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{{short description|Jewish American nonprofit organization
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2018}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2018}}
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| 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 =
| subsidiaries = Charitable Remainder Unitrust{{r|990-2014}}
| volunteers = 25{{r|990-2014}}
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| 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>
| 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|
}}
'''HIAS''' (founded as the '''Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society'''<ref name="HIAS-history">{{cite web |title=History |publisher=HIAS |url=https://www.hias.org/history |access-date=October 31, 2018}}</ref>) is a [[American Jews|Jewish American]] nonprofit organization that provides humanitarian aid and assistance to refugees. It was
==
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 |access-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 ==
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>
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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]] |access-date=December 16, 2019}}</ref> Its sole purpose was to facilitate [[remittance]] or money transfers to and from
=== World War II and the Holocaust ===
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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.{{Citation 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 |access-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]] 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.{{Citation needed|date=December 2013}}
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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
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
===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 [[
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".
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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 [
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
== 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
As of 2017, HIAS operates in the following places.
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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
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
== 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 |access-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 |access-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 |access-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 board of directors) go back as far as 1912. These records will be available for research in late 2018.{{r|AJHS-HIAS}}
==Notes==
{{notelist
== 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
* 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 ==
* [
* [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]]
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