STUDENT MOVEMENTS. The first student associations emerged in Germany. In 1815, in Jena, it was officially announced that student unions (Burschenschaften) had been created, and soon student associations appeared in practically all universities of the country. The ideology of these unions, significantly influenced by the strengthening of reaction in Europe after the Napoleonic wars (see Napoleon I), had a romantic character and was imbued with the spirit of patriotism, Christianity, and right-wing radicalism. Although initially the German student fraternities did not openly profess Judeophobia, and Jews even took part in founding some of them (for example, in Freiburg in 1816), gradually the ideology of these fraternities acquired a distinctly antisemitic character. A considerable role in this was played by sports and gymnastic societies closely connected with student associations, which held sharply antisemitic positions and actively opposed the participation of Jews in university life. In 1878, the Vienna student association “Libertas” decided to exclude Jews from its ranks. In 1880, the Union of German Students joined a petition demanding that the government remove Jews from participation in public life. In 1889, student unions in Austria began to pursue a discriminatory “Aryan” policy, and in 1890 all German and Austrian student associations declared that they were “free of Jews” (judenrein) and that from then on Jews were deprived of the honor of challenging their members to a duel. In 1908, Jews were expelled from associations of university graduates. In 1900–14, antisemitic propaganda in the student environment declined, however the First World War led to a new rise in the popularity of German nationalism and racial theory (see Racism). At the all-German congress of German student associations in Eisenach in 1919, a decision was adopted to exclude from them those Aryans who had entered into marriage with Jews or representatives of other races.
The antisemitic policy of German student unions prompted Jewish students in Central Europe to create their own associations; the first of these emerged at the University of Breslau (now Wrocław) in 1886. In German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Switzerland), they were organized along the model of the German Burschenschaften: students were grouped by region of origin and universities, each corporation had its own colors, etc. Jewish student unions were subjected to ostracism by other students, and university authorities often closed such unions.
Many influential Jewish student organizations — the all-German federation Kartell Jüdischer Verbindungen (KJV), the Viennese Kadima, the Prague Bar-Kochba, “Theodor Herzl” and Barissia, the Budapest Maccabea, the Bucharest Hasmonea, and others — played a significant role in promoting the ideas of Jewish national revival and in the formation of the Zionist movement (see Zionism). A significant contribution to the development of Zionism in Russia was made by the society He-Haver, founded in 1911 by Russian Jews studying at universities in Western and Central Europe. There were also student associations of a non-Zionist orientation (for example, KC in Germany), which often set themselves educational goals (similar to the Russian-Jewish Scientific Society in Berlin).
In the interwar period, in Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and a number of other European countries, Jews were still not admitted to student organizations, with the exception of relatively small circles of left-wing (mostly communist) orientation. Therefore, large Jewish student unions continued to operate, mainly adhering to Zionist positions: for example, at the University of Riga in the 1920s–30s, various associations functioned — He-Haver, which later joined the KJV (see above), Ha-Shahar, oriented toward the labor Zionist movement, Hasmonea and Galileia, which shared the ideas of Revisionist Zionists and were organized along the model of Burschenschaften; only the society Betulia advocated assimilation. All this predetermined the adherence of the majority of Jewish students in the region to Zionist or left-radical ideology.
Many Jewish student unions in the interwar period also acted as self-defense units. Associations of Jewish female students were also created. In Nazi Germany and in countries allied with it, Jewish student organizations were liquidated in the 1930s; in Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the Baltic states — in 1939–40; after the Second World War, the authorities of the communist bloc states did not allow their restoration. The only exception was the group “Babel” (named after I. Babel), which operated semi-legally in Poland in 1967–68.
In Great Britain, the growth in the number of Jewish students led to the creation in 1919 of the Inter-University Jewish Federation (IJF), whose aim was to coordinate the activities of Jewish student societies, which began to emerge during this period in various universities of the country (in London, Oxford, Cambridge, Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool). The Federation sought to awaken among Jewish students an interest in Judaism, Jewish history, and culture, so that after completing their education they would actively participate in the social and religious life of the Jewish community of the country. In 1922, the Jewish United Society of the University of London was established, which included various student societies of London and its surroundings.
The unwillingness of a number of Jewish student societies to participate in the Zionist movement led to the emergence of independent student Zionist associations; from 1924, the University Zionist Federation (UZF) began to operate independently of the IJF, to some extent competing with it. In the 1930s, the UZF merged with the Union of Young Zionist Societies (predominantly a non-student organization), however, due to organizational and other difficulties, shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, the UZF again became an independent organization, adopting the name University Zionist Council (UZC). During the war and in the following years, student Zionist activity in Great Britain became more intensive. The IJF and UZF published a number of periodicals.
