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HIAS, the Hebrew
Immigrant Aid Society, is America's oldest international migration
and refugee resettlement agency. Dedicated to assisting persecuted
and oppressed people worldwide and delivering them to countries of
safe haven, HIAS has rescued more than 4.5 million people since
1881. Growing from organizations founded in the 1870s and 1880s to
assist Jewish migrants arriving in America, HIAS is responsible for
the rescue and resettlement into the United States of noted
academics, artists, athletes, entertainers, scientists, mayors,
governors, and members of United States Congress, as well as
everyday people. Its operational goals are based on Jewish religious
teachings.
From
Wikipedia. photo: Immigration inspection at Ellis Island.
Courtesy of the U.S. National Park Service.
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Many immigrants who entered countries such as the United States
sought assistance upon their immigration, e.g. food, housing,
etc. Aid societies, such as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society,
founded by Russian Jewish immigrants in New York City in 1881,
often had a representative stationed at the major ports of
entry, waiting to help each and every immigrant they could. The
founding of HIAS was in response to the huge wave of immigration
that occurred following the assassination of the Russian Czar
Alexander II in 1881 and the subsequent pogroms. Many Jews were
forced to flee Russia and immigrate to the United States, the
majority entering via the port of New York. There, HIAS would
provide food and shelter to the new immigrant, and try to find
them a job. In 1911, HIAS even provided a kosher kitchen at
Ellis Island and fed more than half a million meals between 1925
and 1952.
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