |accessdateaccess-date=October 31, 2018 |archive-date=May 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230524024949/https://www.ajhs.org/hias-home |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Search the HIAS Client Database |publisher=AJHS |url=http://www.ajhs.org/hias-search |accessdateaccess-date=October 31, 2018 |archive-date=October 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231009054947/https://ajhs.org/hias-search |url-status=dead }}</ref> The bulk of these records span from the late 1940s to the 1990s but some records (such as the meeting minutes of the Boardboard of Directorsdirectors) go back as far as 1912. These records will be available for research in late 2018.{{r|AJHS-HIAS}}
 
==Notes==
{{notelist |notes=}}
{{efn |name=foundation |1=Up to 2013, HIAS's web site gave no founding date but stated that the organization was operating in 1891: "In 1891, Jewish residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kyiv 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."{{refn|name=HIAS-early-years}} The site now gives the foundation date of 1881.{{refn|name=HIAS-history}}}}
}}
 
== References ==
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* {{cite book |editor-last=Cohn-Sherbok |editor-first=Dan |year=1992 |title=The Blackwell Dictionary of Judaica |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Blackwell Publishers|Blackwell Reference]] |isbn=978-0-631-18728-8 }} {{webarchive |title=Extract |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160806025354/http://www.blackwellreference.com/public/tocnode?id=g9780631187288_chunk_g978063118728813_ss1-312 |date=August 6, 2016}}.
* {{cite book |last=Epstein |first=Lawrence J. |author-link=Lawrence J. Epstein |year=2007 |title=At the Edge of a Dream: The Story of Jewish Immigrants on New York's Lower East Side, 1880–1920 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-7879-8622-3 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Gallagher |first=Tom |author-link=Thomas Gerard Gallagher |title=Salazar: The Dictator Who Refused To Die |publisher=C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-78738-388-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Goldstein |first=Israel |author-link=Israel Goldstein |year=1984 |title=My World as a Jew: The Memoirs of Israel Goldstein |publisher=Associated University Presses<!--WorldCat says Hertzl: two volumes--> |isbn=978-0-8453-4780-5 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last1=Karesh |first1=Sara E. |last2=Hurvitz |first2=Mitchell M. |year=2005 |title=Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Judaism |series=Part of the [[Facts on File]] library of religion and mythology |publisher=[[Infobase Publishing]] |isbn=0-8160-6982-4 }}
* {{cite book |last=Lochery |first=Neill |year=2011 |title=Lisbon: War in the Shadows of the City of Light, 1939–1945 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OWWJxLAAq9oC&q=sousa+mendes |publisher=PublicAffairs; 1 edition |page=345 |isbn=978-1-58648-879-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Marrus |first=Michael Robert |author-link=Michael Robert Marrus |year=1995 |title=Vichy France and the Jews |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=0-8047-2499-7 }}
*{{cite book |last=Weber |first=Ronald |year=2011 |title=The Lisbon Route: Entry and Escape in Nazi Europe |location=Lanham |publisher=Ivan R. Dee<!--so WorldCat, previously Government Institutes here, also as Google eBook May 16, 2011--> |isbn=978-1-56663-876-0 }}
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* Sanders, Ronald. Shores of Refuge: Hundred Years of Jewish Emigration. New York: Henry Holt & Co.: 1988.
* Schulze, Kristen. The Jews of Lebanon: Between Coexistence and Conflict. Second revised and expanded edition. Portland, Oregon: Sussex Academic Press: 2009.
* Spiegel, Philip. Triumph Over Tyranny. New York: Devora Publishing: 2008.
* Szulc, Tad. The Secret Alliance: The Extraordinary Story of the Rescue of the Jews Since World War II. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux: 1991.
* Wischnitzer, Mark. To Dwell in Safety: The Story of Jewish Migration Since 1800. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America: 1948.
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== External links ==
* [httphttps://www.hias.org/ HIAS official website]
* [http://www.hiashelp.com/ HIAS Help web site]
* [http://ajhs.org/hias-home American Jewish Historical Society HIAS institutional records archival processing project] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220615225929/https://ajhs.org/hias-home |date=June 15, 2022 }}
** [https://ontherescuefront.wordpress.com/ On The Rescuefront: AJHS' HIAS archival processing blog]
{{Organized Jewish Life in the United States}}{{Authority control}}
 
[[Category:Migration-related organizations based in the United States]]
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[[Category:1882 establishments in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Opposition to antisemitism in the United States]]
[[Category:Refugee aid organizations in the United States]]
[[Category:Zionist organizations in the United States]]