In May 1938 the term of the co-operation agreement between the Central Board of the ORT Union and KOMZET, which represented the interests of the Soviet government, expired. Already, on January 8, a memorandum had been sent from the ORT headquarters in Paris to Sovnarkom, in which it was particularly emphasised that: ‘The work of ORT has never borne the character of charitable aid; rather it was designed from the outset on the principle of constructive activity, and has tried to become a component part of the country’s economic structure. …

The ORT Union, constructed from the start as an international organisation, embracing a number of countries in Western Europe and overseas, has always openly promoted within the USSR the economic reconstruction of the mass of Jewish working people, and has always emphasised the importance of the measures adopted by the Soviet government towards this end.’

It was further suggested that consideration should be given to prolonging the agreement until 31 December 1940.

Not until November 24 did the Chairman of KOMZET, S. Chiuchkaev, favour the ORT leadership with an official reply, which said, in the boorish manner typical of Soviet leaders, that the agreement would not be prolonged because ‘the Soviet Union does not need any more assistance from abroad.’ But even before this letter it had become perfectly clear that ORT should wind down its work in the USSR, and the sooner the better: in 1937–1938 many former members of Evsektsia fell victim to Stalin’s purges, including A. Merezhin, who on behalf of KOMZET had signed the agreement with the World ORT Union in 1928.

J. Tsegelnitski quickly began preparing proposals for the transfer of ORT’s work and property to Soviet public organisations, and drawing up a final balance sheet. In a letter of 29 March 1938 to the Central Board of the ORT Union in Paris he asks for full representative powers to conclude the necessary agreements with ORT’s potential successors, and goes on to suggest: ‘The kolkhoz sector of our work, which takes in 80 workshops for the production of headgear, soft toys and knitted articles in the kolkhozes worked by Jewish settlers, and approximately 30 kolkhozes which receive agricultural help, should in my opinion be transferred in its entirety to the Central Committee of OZET.

This is dictated by the fact that the kolkhoz workshops, because of their structure, cannot be integrated into the system of industrial collectives, inasmuch as each workshop comes under the supervision of a particular kolkhoz. …

As for our work for the servicing of co-operative enterprises, including work in the Jewish Autonomous Region, … it would be best to transfer it to the co-operative system in the form of industrial unions … by special agreements with them, which would have to be sanctioned by the co-operative centre in Moscow.’

With regard to the final balance sheet J. Tsegelnitski makes the following observations: ‘On January 1 1938 our total assets amounted to 832,000 roubles. … Our final balance comes to approximately 1,700,000 roubles, which is the amount owed to the Central Board of the ORT Union, and which will, by agreement with KOMZET, be offset by a corresponding sum in ready cash when the final extent of the sum owed to the Central Board is made known.

In connection with the settling of accounts between the Central Board and KOMZET, further questions arise: in particular, the question of the term set for the clearing of its indebtedness to the Central Board, and also of the possibility of leaving the monies due to the Central Board to be used in the future for reconstruction work in the [Soviet] Union.’

However, J. Tsegelnitski did not manage to start winding down ORT’s activity immediately. At the beginning of April 1938 he was arrested and charged with espionage. The news of this came as a shock to the ORT Union leadership. A letter was quickly sent to Sovnarkom, signed by the members of the Central Board, making the following declaration: ‘J. Tsegelnitski has belonged to ORT for a long time: he began working for them in 1913. The Central Board, which has known him for many years and has remained in constant close contact with him, can state with absolute certainty that he has never been involved in political activity, and has devoted himself exclusively to the work of ORT. He has always acted in accordance with the laws and decrees of the Soviet Government.

Abroad, Tsegelnitski has always worked to protect, as far as possible, the interests of the declassed (and working) Jews in the Soviet Union, to whom the Soviet Government has also given attention. In view of the foregoing we request you to review Tsegelnitski’s case and make it possible for him to take part in the liquidation of ORT’s work in the USSR. The information we have leaves us in no doubt that he has always been infinitely devoted to his job as plenipotentiary representative of ORT and has acted with complete loyalty to his country.’

