In 1999, a revised edition of the 1989 Guide to the International Archives and Collections at the IISH, Amsterdam (hereafter GIA) was published. This was the last printed GIA. From 1998 onwards, annual supplements to this GIA have been published in Issue 2 of the International Review of Social History (IRSH).
In recent years, all information on archival holdings at the IISH has become available online and appears in the institute’s online catalogue under search.socialhistory.org. In addition to listing papers and archives, this catalogue features descriptions of collections containing audiovisual and library materials. Audiovisual materials include audio cassettes, videos, photographs, slides, negatives, and posters. Library materials include books, periodicals, and brochures.
The archives may be consulted in the IISH reading room in Amsterdam and increasingly online as well. Requests for access to the physical documents or for digital reproductions may be submitted via the online catalogue. For additional information about rules for access and consultation (including procedures for handling the material and making photocopies), please consult the website socialhistory.org/en/services or contact the IISH information service (e-mail: ask@iisg.nl).
Each entry offers a summary comprising the following:
1. Access: As a rule, consultation is not restricted; any restrictions are indicated by *.
2. Name: Names of persons include dates of birth and death, when known. In the case of international organizations with names in more than one language, the language is selected in which most of the documents were written. For organizations that have changed their names, the name used most recently is selected. Previous names of organizations are mentioned in the condensed history. The names of subject collections are mostly in English.
3. Period: First and last date of the documents present. Where only a few documents are from a certain year or period, they are listed in parentheses.
4. Size: In linear metres.
5. Finding aid: Available inventories, lists, and indexes.
6. Biography/history: A condensed biography or history of the persons or organizations concerned.
7. Summary of contents: A summary of the contents of the archives, papers, or collection concerned.
In the case of an accrual to existing archives, a reference appears to the ‘url’ containing the initial description as well as the supplement(s).
1. Persons
Bohley, Bärbel (1945–2010) – Papers
Period: 1983–1984
Size: 0.02 m.
Finding aid: list
Born Brosius, in Berlin 24 May 1945, died in Strasburg, Germany 11 September 2010; opposition figure and artist in the German Democratic Republic (GDR); as an artist, Bohley won prizes from the authorities, including a trip to the Soviet Union; her opposition to the government started in the 1980s; expelled from the Verband Bildender Künstler (GDR artists federation) 1983 and banned from travelling abroad or exhibiting her work in the GDR; accused of having contacts with the Grünen and the environmental movement in the Federal Republic of Germany; a co-founder of the Initiative Frieden und Menschenrechte 1985; arrested during a demonstration and expelled from the GDR, together with life partner Werner Fischer, but without losing their GDR travel passes 1988; granted a six-month visa to the United Kingdom but returned both to the GDR August 1988; one of the founders of Neues Forum 1989; later based in Sarajevo where she put great effort into building homes in order to enable refugees to return after the armed conflicts in Bosnia-Hercegovina.
Photocopies of documents relating to the presentation of Bärbel Bohley and Ulrike Poppe (Rostock, 1953) at the Attorney General’s Office on ‘clarifying a factual situation’ on 12 December 1983 in Berlin, GDR, and other documents on the peace movement in the GDR 1983–1984.
N.B. Papers are part of http://hdl.handle.net/10622/ARCH01730.
Dannat, Berta (1916–2001) – Papers
Period: 1982–1989 (–2003)
Size: 0.01 m.
Finding aid: list
Berta Marie Meta (Corrie) Dannat; born in Bremen, Germany 7 January 1916, died in Amsterdam 31 August 2001; member of the Kommunistischer Jugendverband Deutschlands, the youth organization of the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands 1933; fled to the Netherlands after the betrayal of her resistance group 1936; active in the resistance movement during the German occupation of the Netherlands; after the liberation active as a beautician.
Correspondence of Berta Dannat with Mechthild Müser, Jörg Wollenberg (University of Bremen) and the Akademie der Wissenschaften of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) 1982–1989; photocopies of an article on Dannat (pseudonym Maier) and her companion Heinz Junge in the Dutch weekly De Groene Amsterdammer 1995; mourning card, biographical sketch, and some correspondence on the life of Berta Dannat 2001, 2003.
N.B. Papers are part of http://hdl.handle.net/10622/ARCH01730.