After the establishment of the State of Israel, a period of close cooperation between the two organizations began, culminating in their merger in the 1960s, when Zionism became part of the IJF platform. In total, about 80 associations are connected with the IJF. There are also independent student groups, in particular the Liberal and Reformist (see Reform Judaism) associations and the Orthodox (see Orthodox Judaism) movement Yavne. Jewish student organizations in Great Britain enjoy broad support and financial assistance from the Hillel Foundation of the B’nai B’rith organization (see below). However, by the beginning of the 1970s, approximately two-thirds of Jewish students in Great Britain did not participate in the activities of Jewish student organizations.
Before the Second World War, there was no Jewish student movement in France: organized Jewish life in the country was concentrated mainly around philanthropic and religious societies, and admission to a university was regarded as a path to integration into French society. The only meeting place for Jewish students was the kosher (see Kashrut) dining hall “Foyer Israélite,” opened in Paris in 1921 (with the active participation of P. Mendès-France, then a law student at the Sorbonne) for observant and needy students. The Union of French Jewish Students (UFJS) was founded in Paris in 1945 by young participants in the Resistance, members of Zionist and communist organizations. The aim of the Union was to assist students in need, in particular by opening university dining halls and creating a centralized employment bureau; it also developed activities aimed at reviving Jewish life: organizing courses and preparing publications devoted to Jewish history, culture, and tradition, and later arranging student trips to Israel. Branches of the UFJS were established in a number of university cities in France (Lille, Nancy, Strasbourg, Lyon, Grenoble, Toulouse, Montpellier, Marseille, and others). The first decade of the UFJS’s existence was marked by a struggle between Zionists and communists for influence in its central bodies. Since 1967, the UFJS has taken an openly pro-Israeli position. The number of members of the Union never exceeded ten percent of the total number of Jewish students in French universities. The UFJS publishes the periodical “Kadima” (issued intermittently), and publishes and distributes works on Jewish topics.
The first student organization in the United States of America was Zeta Beta Tau, founded in New York in 1898; initially its purpose was to awaken interest in Jewish life and culture, but it soon became a typical “Greek-letter fraternity” (in the United States this traditionally refers to associations that unite students with professional interests or for shared leisure activities; they are designated by three letters of the ancient Greek alphabet). It was followed by Sigma Epsilon Delta (1901), whose members were future dentists, the first Jewish women’s student society in the United States Iota Alpha Pi (1903), and the association of medical students Phi Delta Epsilon (1904). Since the number of Jewish students was growing, and they were generally not admitted to general student organizations before the Second World War, the number of Jewish “Greek-letter fraternities” steadily increased: by 1941, there were 17 nationwide professional associations of Jewish students and 17 Jewish student associations for social activities (12 male and five female); together they had 85,000 members and 540 chapters. In addition, there were local associations of this type that were not part of nationwide organizations. Many of them formally did not have an ethnic or confessional character, but in practice consisted almost exclusively of Jews and from time to time supported Jewish projects and programs. After the Second World War, when almost all general student organizations abandoned the practice of discrimination based on nationality and religion, the number of members of Jewish “Greek-letter fraternities” decreased, and by the end of the 1960s many local and national unions of this type had dissolved.
In the first years of the 20th century in the United States, in particular at the City University of New York (1902), the University of Minnesota (1903), Harvard and Columbia (1905), the Universities of Illinois and Texas (1907), Yale (1909), and the University of California (1910), student societies emerged whose aim was the development of Jewish culture, the study of the history and traditions of the Jewish people, etc.; over time, most of these societies merged into the Intercollegiate Menorah Association, founded at Harvard in 1906. By 1930, Menorah had 50 local branches, however by the end of the Second World War all of them had closed, and in 1963 the association was dissolved; its periodical “Menorah Journal,” published since 1915, ceased publication in 1962.
In 1923, at the University of Illinois, the Hillel Foundation (named after Hillel) was established; since 1925, it has been financed mainly by B’nai B’rith in cooperation with Jewish organizations and charitable foundations and is known as the B’nai B’rith Hillel Foundation. By 1973, it operated in 315 institutions of higher education, mostly in the United States, as well as in Australia, Brazil, Great Britain, Venezuela, Israel, Italy, Canada, Colombia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, and South Africa, financing chairs and courses in Jewish studies (see Jewish studies), organizing lectures and seminars on Jewish philosophy and tradition, international, national, and regional student societies, providing counseling for students, arranging religious services and holiday observances, carrying out social assistance and leisure programs, and helping students publish their academic work. A number of smaller organizations also worked in these directions, for example, the Jewish Cultural Foundation, created at the State University of New York in 1937.
