Skip to main content

ORT history books, essays and publications.

Several books, articles and other publications have been written about ORT's past work and activities. Anniversaries were often catalysts to these publications. Some were produced internally by ORT staff, some were created by our alumni and supporters, while others were researched and written by professional historians and published more formally. Together they provide a fascinating insight into ORT's history. The following titles cover a wide period and while some offer an overall view of the organisation's history, others focus on individual countries or specific enterprises. Many of these rely on archive materials that can be found in other sections of this website. 

History of the Founding of ORT by Grigory Aronson, 1930.

This narrative provides background on the situation of Russian Jews prior to and around the time of ORT's foundation between 1869-1906. It describes the initial efforts by ORT's founders, fundraising and administration of the Interim ORT Committee,…

L’Histoire de l’ORT en Roumanie, 1931-1949, draft, undated.

This draft document in French reports the history of ORT in Romania between 1931 and 1949. It contains a chronological history including statistics and press cuttings across the period in scope.

Material and Memoirs: Chapters for the History of ORT, Geneva: ORT Union, June 1955.

A series of articles by ORT personnel covering the history and activities of the organisation at key points in its past from their personal perspective. Includes articles by: Dr Aron Syngalowski, Dr Leon Bramson, Dr David Lvovitch, Senator Herbert…

80 Years of ORT: Historical Materials, Documents and Reports, Geneva: ORT Union, 1960.

A collection of articles, reproduced documents, and summaries of governing bodies meetings providing an overview of the history of the organisation on it's 80th anniversary.

The History of British ORT: 1919 until 1973 by Cecily Zimmermann, London, 1976.

This document from 1976 covers the beginnings of British ORT and its subsequent history. It tells of British ORT's work during the Second World and its aftermath. ORT's establishment of schools and partnerships in Britain and the subsequent…

By the Skill of Their Hands: The Story of ORT by Jack Rader, Geneva: WOU, 1970.

By the Skill of Their Hands is the exciting and inspiring story of ORT—the Organization for Rehabilitation through Training—and its growth and development during the first ninety years of its life and service.

ORT in Lithuania by Jacob Oleiski, draft, undated.

In the years 1918-1941, during Lithuania's political independence, ORT fulfilled a significant mission for the isolated Jewish Community there. This established of ORT as the only Jewish agency in the world which concerned itself with providing…

One Hundred Quotes on ORT, World ORT, 2010.

The 100 quotations in this book have been taken from speeches, correspondence or items previously published in ORT articles and documents. Quotations come from heads of state, public figures, distinguished academics, ORT leaders and ORT staff and…

Person, ORT and the Rehabilitation of Holocaust Survivors: ORT Activities 1945-1956.

Katarzyna Person's book compiles brief histories of ORT's activities in each DP camp in Austria and Germany, as well as camps in Italy. Also covers ORT's post-WWII work with Jewish displaced persons and refugees in other countries in Europe and…

A History of the ORT Central Institute at Anières–Geneva (1949–1999) by Jacques Levy. (English)

Published in Geneva by Geneva Jewish Heritage Association (Patrimoine juif genevois), 2021. Made available here by kind permission of the author.

Histoire de l’Institut Central ORT Anières-Genève (1949-1999) by Jacques Levy. (French)

Published in Geneva by Geneva Jewish Heritage Association (Patrimoine juif genevois), 2021. Made available here by kind permission of the author.

Leon Shapiro, The History of ORT: A Jewish Movement for Social Change, 2nd ed., 2010.

Second edition [first published 1980] with a new foreword by David Cesarani, London: World ORT, 2010.

Educating for Life: New Chapters in the History of ORT, London: World ORT, 2010.

Edited by Rachel Bracha, Adi Drori-Avraham and Geoffrey Yantian. Includes articles by: Adi Drori-Avraham, Gennady Estraikh, Judah Harstein, Alexander Ivanov, Sarah Kavanaugh, Lynn Leeb, Vyacheslav Leshchiner, Harry Nadler, and Geoffrey Yantian.