Fazel, Mohsen (1949–1981) – Papers
Period: 1981
Size: 0.01 m., 1.5 MB
Born in Mashad, Iran, 7 October 1949, died in Tehran 21 June 1981; grew up in a wealthy family; studied chemistry at Aryamehr University of Technology in Tehran; joined during his student years the underground People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (OMPI) and became a professional revolutionary; dispatched to the Middle East in 1974 to get military training in Palestinian camps and fought alongside the PLO under the nom de guerre, Sami; supported the Marxist-Leninist branch of OMPI; upon returning to Iran in November 1979 he joined Sazeman-e Paykar dar Rah-e Azadi-ye Tabaqeh-ye Kargar (Combat Organization on the Road for the Emancipation of the Working Class); arrested on 4 February 1981 when applying for a passport; imprisoned in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran; after 139 days in custody he was condemned to death in a kangaroo court and executed by a firing squad on 21 June 1981.
Prison journal by Mohsen Fazel 1981, written in concealment and smuggled out of jail, it is considered one of the best documents about the early phase of Islamic Republic Prison System; prints of four digitized photos and four other digitized documents n.d.; print of a webpage on life and fate of Mohsen Fazel.
Kadirgamar, Santasilan (1934–2015) – Papers
Period: 1979–2005
Size: 0.37 m.
Finding aid: list
Known as Silan Kadirgamar; born in Chavakachcheri near Jaffna, northern Ceylon 11 April 1934, died in Sri Lanka 25 July 2015; Tamil background; primary education in Seremban, Malaysia 1941–1945; returned to Ceylon 1946; graduated University of Ceylon 1959; taught modern history, politics, and international relations at Jaffna College 1959–1969, University of Colombo 1970–1978, and University of Jaffna 1979–1983; fellow and research associate at various universities in Tokyo, Japan, teaching on nationalism, ethnic conflict, and peace-making in South Asia with special reference to Sri Lanka 1983–2000; returned to Sri Lanka in June 2000.
The Movement for Inter-Racial Justice and Equality (MIRJE) was founded in 1979 by a.o. Fr. Paul Caspersz, a Roman Catholic priest, and Santasilan Kadirgamar; Kadirgamar was active in the Northern (Jaffna) Branch of the MIRJE 1979–1983; president of the Northern Branch was Rev. Fr. J.E. Jayaseelan; the MIRJE can be seen as a NGO initially fighting for peace and later developing into an organization specialized in human rights education at schools, in communities, and within the armed forces; in 2018, the MIRJE is no longer active.
Minutes of the meetings of the National Committee of the Movement for Inter-Racial Justice and Equality (MIRJE) and of its Northern (Jaffna) Branch 1979–1988; correspondence by and between and other documents relating to the National Committee of the MIRJE and its Northern (Jaffna) Branch 1980–1988; lists of deceased, injured, and arrested people, lists of burnt places and other damages, descriptions of massacres, torture, incidents, and operations of the Indian Peace Keeping Forces, and official statements under oath by victims and witnesses 1983–1988; declarations by the MIRJE and other documents on Tamil political prisoners, detention camps and prisons, legal assistance for detainees under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and Emergency Regulations, and campaigns for release of political prisoners and general amnesty 1981–1988; documents on discussions on the MIRJA programme and a round table conference on peace 1984–1986; documents on the financial administration of the MIRJE 1979–1988; correspondence of the Jaffna Citizens Committee 1985–1986; documents of Amnesty International 1985–1988; press clippings and other documentation 1979–2005.
N.B. Santasilan Kadirgamar left Sri Lanka in 1983 and did not return until the year 2000; many of the documents in this archive are from the years between; there is an indication that (a part) of these papers earlier belonged to Mr. S.B. Arumainayagam, vice-president of the Jaffna Citizens Committee.
Kautsky, Benedikt (1894–1960) – Papers
Period: 1934–1960 (–1985)
Size: 0.08 m.
Finding aid: inventory
Accrual: for initial description see: http://hdl.handle.net/10622/ARCH00710.
Diary about the earliest years of Suze Kautsky 1924–1927; letters from Suze Kautsky to her parents 1934–1949; letters from her sister Edith to Suze Kautsky 1945–1957; other correspondence, a.o. from Susan Jahoda, Felix Kautsky, and L. Moulijn 1943–1953; various travel and identity documents of Suze Kautsky 1941–1953; documents on the death of Benedikt, Gerda, and Suze Kautsky 1960–1985.
Oliver (Oliwer), Henry (Heinrich) (1916–1992) – Papers
Period: c.1983
Size: 0.01 m.
