Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry

The Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ) was an American Jewish student organization founded by Jacob Birnbaum in 1964. It engaged in various types of advocacy for Jews in the Soviet Union, seeking to raise awareness of the denial of their civil and political rights by the Soviet government. Its members frequently demonstrated throughout New York City and rallied support for economic pressure against the Soviet Union, most notably including large protests of hundreds of people at the Permanent Mission of the Soviet Union to the United Nations. The organization also focused on Eastern Bloc emigration, which was a highlight of the Cold War; Soviet citizens, especially those who were Jewish, were largely not allowed to leave the country. As a result, the SSSJ worked in the United States to facilitate Soviet Jewish emigration, primarily to Israel. Although the organization was effectively disbanded following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Birnbaum continued his advocacy for the remaining Jewish communities of the post-Soviet countries until his death in 2014.