Published books

Bracha, Rachel (ed.) One Hundred QUOTES On ORT London: World ORT 2010  
Bracha, Drori-Avraham and Yantian (eds.) Educating for Life: New Chapters in the History of ORT London:World ORT 2010 ISBN:9780953826575 (hardback); ISBN:9780953826599 (paperback)
Glogowski, Philippe and Lionel Courtot, Mazal The Lucky Star: History of ORT and Its Calling Strasbourg: Editions de Signe 2013 ISBN:9782746829634
Kavanaugh, Sarah ORT, the Second World War and the Rehabilitation of Holocaust Survivors London: Vallentine Mitchell 2008 ISBN:9780853038061
Person, Katarzyna, edited by Rachel Bracha ORT and the Rehabilitation of Holocaust Survivors: ORT Activities 1945-1956 London: World ORT 2012  
Polack, Emmanuelle (ed.) The Tradesmen and Farmers of ‘Yiddishland’ 1921-1938 Paris: Somogy Éditions D’art, ORT France and Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme, Paris 2006 ISBN:2850568627
Rader, Jack By the Skill of Their Hands: The Story of ORT: A Jewish Movement for Social Change Geneva: World ORT Union 1970  
Shapiro, Leon The History of ORT: A Jewish Movement for Social Change, [first published 1980] second edition with a new foreword by David Cesarani London: World ORT 2010 ISBN:0805237399
  Facing the Future: 1880-2000 London, World ORT 2000 ISBN:0953826503
  The Hope and the Illusion: The Search for a Russian Jewish Homeland, a Remarkable Period in the History of ORT London: World ORT 2006 ISBN:9780953826544
  ORT, 1880-1980 With introduction by Renzo Levy Rome: Carucci Editore 1980  

Published journal articles and academic papers and theses

Aronson, Gregory ‘Memoir of the Secretary of ORT’, with introduction and commentary by Alexander Ivanov, in O. Budnitskii (ed.) Archive of Jewish History, Volume 3, Moscow:International Center for Russian and East European Jewish Studies, pp. 94-124 2006  
Estraikh, Gennady Changing Ideologies of Artisanal “Productivisation”: ORT in Late Imperial Russia' East European Jewish Affairs, 39:1, pp. 3-18 2009 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13501670902750253
Estraikh, Gennady ‘Jacob Lestschinsky: A Yiddishist Dreamer and Social Scientist’ Science in Context 20:2, pp. 215–237 2007 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0269889707001251
Ivanov, Alexander ‘From a Russian-Jewish Philanthropic Organization to the ‘Glorious Institute of World Jewry’: Activities of the World ORT Union in the 1920s—1940s’ Schulte, Tabachnikova and Wagstaff (eds.), The Russian Jewish Diaspora and European Culture, 1917-1937, Leiden and Boston: Brill, pp. 381-410 2012  
Ivanov, Alexander, ‘ORT in Birobidzhan, 1933 – 1937’ Pinkas: Culture and History of East European Jewry, Vol. III, The Centre for Studies of the Culture and History of East European Jews, Vilnius, pp. 108-139 2010  
Ivanov, Alexander ‘Nähmaschinen und Brillantringe – Die Tätigkeit der Berliner ORT 1920-1943’ [Sewing machines and diamond rings - the work of the Berlin ORT 1920-1943] in V. Dohrn and G. Pickhan (eds.), Transit und Transformation: Osteuropäisch-Jüdische Migranten in Berlin 1918-1939, Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, pp. 195-209 2010  
Ivanov, Alexander 'Facing East: the World ORT Union and the Jewish Refugee Problem in Europe, 1933-38', East European Jewish Affairs, 39: 3 pp. 369-388 2009 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13501670903298278
Ivanov, Alexander 'From Charity to Productive Labour', East European Jewish Affairs, 37:1 pp. 1-28 2007 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13501670701197821
Munitz, Arieh The “ORT” Associations in the Soviet Union 1917-1938 Tel Aviv: Pirsume ha-Agudah le-ḥeḳer toldot ha-Yehudim, Tel Aviv University. Book 34 of Pirsume haMakhon le-ḥeḳer ha-tefutsot. 1980  
Person, Katarzyna ‘"A Constructive Form of Help": Vocational Training as a Form of Rehabilitation of Jewish Refugees in Great Britain, 1939–1948’, in Melilah (Manchester Journal of Jewish Studies), Vol. 8 pp. 84-95 2011 ISBN 978-1-4632-0221-7
Renzo, Chiara "Individual Recovery and Collective Redemption through Skilled Labor after the Holocaust: The Organization for Rehabilitation through Training in Italy" Jahrbuch des Dubnow-Instituts /Dubnow Institute Yearbook XIX 2020/2021, p. 55-80 doi.org/10.13109/9783666302039.55  
Tapuach, Shimshon ORT Activities in Poland 1945-1950 Research Paper no. 6, Tabenkin Institute, Israel 1981  