As was to be expected, this letter remained unanswered. In any case, it could have done nothing to alter the fate of ORT’s former representative. By one account, J. Tsegelnitski was shot in the torture-chambers of the NKVD; by another, he perished in one of the Gulag camps in Kazakhstan.

Tsegelnitski’s arrest dealt a heavy blow to the work of liquidating ORT’s operations. Nevertheless, it went ahead. A letter to the Central Board of the ORT Union observed: ‘In the last period we have had the possibility of discussing with KOMZET in detail a number of questions bound up with the liquidation of our work and with the debt owed to the Central Board, which is calculated according to the balance as at January 1 1938, and in particular the question of differences in exchange rates. … Based on differences in exchange rates, the debt owed to the central committee as at January 1 1938 is reduced to 140,602 dollars instead of 325,000. Bearing in mind that, in accordance with paragraph 19 of the agreement of 24 May 1928, the Central Committee has the right to claim not more than 50 percent of the value of machines, tools etc. which it has supplied, the total value of the goods delivered at ORT’s expense being approximately 70,000 dollars, the sum liable to be transferred comes to 35,000 dollars. …

In conclusion, … in connection with the fact that J. Tsegelnitski is not participating in the work, we ask you to grant, to one of the officials at the Moscow office or at the Regional Bureau (at the Central Committee’s discretion), authority to conduct negotiations with appropriate organisations regarding the transfer of work to them and to sign with them the appropriate documents.’

However, by September no suitable candidate had yet been found to conduct negotiations with the Soviet government. L. Boudin, a New York lawyer working in the American section of ORT, who had been charged with securing the legal side of liquidating ORT’s operations in the USSR, was refused a visa for entry.

Lord Dudley Marley, one of the activists of the English ORT, was in Moscow at the time. In his letter to L. Bramson of September 16 1938, he writes: ‘I saw Dr Rosen, who has made a satisfactory agreement in connection with the JDC. He stated that the position is more difficult with ORT, as the JDC is an American Organisation who consequently can call on the American Embassy for help in case of need. … ORT, being international, has no government to call upon.

Dr Rosen also criticised ORT for a number of reasons: ORT refused to accept his offer to negotiate on their behalf, ORT should have had a non-Soviet citizen in charge in Moscow, ORT should have liquidated its work 2 years ago, ORT should never have embarked on work in the Far East, etc. …

Bromberg [Tsegelnitski’s assistant — A.I.] now has another appointment away from Moscow and will not talk. The ORT offices have become a taxi drivers’ club.

Tsegelnitski I found difficult to get news of: but I think he will receive ‘another appointment — to promote himself’ — as soon as the ORT negotiations are finished.

I may say that I had a number of interviews to get this information and to prepare the ground — it is hard and slow work. But I have every hope that we shall get a satisfactory result.’

But the hopes of the writer of this letter, written at the height of the Yezhovshchina — the campaign of terror launched under Nikolai Yezhov, head of the NKVD — were not realised. At the end of 1938 ORT ceased its activities on all USSR territory. No compensation was paid by the Soviet government to the World ORT Union.

The vast amount of work undertaken by the World ORT Union in the USSR during the 1920s and 1930s was forcibly interrupted for many years. Today, after an interval of more than half a century, ORT has resumed its work in Russia; and now the significant contribution made by this organisation to the transformation of Jewish society in our country should be accorded the respect it deserves.

The project for Jewish autonomy set in motion by the Soviet state — a project on a scale surpassing all previous such attempts — posed a dilemma for Jewish charitable organisations abroad: should they support this work despite their political antipathy to Bolshevism, or should they refuse to take any part in it?

The leaders of the World ORT Union decided they could not stand aside and refuse to assist the Soviet Jews, who were in desparate straits following the Civil War and the policy of war communism. Thanks to the financial, material and technical support organised by ORT throughout the world, thousands of people — the majority of them disenfranchised — received work and agricultural training, together with tools and equipment, allowing them to adapt in a short time to the new socio-economic reality.

It is vital to realise how significant was the influence of these events on the fate of subsequent generations of Jews, who are now leading successful lives in many countries of the world.

Alexander Ivanov

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