Born in Ukraine in 1914, Baruch Korff became the seventy-second generation of rabbis in his family. Following a pogrom in 1919, during which his mother was killed before his eyes, he fled to Poland. He earned his Smicha (Yoreh, Yoreh) in Poland in 1933, and his advanced Smicha (Yadin, Yadin) in Palestine in 1935.
Emigrating to the United States, he served as headmaster Yeshiva Torath Emeth, Brooklyn, New York, 1936-37; rabbi of Congregation Hayim Solomon, New York City, 1938-40; adviser to the Vaad Hahatzala-Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada, adviser to the War Refugee Board, director of the Emergency committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe, and executive vice president and United Nations observer of the Political Action Committee for Palestine, 1941-49; rabbi of Temple Israel, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 1950-53; rabbi of Congregation Agudath Achim, Tauton, Massachusetts, 1954-71, subsequently elected rabbi emeritus; and chaplain of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, 1954-74.
In 1973 he founded the National Citizens Committee for Fairness to the Presidency and became an adviser to President Nixon; in 1974 he founded the President Nixon Justice Fund and the United States Citizens Congress. In 1983 he donated his farm in Rehoboth, Massachusetts to Brown University and moved to Providence, to act as consultant to the University with respect to the endowed scholarship, faculty prize, and archive funds that he founded.
In addition, from the 1950s on, he travelled extensively in the Middle East under various auspices. He was also the author of "The Warriors Manual" (1943), "Flight from Fear" (1953), and "The Personal Nixon" (1974).
There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Researchers are advised that express written permission to reproduce, quote, or otherwise publish any portion or extract from this collection must be obtained from the Brown University Library. Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. It is up to the researcher to determine the owners of the literary rights and to obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Rabbi Baruch Korff papers, Ms. 84.3, Brown University Library.
The Rabbi Baruch Korff Papers are divided into 14 series, as well as two supplements containing material received too late to be included in these series. Additional supplements will include, not only recent material, but also documents from earlier periods after they are declassified or when their present confidentiality or other sensitivity ceases to be an issue.
Series I covers Rabbi Korff's career from 1937 to 1954 and focuses upon his efforts to save Jews from the Holocaust and to establish the State of Israel
In Series II are to be found the records of his rabbinical career from 1951 to 1975, as well as miscellaneous personal matters.
His diplomatic activities from 1951 to 1973 as they relate to Middle Eastern affairs are represented in Series III, which includes material covering various trips on behalf of an educational foundation and his mediation with the government of the State of Israel on behalf of the Greek and Armenian Orthodox Patriarchates of Jerusalem.
Series IV contains papers of the National Citizens Committee for Fairness to the Presidency, 1972-78.
Series V contains records of the President Nixon Justice Fund, 1974-79.
Series VI contains records of the United States Citizens Congress, 1974-79.
Series VII contains miscellaneous material relating to President Nixon.
Rabbi Korff's recent activites are covered in Series VIII.
Series IX has been reserved for the records of Rabbi Korff's relations with Brown University, particularly with respect to the donation of his papers
Series X consists of items exhibited at the John Hay and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Libraries in 1984 and 1985. Two catalogues were published of these exhibits, and for convenience the exhibited items have been kept as a separate series because they are described in detail in the catalogues and researches tend to request them by catalogue number.
Series XI contains the personal papers, 1941-73, of Rabbi Korff's elder brolther Samuel I. Korff (d. 1973), the rabbi of a congregation in Boston Massachusetts.
Series XII through XVI consist of material associated with the preceding series but stored separately because of format or size: recordings and films in Series XII, smaller material stored in "shoeboxes" in Series XIII, single oversize in Series XIV, double oversize in Series XV, and triple oversize in Series XVI.
The listing of the contents of these series are followed by two supplements and an index to the inventory, including the supplements.
arrange
The Rabbi Baruch Korff Papers were donated to the University by Korff in 1983, with later supplements.
Materials concerning the Holocaust in this section cover the following subjects: Latin American passports for European Jews; Nazi extermination camps; Freeports Plan (U.S. & Palestine); "The Warrior's Manual"; rescue of European Jews during World War II; and activities of the War Refugee Board, the Vaad Hahatzala-Union of Orthodox Rabbis, and the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe. Subjects relating to Palestine include establishment of the state of Israel; formation and activities of the Political Action Committee for Palestine; activities of the Hebrew Committee for National Liberation; the Lord Moyne assasination; the Irgun death sentences; the Baldwin Report; the Exodus By Air Project; Korff's 1947 arrest in Paris; and "Flight From Fear".
Correspondents in Section I include John McCormack, Peter Bergson, Lord Halifax, Ronald Campbell, Eri Jabotinsky, Henry Morganthau, Jr., and Clare Boothe Luce.