In the first decade of the 20th century, Zionist student associations arose in a number of leading universities in the United States, which in 1906–1907 merged into the University Zionist League, which in turn merged in 1915 with a number of new Zionist student groups into the Intercollegiate Zionist Federation. By 1919, it had 2,500 members and 33 local branches, however in 1920, when the Zionist Organization of America ceased to support it, the Intercollegiate Zionist Federation announced its self-dissolution. In 1925, the organization Avukah was created on its basis; in 1939 it had 56 branches in the United States and Canada, however in 1942, due to frequent changes in leadership and lack of funds, it also ceased to exist. In 1946, with partial support from the American Zionist Youth Commission, the Intercollegiate Zionist Federation of America was established; shortly before the proclamation of the State of Israel, its membership reached ten thousand people, but soon declined sharply, and in 1953 it was dissolved. In 1954, it was replaced by the Student Zionist Organization, subsidized by the American Zionist Youth Foundation; in 1963 it had 2,500 members united in 70 local branches in the United States and Canada, but by the end of the 1960s it disbanded, and its functions were taken over by the society “American Students for Israel” and related associations, mostly of a left-Zionist orientation.
At the same time, student groups of the “Jewish New Left” (see New Left) began to be created, which fought for peace, social equality, and environmental protection, as well as supported Israel, opposed anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist actions, and demanded the development of official programs in Jewish studies in higher educational institutions and the opening of “free Jewish universities.” In 1969, such groups — the Jewish Student Union, the Society of Concerned Jewish Students, the Jewish Activists League, Naase, and others — operated on 80 university campuses, however by the mid-1970s most of them had disappeared.
Since the 1960s, there have also existed in the United States student movements connected with currents in Judaism — Atid (Conservative; see Conservative Judaism), Yavne (Orthodox), Thiya (Reconstructionist; see Reconstructionism). In the 1970s–80s, many Jewish student organizations in the country actively participated in the struggle for the rights of Soviet Jews.
In Eretz Israel, the student movement began to develop in the 1930s, when a number of student organizations of various political orientations emerged — the Revisionist association El-‘Al (the name was proposed by I. Klausner), the association of religious students Yavne, affiliated with Mizrachi, and others. At the same time, the National Union of Students was created, which united various student organizations and represented the interests of all students in the country.
At present (mid-1990s), local student organizations — agudot ha-studentim — operate in all universities of Israel, as well as in the Technion, the Weizmann Institute of Science, Bezalel, the Rubin Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem, and the Wingate Institute of Physical Education and Sports. At annual elections, candidates nominated by student cells of nationwide political parties, as well as independent candidates, often run. The National Union of Students, representing all university agudot, is part of the World Union of Jewish Students (see below). The governing body of the National Union of Students is the presidium, which includes the chairpersons of all university student associations.
The average age of Israeli students is higher than in other countries (most serve in the army before entering higher educational institutions); many students have families, most are forced to combine studies with work, and also regularly undergo reserve military service. As a result, the social and political activity of Israeli students is relatively low: only about 15% of them are active members of university party cells, agudot, or the National Union of Students.
The World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS) was founded in 1924 by several Jewish student unions from a number of European countries. Among the chairmen and senior officials of WUJS were A. Einstein, H. Weizmann, S. Dubnow, S. Freud, S. S. Wise, H. N. Bialik, and Sir H. Lauterpacht. During the Second World War, the headquarters of the organization was moved from Paris to Switzerland; the most important aspect of the Union’s activity during this period was providing refuge to Jewish students affected by Nazi persecution. In 1945–48, the members of WUJS included Jewish student organizations from Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon; WUJS maintained contacts with the youth wing of the Soviet Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. In 1948, the governing bodies of WUJS returned to Paris, and in 1968 London became the seat of its secretariat.
Until 1967, the Union considered its main task to be strengthening Jewish self-awareness among students; however, after the Six-Day War it adopted an openly pro-Zionist position, began to support repatriation to Israel, and became a collective member of the World Zionist Organization (1968). By the beginning of the 1970s, WUJS united 30 national student unions with a total membership exceeding 100,000 people (of whom about 50,000 were members of student organizations in the United States and Canada, and 35,000 were members of the Israeli National Union of Students). The highest body of WUJS is the Assembly, at which national Jewish student associations are represented in proportion to their membership (but not exceeding eight delegates); the Assembly of WUJS convenes once every three years, usually in Israel. The Union conducts political activities (combating antisemitism and neo-Nazism, supporting Israel, defending the rights of Jews in various countries), as well as educational and Zionist work, and maintains contacts with the International Student Organization.