Unpublished dissertations and theses

Polack, Emmanuelle L'ORT, une organisation juive pendant l'Occupation Unpublished dissertation submitted to Universite Paris I Sorbonne 2000.
Martina Ravagnan I profughi ebrei in Italia nel secondo dopoguerra (1945-1950) [Jewish Displaced Persons in post-war Italy (1945-1950). Includes a section on ORT (pp. 79-84).] Masters degree dissertation submitted to the University of Bologna 2011

Other publications

Berelejis, Zucker and Muszkat (eds.) Libro Aniversario 80 Anos "ORT" y 25 Anos ORT en Argentina, Buenos Aires: ORT Argentina and the South American ORT 1960.  
Goldmann, Sussia O.R.T. Die grosse Organisation des jüdischen Fachbildungswesens [ORT the big organisation of the Jewish education system]. Reprint from Wirtschaftsrevue, No. 33, c. 1964.  
Contributors: Gregory Aronson, Sussya [Sussia] Goldmann, Aaron Syngalowski 80 Years of ORT: Historical Materials, Documents and Reports, Geneva: ORT Union 1960.  
Contributors: Aron Syngalowski, Leon Bramson, David Lvovitch, Senator Herbert Lehman, Wilhelm Graetz, L.V. Frenkiel, Rachel Gourman, A.C. Litton, Dr. Mowshowitch, A.A. Yakir, J. Frumkin Material and Memoirs: Chapters for the History of ORT, Geneva: ORT Union June 1955.  
Former and Current ORT Members Staff and Students' Memoirs and Publications    
Frimtzis, Robert From Tajikistan to the Moon: A Story of Tragedy, Survival and Triumph of the Human Spirit, 2008. ISBN: 9780615199030.    
Goetz, Samuel I Never Saw My Face, 2001. ISBN: 9781587768514.    
Harmatz, Joseph Life with ORT, Tel Aviv: Joseph Harmatz in cooperation with ORT Israel, 2002.    
Makover, Batia Tsur, Muki, Yilma, Shmuel (ed.), The Power of One: The Story of a Man who Opened the Route to Israel via Sudan for the Ethiopian Jews. Ferede Yazezew Aklum, 2019. Translator: Heidi Gleit.    
Malkes, Simon Le Juste de la Wehrmacht 2012 ISBN: 9782748395976.
Malkes, Simon English version: The Righteous of the Wehrmacht 2015 ISBN: 9781618114495
Meaux, Lorraine de The Gunzburgs: A Family Biography. Translator: Steven Rendall 2019 ISBN: 9781905559992.
Offner, Robert The Different and the Strange: Tales of work abroad 1962-1989 1997.  
Oleiski, Jacob Jacob Oleiski: A Man's Work, Tel Aviv: Hotsa'at ORT Israel: Igud yots'e Litabe-Israel [ORT Israel, the Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel] 1986.  
Singer, Robert From Generation to Generation: fourteen years as CEO of World ORT. Assessment, structure and activities from 1999 to 2013, London: World ORT 2013.