Includes Photo.
S.Res. 297 - Temporary Shelter on Ellis Island; S.Res. 325 - Mass Shelters in Palestine; H.Res. 622 - Mass Shelters in Palestine.
9/17 - radio, Jewish New Year; 11/5 - radio, Eisenhower Warning to Germans; 12/4 - Carnegie Hall rally
Petition for Free Ports in Palestine; Stettinius & Anglo-American Comm.
9/18 Visas for Hungarian Children; 9/30 Report Death of Jews with Latin American Passports - cable to Eisenhower; "Washington Post" Attack of Bergson & ECSJPE; 10/27 Governors' Appeal to Governments - Russia, France, Italy, et al; 11/2 Cable from Eisenhower; 11/10 Nazi Concentration Camps.
10/3 S. Merlin - "Washington Post" attack of Bergson & Hebrew Committee of National Liberation; 10/5 National Jewish Council; 10/11 Smertenko - Smear Campaign; 11/10 Rep. Somers - Call upon British to review policy in Palestine
10/15 Pehle Address - rescue efforts; 10/25 Emergency shelter - Gov. Bricker Denunciation Issue.
Somers - Zionist Convention Atlantic City; Zionist Organization of America (Rabbi Rose), Atlantic City
2/13 Brigadier-General William O'Dwyer; 2/21 Joseph Guffey (U.S. Senate) - R.H. Bailey, Sr.; 2/21 War Refugee Board; British Ambassador (Halifax) from Ben Hecht
3/1 to Sec. of State from William O'Dwyer (War Refugee Board); 3/1 memo re: Jabotinsky - Korff; 3/2 Turkish Embassy (Orhan Erol) to Hebrew Committe for National Liberation (S. Merlin); 3/3 to Judge Farnhorn from Dept of State (Crew); 3/5 to Morgenthau (Treasury) from Korff.
3/14 Dept of State (MacLeich) to Korff; Korff to Dept of State (Crew); Draft to Dept of State (Stettinius); 2/23 Korff to Hon. Robert Buckley
5/29 India Office to Mrs. Jabotinsky; 6/28 British Foreign Office SW1 (J.G. Tahourdin) to F.S. Cocks, Esq.
5/1 Statement in Support of the Hebrew Nation; 5/5 Statement in Support of the Hebrew Nation
5/24 Rabbis re TransJordan; 7/26 Congress re PAC meeting
8/27 cable; Gov. Vivian, CO; Gov. Caldwell, FL; Gov. Arnall, GA; Gov. O'Conner, MD; Gov. Snell, OR
Gov. Meadows, WV; Gov. Edge; Gov. Sharpe, SD; Gov. Pastore, RI; Gov. Martin; Gov. Hunt
4/9 statement by B. Korff; 4/15 IRS; 4/16 Poole Law Office; 4/18 IRS; 4/25 Poole (Denbo); 4/25 Nunas, U.S. Treasury Dept.
4/29 Poole (Denbo); 7/11 Nunas, U.S. Treasury Dept; 8/5, 8/7, 8/12 Murray Josephson.
3/29 Debate; 4/3 British Decline to Paticipate
2/12 PAC for Palestine - Announcing Formation; 2/21 PAC for Palestine & Zionist Revisionist Organization of America - Congressional Fact Finding Commission to Palestine; 7/12 PAC for Palestine - British Loan & Resignation of PAC for PAL Members.
8/13 Cable to Sir Alan Cunningham - Irgun death sentences; 8/16 Cable to Sir Alan Cunningham - Irgun death sentences (Press: "New York Times", "New York Herald Tribune", et al.); 8/28 American Jewish Conference - Appeal to P.M. Attlee & Cunningham re Irgun death sentences.
10/2 Baldwin - Election as Administrative Chairman of PAC for Palestine; 11/20 Baldwin - Authorization of Advertisments; 12/5 Cable to Archbishop of Canterbury (Fischer) defending Jewish acts of violence.
5/9 Samuel Wohl, 12/1 B'nai B'rith
4/3 Gruman Aircraft; 4/3 C.J. Lipscomb & Co; 4/5 Tobin; 4/8 tobin; 4/5 Miller Aircraft; 4/9 Leon R. Harrison; 4/9 Whitney.
5/7 Alfred Miller Corp. - parachutes; 5/26 Air Accessories, Inc.; 5/28 JVW Co. (link Aviation Co.)
5/15 Colliers Publishing Co.; 6/2 North Americna Newspaper Alliance (Schwartz)
Johnson & Johnson; Harris & Sloan.
U.S. Dept of State; U.S. Dept of Commerce, Civil Aeronautics Division.