British ORT

History of ORT

• The beginnings of ORT: 1880 - 1900
• Establishing an international presence: 1900 - 1930
• The decades of turmoil: 1930 - 1947
• ORT in Israel: 1948 to the present
• Further expansion and international cooperation: 1955 to the present
• Returning to Russia and the CIS: 1989 to the present

ORT was established in 1880 by a group of Jewish philanthropists in St Petersburg, Russia to help the impoverished Jewish communities in that part of the Russian Empire known as the Pale of Settlement. The name ORT comes from the acronym for the organisation's original Russian name 'Obschestvo Raspostranenie Truda', which translates as the Society for the Promotion of Handicrafts and Agricultural Work.

From the outset the intention was to help people to help themselves by providing education and training rather than simply welfare. Beneficiaries of ORT's help acquired the skills they needed not only to support themselves and their families but also to become valuable members of their communities. This philosophy remains as true today as in those early days of ORT's existence.

Less than a year after ORT was established, widespread and violent pogroms were instigated against Russia's Jewish communities following the assassination of Tsar Alexander II. During this period of upheaval and uncertainty, when many sought to emigrate and still more had to find new means of making a living, ORT played a vital role in providing stability and essential skills for farmers and artisans alike. Whether they stayed in Russia or emigrated to the West, the skills they learned provided greater security and opportunity than they had known before.

Establishing an international presence: 1900 - 1930

ORT expanded its activities in Eastern Europe throughout the end of the 19th century and in the early years of the 20th century leading up to the First World War. ORT's headquarters moved from St Petersburg to Berlin following the Russian Revolution in October 1917 and Russian émigrés established fundraising activities in Western Europe and the United States in the early 1920s. The World ORT Union was formally established as an international body in 1921 and British ORT was founded in 1922 in London. By 1930, British ORT was already well enough established to hold its annual fundraising dinner at the Savoy Hotel in London and to welcome as its guest speakers Albert Einstein and George Bernard Shaw.

The decades of turmoil: 1930 - 1947

ORT remained active in what became the Soviet Union until 1938, when Stalin expelled ORT from the country, confiscated its assets and transported its leaders to the gulags.

ORT relocated its headquarters from Berlin to Paris in 1935 following the rise to power in Germany of the Nazis and the passing of the Nuremberg laws. Rising anti-Semitism in Germany and across the Eastern Europe meant that ORT's activities assumed a new importance for those denied places at university or thrown out of their jobs. The ability to work and support one's family often meant the difference between freedom and imprisonment, or worse. The qualifications and skills many thousands received from ORT provided them with their only opportunity to find work of any kind.

One of ORT's principal teaching establishments in Germany was the ORT School in Berlin which taught 16 and 17-year-old boys engineering. Throughout the summer of 1939 Lieutenant Colonel Levey, a retired British Army officer, petitioned the German government to allow the pupils and staff of the ORT School in Berlin to relocate to England. Eventually permission was granted by order of Adolf Eichmann in just over 100 students and some of their teachers were allowed to leave for England. All of the machinery in the school and the building itself was confiscated but after a tense journey through Germany and staff and pupils left Germany just days before the outbreak of World War II.

The school eventually relocated to Leeds. After completing their studies a number of the boys were briefly interned under the Enemy Aliens regulations but all went on either to serve in the Armed Forces or to work in vital wartime industries.

ORT operations continued even under German occupation, with ORT farms in Vichy France and schools and workshops in the ghettos of the Eastern Europe. By now, the possession of skills perceived by the authorities to be useful for the war effort meant the difference between life and death. ORT issued thousands of identity cards stating that the bearers were engineers, tailors and machinists even if that was not always the case. Even so as deportations to the death camps accelerated the ORT schools, like the ghettos themselves were emptied and extinguished.

With the fall of France in May 1940, ORT's headquarters moved to Geneva. From here ORT was able to help refugees arriving in Switzerland, including the family of Lady Jakobovits, wife of the late Chief Rabbi of United Kingdom and Commonwealth. ORT activities were also established in Shanghai, which was then under control of the Japanese. Although allies of the Germans, the Japanese tolerated the presence of thousands of Jewish refugees who had made the arduous trek across Asia to the relative safety of China. Again, ORT's presence was vital for the refugees to provide them with an occupation so they could support themselves and their families.

With the eventual victory of the Allies, ORT was well placed from its Swiss headquarters to help the vast numbers of displaced persons in the refugee camps that sprung up all over Western Europe. For those unable or unwilling to return to their homes and their former lives ORT's assistance took many forms, from providing food and clothing to running training courses to provide survivors with the means to try to start afresh.

ORT in Israel: 1948 to the present

ORT operations had already been established in North and South America and were re-established in parts of Eastern Europe for the refugees arriving in those countries. An increasing number of people were also setting their sights on Palestine, then ruled under the British Mandate. In 1948 the State of Israel was established and from the outset ORT played an important part in the country's survival and growth.

With the declaration of Israel's independence, the country was immediately plunged into war with its Arab neighbours. Flight technicians with Israel's fledgling air force had already received training with ORT in Italy. Naval cadets had also received training in Britain, using a small decommissioned naval vessel.

Along with its fight for survival, Israel also needed to build up its infrastructure including its education system. The first ORT School was established in Israel in 1948 when its staff and pupils emigrated from Sofia, Bulgaria. Today there are 160 schools operating under the ORT Israel banner.

Further expansion and international cooperation: 1955 to the present

In the 1950s and 1960s ORT's operations expanded to include India, Iran and North Africa, all of which had impoverished Jewish communities for whom ORT's particular brand of education and training proved so beneficial. The coming of independence movements to North Africa saw the emigration to France of many Jews and the expansion there of ORT's network of schools.

This period also saw the establishment of ORT's International Co-operation programme to help deserving communities in the developing world. With established expertise in the field of education and training, ORT's work on such a large scale with refugees in the 1940s brought it to the attention of the United Nations, the World Bank and other aid agencies. In the last 50 years ORT has maintained projects in some 60 countries around the world from Albania to Vietnam, providing know-how and instruction in areas as diverse as road building to child nutrition and from forestry to vocational training for the visually impaired. In this way ORT acts as an ambassador for Israel and the Jewish people.

Returning to Russia and the CIS: 1989 to the present

Following the collapse of communism in 1989 ORT returned to Russia, the country of its birth. Initially programmes in the former Soviet Union consisted of establishing technology courses in existing Jewish schools. By 1999 some 4,000 students benefited from ORT activities annually. The following year saw the launch of the Regeneration 2000 initiative to expand ORT activities across the region. Since then the number of ORT students in the CIS and Baltic States has risen to more than 28,000 at 52 schools and educational institutions. British ORT donors played an integral part in the establishment of the ORT School in Kazan, a semi-autonomous Muslim republic of Russia with Jewish population of around 10,000. Our current campaign is supporting the integration into the ORT network of the Aleph School in Zaparoje, Ukraine, to provide its pupils with the highest quality secular and Jewish education.

For more information about ORT's modern day activities around the world, visit www.ort.org and to read about International Co-Operation projects visit www.icd.ort.org.

To read more about the history of ORT, please click here.