Finding aid: list
Born in Bremen, Germany 9 March 1916, died in London c.1992; imprisoned by the Nazi regime 1936–1939; expelled abroad and emigrated to England 1939.
Photocopies of his handwritten memoirs ‘Nazi Jahre 1933–1939’ c.1983.
N.B. Papers are part of http://hdl.handle.net/10622/ARCH01730.
Posusney, Marsha Pripstein (1953–2008) – Collection
Period: 1969–1987
Size: 0.25 m.
Finding aid: inventory
Born 1953, died 22 August 2008; Ph.D. student at University of Pennsylvania’s Political Science Department or an Arabic student at the Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA) at Harvard University or the Language Schools in Middlebury, Vermont, she combined academic interests in Egyptian politics, labour, and political economy with her political and personal commitment to labour rights, feminism, human rights, and social justice; editor and board member of Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP); published analyses of Middle East politics in Middle East Report; started teaching at Bryant University in 1992; published her dissertation under the title Labor and the State in Egypt. Workers, Unions and Economic Restructuring (1997); co-edited Women and Globalization in the Middle East (2003) and Authoritarianism in the Middle East. Regimes and Resistance (2005); died of cancer in 2008; see the obituaries in the Review of Middle East Studies (RoMES) by Diane Singerman, and in the Studies in Comparative International Development.
Press clippings, photocopies of articles, and some original issues of periodicals, all on Egyptian politics and the Egyptian Communist Party and the Egyptian labor movement in particular 1969–1987; more than 95 per cent of the documents is in Arabic.
Weber, Ellen (born 1930) – Papers
Period: 1945–2017
Size: 2.5 m.
Finding aid: inventory
Born as Ellen Weispfennig in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 22 April 1930; communist politician and activist; grew up in a social-democratic family who rejected the ideology of national socialism; experienced as a child the horrors of the Nazi regime and World War II; chose after the war, like her parents, for the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (KPD); studied to be a social worker, but could not get a job because of her political engagement; studied from 1951 to 1955 political sciences at the University of Leipzig in the newly founded German Democratic Republic; returned to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1955; married Eberhard Weber, a journalist at the antifascist weekly Die Tat, 1956; in the same year, the KPD was banned; worked as a chord worker in the production of typewriters at the Torpedo-Werke A.G. in Frankfurt and, at the same time, in the trade union IG Metall 1956–1963; became active in the Deutsche Friedens Union (DFU), a new political party supported by the Christian peace movement and left-wing trade union members, and was professionally on the road for this party from 1963 until 1969; from 1969 active in the newly founded Deutsche Kommunistische Partei (DKP) as a board member and chairman of the department Hessen; decided to use her experiences in politics and works councils for a research project and she got her Ph.D. at the Humboldt University in Berlin, GDR 1972; in the years after 1972, she remained active in the DKP with the highlight of the vice presidency from 1986 to 1990; from 1990–2012 she was a member of the board of the DKP; from 1990–1995 she worked as a social worker in ‘Die Kanne’, a women’s house in Frankfurt.
Correspondence 1961–1990; manuscripts and typescripts of speeches 1987–2016, and mourning speeches 1976–2014; documents relating to the Deutsche Friedens Union (DFU) 1961–1969 (1990); documents on the Aktion Demokratischer Fortschritt (ADF) 1969; documents relating to her Ph.D. at the Humboldt University in Berlin, GDR, 1972; documents relating to her political activities within the board of the Deutsche Kommunistische Partei (DKP) 1981–2012; documents on the protests against the expansion of the airport in Frankfurt am Main 1981 (2009); documents on her activities within the peace movement and the Easter marches 1983–2017; documents on professional bans from DKP members 1989–1990; biographical sketch 2004; twenty-nine photos of Ellen Weber and other persons 1958–1989; ephemera on the DKP 1982–1999.
2. Organizations
* Eurocadres – Archives
Period: (1989–) 1993–2007
Size: 6 m., 200 photos, 227 MB
Finding aid: list
The Council of European Professional and Managerial Staff (Eurocadres) represents Professional and Managerial Staff (P&MS) in Europe; founded in 1993 and based in Brussels, Belgium; represents six million members from national trade union organizations and European Trade Union Federations, in all sectors of business, in industry as well as in the civil and public services; is a partner in collective bargaining and participates as one of the three recognized European cross-sectoral social partners in the European cross-sectoral social dialogue; Eurocadres is associated to the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), but fully independent and addresses only Professional and Managerial Staff issues.
