Archives West Finding Aid

Scope and Content: Audiocassette recording of an oral history interview with Edward Stern, ending March 10, 1997; Mildred Rosenbaum, interviewer. Also present are audiocassette recordings of telephone conversations with Jewish Refusnik scientists in the former USSR (1973- 1976); and subject files pertaining to work with Jewish Refuseniks in the USSR and with Jewish students at the University of Washington (1973-1983). The oral history interview reviews Stern's background, early years and education in Detroit, Michigan, his graduate work at the California Institute of Technology, and his teaching career at the University of Washington. Two of his activities are discussed at length: his efforts on behalf of Jewish Refusnik scientists, and his work with Jewish students at the University of Washington. Specifically, Stern details his single-handed efforts to make weekly telephone calls to Jewish Refuseniks whose applications to the then Soviet government for permission to emigrate to Israel with their families had been denied, and to publicize their plight. He also documents his active involvement with Jewish students at the University of Washington, including the Jewish student-led fight to remove the Organization of Arab Students from the Minority Affairs Committee, and the effort to successfully counteract the statement "Zionism is Racism." Also discussed is Stern's tenure as President of the Board of the Hillel Foundation of the University of Washington and the investigation of embezzlement charges brought against a member of its staff.

Scope and Content: Tape-recorded interview conducted by Mildred Rosenbaum, Feb. 9, 1997 with transcript.

Scope and Content: Records related to Stern's work with Soviet Jewry, Discovery Park, and the scientific community. Sound cassettes include weekly phone calls to Soviet refuseniks, Azbel, Brailovsky, Gitterman, Luntz, Roginsky, and Voronel.