Mosaiska församlingens Flyktingsektion
- Flyktingsektionen
- Refugee Section
Extent and Medium
45,6 linear meters of textual records in archival boxes.
Biographical History
At the turn of 1940/1941, the Relief Committee of the Jewish Community of Stockholm, operational as an independent organization since April 1933, was coopted as an integrated body within the community organization, known as the Refugee Section (Flyktingsektionen), under the community's general Relief Committee. The section was governed by the Jewish Community of Stockholm's executive board, the rabbis, and four additional members appointed by the congregation. Initially, the section had two divisions: the Emigration and Relief Department (Emigrations- och understödsavdelningen) and the Children Department (Barnavdelningen).
In early 1945, the Jewish Community of Stockholm's governing council (församlingsfullmäktige) appointed a Committee for Foreign Aid and Post-war Assistance (Kommittén för utlands- och efterkrigshjälp). This committee had two sub-divisions: the Joint Department (Jointavdelningen), tasked with assisting the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in Sweden with post-war aid, and the Registration Department (Registreringsavdelningen), responsible for registering refugees and survivors in Sweden and tracing their relatives. This committee dissolved at the end of 1946, and its tasks were placed directly under the Refugee Section.
After the end of the war, the Refugee Section established a special committee tasked with assisting with supporting Holocaust survivors.
The Relief Section also appointed a special committee to provide vocational training assistance and yet another committee that provided religious support. Furthermore, the Refugee Section also employed several social workers to assist the Holocaust survivors who arrived in the late spring and summer of 1945.
At the turn of 1945/46, a special Transmigration committee (Transmigrationsavdelningen) was established to handle matters related to immigration to Sweden, primarily for relatives of refugees.
In 1946, there was an increase in the re-emigration of refugees and survivors, and the section established a particular Emigration department.
In 1948, the Refugee Section established a bureau tasked with providing legal aid (Rättshjälpsbyrån), mainly safeguarding property rights abroad. Towards the end of 1953, another legal aid office was opened to assist those with compensation claims against the Federal Republic of Germany under the new German law on compensation for victims of Nazism.
On October 1, 1948, the administration of refugee aid was reorganized, and the Refugee Section was put under the jurisdiction of the general [Poor] Relief Division of the Jewish Community. Finally, in 1956, the section was renamed the Second Social Section, while the general section of the committee became the First Social Section.
Archival History
The archive constitutes a sub-archive within the archive of the Jewish Community of Stockholm, deposited at the National Archives in 1983, with several additional deliveries thereafter.
Scope and Content
The Refugee Section's archive mainly covers the period from 1941 to 1972, when the Jewish Community of Stockholm was reorganized. The archive includes some documents dating back to the establishment of the former Relief Committee in 1933, although these have separate indexes. The Refugee Section's archive mainly consists of documents related to the section's administration and refugee aid. The personal files in the archive regarding support cover the period up to 1980.
Conditions Governing Access
Access to the archive must be approved by the general secretary of the Jewish Community of Stockholm. The application form can be found on the community’s website: https://jfst.se/fler-tjaenster/oevriga-tjaenster/slaekt-och-personforskning/
Rules and Conventions
EHRI Guidelines for Description v.1.0