Guide to the Records of the ORT Jewish Vocational School (Technicum) in Vilna, 1921-1940, RG 21

Title: Guide to the Records of the ORT Jewish Vocational School (Technicum) in Vilna, 1921-1940, RG 21

ID: RG 21 FA

Creator: ORT Jewish Vocational School (Technicum) in Vilna

Extent: 2.7 Linear Feet

Arrangement: The collection is divided into 3 series:

Languages: Yiddish, Polish, Russian, German, Lithuanian, French

ORT Jewish Vocational School (Technicum) in Vilna was founded in 1921 to train young people who were unable to get into government-run schools, in the fields of mechanics and electronics. It was subsidized by ORT, Vilna Kehilla and the Vilna City Administration. The school possesed a technical library and published its own material for use by students. it was liquidated in 1939.

Series I includes by-laws of the school, financial records, 1922-1937; file on legal matters; school statistics, 1921-1930, 1938-1939

Series II includes outgoing and incomimg correspondence. Outgoing: to the Central Committee of ORT (Warsaw), 1925, 1929, 1937-1939; to ORT, Vilna, 1923, 1928-1939; to the Polish Ministry ofEducation in Warsaw, 1922-1923, 1928-1939. Incoming: from ORT Central Committee (Warsaw), 1923-1934; ORT Vilna, 1921, 1928, 1939-1940; Polish Ministry of Education (Warsaw), 1922, 1925-1939; Central Committee of the Yiddish School Organization in Warsaw, 1938-1939.

Series III includes student medical cards, 1929-1938; student questionaires and other documents, lists of students, roll-books, exeminations; teachers' files including teaching outlines for general subjects, technological subjects, electronics, physics, chemistry; files on the school cultural activities including announcements, posters.

The Jewish Vocational School of the ORT in Vilna (also called “Technicum”) was founded in 1921 by a group of communal workers. One of them, Israel Okun, was the school’s director in the first three years of its existence. In 1924 he was replaced by Matisyahu Schreiber, who remained at this post until the liquidation of the school at the outbreack of World War II.

The task of the school was to prepare electricians and technically-trained specialists. The school's goal was to provide the impoverished Jewish youth in the difficult post-World War I years with an opportunity to acquire skills on the level of a trained technician.

A note should be made of the fact that for Jews, access to government run schools was very difficult. Therefore, Jewish youngsters from all parts of the country studied at the Vilna Technicum. Of 200 students, only 50 were from Vilna; the rest coming from Galicia, Volhynia, central Poland and other places.

The Technicum had two divisions: mechanical and electrotechnical. Classes were taught in Yiddish and the training period was 3 years (6 semesters). The school was subsidized by ORT, the Vilna Jewish Community Board, and the Vilna municipality. It was well equipped, had its own vocational library, and printed technical school books in Yiddish, as the needs of the students required.

The Vilna Jewish Vocational School provided a substantial number of qualified assistants for engineers, managers of small industrial enterprises, foremen of divisions in factories, technical draftsmen, etc. of special scholarly and educational interest are the student papers, teachers’ notes and curriculum. They yield evidence on the high level of learning and instruction represented by the Technicum.

The materials from the Vilna Technicum which YIVO received after World War II together with the Vilna Archives, are arranged in such a way as to reflect the structure and activities of the school. The collection consists of 98 folders and is 2’5” in size.

Access Restrictions: Open to researchers by appointment with the Chief Archivist. To request access to the collection, contact: Chief Archivist, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011 email: archives@yivo.cjh.org

Preferred Citation: Published citations should read as follows:Identification of item, date (if known); YIVO Archives; Records of the ORT Jewish Vocational School (Technicum) in Vilna; RG 21; folder number.