Dr.Yigal Sitry
About
sitry2@gmail.com
Yigal Sitry is a historian and archaeologist specializing in the Land of Israel and the history of Zionism.
He holds a Ph.D. from Bar-Ilan University and has served for thirteen years as the director of the Central Zionist Archives.
Throughout his career, Sitry has been deeply involved in education, museum curation, and the management of historical records.
He has served as the director of the Ramla City Museum and has published numerous academic articles on archaeological and historical topics.
His work focuses on preserving and interpreting the physical and archival heritage of the Jewish national movement and the ancient Land of Israel.
Lecture Abstract:
The Zionist Archives preserve thousands of documents of various types regarding the state of the Jewish community in India and Zionist activity there since the 1920s. The documents cover a long period and a variety of topics, including Zionist activity, the activities of the foundations in fundraising, WIZO, youth organizations, reports on the state of the community, general correspondence, etc. A group of documents from the 1940s mainly relates to Jewish immigrants and refugees who gathered in India, most of them World War II refugees from Eastern Europe, including the group known as the “Children of Tehran”; others from Asian regions such as Afghanistan and Bukhara, and others from East Asia - Rangoon, etc. This lecture will focus on reports that shed light on the countries of origin from which the refugees came to India, the circumstances of their arrival, their physical condition, and of course on the interface between the Jewish communities in India (Bnei Yisrael, Baghdadis, and European immigrants) and the refugees, and the assistance they received from the community and the Zionist mission in Bombay and Calcutta.