Korey, William, 1922-2009

The Papers of William Korey represent one collection housed within the Archive of the American Soviet Jewry Movement (AASJM). These papers reflect the effort, beginning in the 1960s through the late 1980s, of thousands of American Jews of all denominations and political orientations to stop the persecution and discrimination of Jews in the Soviet Union. The American Soviet Jewry Movement (ASJM) is considered to be the most influential Movements of the American Jewish community in the 20th century. The beginnings of the organized American Soviet Jewry Movement became a model for efforts to aid Soviet Jews in other countries, among them Great Britain, Canada, and France. The movement can be traced to the early 1960s, when the first organizations were created to address the specific problem of the persecution and isolation of Soviet Jews by the government of the Soviet Union.

William Korey was born in Chicago on June 16, 1922. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1946 and received a master’s degree and a doctorate from Columbia University. He initially taught Russian History and History of Western Civilizations at the Long Island University and the City College of New York.

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