Files on congresses, general assemblies, conferences, and symposiums 1993–2005; minutes and other documents of the steering committee and the executive committee 1993–2005;
files on constitutions and rules 1997–2005; files organized around main themes as employment, growth and competitiveness, mobility, education, pensions, working conditions, gender equality, and European works councils 1993–2007; files on negotiations and social dialogue related to themes such as corporate restructuring, health and safety, lifelong development of competencies and qualifications, and social security of migrant workers 1993–2006;
files on the relations with the European presidencies, the European Parliament, the European Commission, the European Trade Union Confederation, the European Industry Federations, and the national member organizations 1993–2005; files on research studies and data on Professional and Managerial Staff 1993–2005; files on administration and finances 1993–2005; file on the origins of Eurocadres 1989–1992; publications and press releases 1993–2005; photos of congresses, general assemblies, conferences, and symposiums 1992–2005.
* International League of Religious Socialists – Archives
Period: 2000–2015
Size: 0.25 m.
Finding aid: list
Accrual: for initial description see: http://hdl.handle.net/10622/ARCH02865.
Documents on the congresses of the ILRS in Budapest, Hungary 2000, Lucerne, Switzerland 2003, Oslo, Norway 2006, Córdoba, Spain 2009 and Stockholm, Sweden 2012.
ITH Publications – Collection
Period: 1964–2013
Size: 60 GB, 15.600 files
Finding aid: list
The ITH (Internationale Tagung der Historiker der Arbeiterbewegung) was formally founded in Vienna, Austria, in 1969, and became well known for its ‘Linz Conferences’, annual international meetings of labour historians dedicated to one or more special themes in each year; conferences were organized since 1964 (the first one in Vienna), under the auspices of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung (in Österreich) [Working Group on the history of the workers’ movement (in Austria)]; also served as an institutional platform bringing together labour historians and connecting institutions dedicated to research on labour history; based in Vienna, Austria; until the 1990s, the Linz Conferences strongly focused on the history of the labour movement in all parts of Europe; before the end of state-socialism, the ITH and its conferences served as a platform especially for bringing together and promoting dialogue between scholars from both sides of the ‘Iron Curtain’; since then, the organization has broadened its thematic interest and geographical scope; today, its conferences focus on labour history broadly conceived and the history of social movements; a global and inclusive approach to this history and transnational research topics is pursued, while participants still dominantly come from the Global North and the focus on Central, South Eastern, and Eastern Europe has disappeared; since 2014, the ITH has served as an organizational platform for the European Labor History Network, and most recently it has been involved in the emerging Global Labor History Network.
Collection of the proceedings of, and edited volumes arising from, the annual conferences of the ITH, and miscellaneous printed material; as a rule, the conference volumes focus on one or more themes in the history and historiography of labour and the labour movement; there is also bibliographical information as well as information on and discussion of research institutions, sources, documentation, and methods; the first volume, documenting the inaugural conference (Vienna, 1964) and the first two Linz Conferences (1965 and 1966) was published in 1972; thereafter, until the 23rd conference (1987), the entire conference proceedings, including the opening statements, the papers given, and the ensuing discussion, were published; the proceedings of the 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th ‘Linz’ conferences (1967, 1968, 1970, and 1971) have not been published; the conferences between 1988 and 1992 are each documented through the edited volumes and an accompanying brochure on the conference proceedings; from the 29th Linz Conference (1993) edited volumes building on selected contributions to the conferences are published.
3. Subjects
Burma:
Collection on Burma from the Open Society Foundations (New York) – Collection
Period: 1985–2010
Size: 5 m.
The Open Society Foundations (until 2010 Open Society Institute) were founded in 1993 by George Soros and are based in New York; investor and philanthropist George Soros established the Open Society Foundations to help countries make the transition from communism; their mission is as follows: ‘The Open Society Foundations work to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable and open to the participation of all people’; one of the countries where the Foundations supported projects was Burma.
Collection on the Burma contacts and projects of the Open Society Foundations 1985–2010.
Patricia Herbert Collection on Burma – Collection
Period: 1965–2009
Size: 0.97 m.
Finding aid: list
The collection exists of three parts: personal files from Patricia Herbert (born 1943), files from U Maung Maung, the ‘brigadier’ (1920–2009), and files from Dr. U Maung Maung, president for one month in 1988 (1925–1994), 1965–2009.
Patricia Herbert; born in London 12 July 1943; studied at the School of Oriental and African studies, University of London, and at the University of Michigan; lived in Burma in the early 1970s where she learnt Burmese; curator of the South East Asia Collections at the British Library in London 1975–1998; published on Burmese manuscripts, art, history, and Buddhism (The Life of the Buddha, 1993); vice chair of Prospect Burma. Education for a Democratic Future from 1989 on.
U Maung Maung, also known as Bogyoke (Brigadier); born 1920, died in Yangon, Myanmar 8 July 2009; Burmese army brigadier, diplomat, and author; active in the organizing of anti-British resistance 1941, but also in the anti-Japanese uprising 1945; military career 1945–1961; supported general Ne Win to come to power 1958–1962; foreign service career as ambassador in Israel, Yugoslavia, Indonesia, and Australia 1961–1975; published after his retirement From Sangha to Laity. Nationalist Movements of Burma 1920–1940 (1980) and Burmese Nationalist Movements 1940–1948 (1989).
Dr. U Maung Maung; born in Mandalay, Upper Burma, British India 31 January 1925, died in Yangon, Myanmar 2 July 1994; writer and president for one month; studied in Rangoon and London, Ph.D. at Utrecht University, the Netherlands; published Burma and General Ne Win (1969); key figure during the mass pro-democracy demonstrations in August 1988; declared chairman of the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) and President of Burma by the People’s Assembly 19 August 1988; anti-government demonstrations continued and Maung Maung’s presidency was abruptly ended by the Burmese army 18 September 1988; retired from political life disillusioned and suffering from diabetes; his memoirs were published as The 1988 Uprising in Burma (2000).
Egypt:
Egyptian Communist and Leftist Movements – Collection
Period: 1974–1986
Size: 0.25 m.
Finding aid: inventory
In the second half of the seventies and the early eighties, the Egyptian Communist Party (Ḥizb al-Shuyūʿī al-Miṣrī), the Egyptian Workers’ Communist Party (Ḥizb al-ʿUmmāl al-Shuyūʿī al- Miṣrī), the Unified Communist Party 8 January (Ḥizb al-Shuyūʿī al- Miṣrī, 8 Yanāyir), the Iraqi Communist Party (Ḥizb al-Shuyūʿī al-ʿIrāqī), the National Democratic Front (al-Jabhah al-Waṭanīyah al-Dimuqrāṭīyah), and the Union of Democratic Egyptian Youth (Ittiḥād al-Shabāb al-Dimuqrāṭī al-Miṣrī) played a role in the Egyptian society and the broader Middle East, trying to change politics and influencing public opinion.
Documents of the Egyptian Communist Party (Ḥizb al-Shuyūʿī al-Miṣrī), the Egyptian Workers’ Communist Party (Ḥizb al-ʿUmmāl al-Shuyūʿī al- Miṣrī), the Unified Communist Party 8 January (Ḥizb al-Shuyūʿī al- Miṣrī, 8 Yanāyir), the Iraqi Communist Party (Ḥizb al-Shuyūʿī al-ʿIrāqī), the National Democratic Front (al-Jabhah al-Waṭanīyah al-Dimuqrāṭīyah), and the Union of Democratic Egyptian Youth (Ittiḥād al-Shabāb al-Dimuqrāṭī al-Miṣrī), between 1974 and 1983; internal publications, programmes, conference reports, theoretical publications on President Sadat (al-Sādāt), his trip to Jerusalem, the Palestinian issue, the nature of the Egyptian bourgeoisie, conference reports; the collection also includes documents of the Union of Egyptian Democratic Youth (UDEY).
Egyptian Religious Movements Periodicals – Collection
Period: 1933–1959
Size: 0.2 m.
Finding aid: list
The Muslim Brotherhood is considered to be one of the most important movements within political Islam. It advocated gradual reforms towards an Islamic society of social justice, and was concerned with several social issues, for example public healthcare, education, social inequalities, colonialism, nationalism, and pan-Islamism;
Ḥassan al-Bannā, who founded the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928, was assassinated by the Egyptian secret police in 1949; under the leadership of al-Bannā, the Muslim Brotherhood became one of the most important social movements within Egypt with over a million supporters; furthermore, the Brotherhood served as a model for several religious movements in different countries;
Shabāb Sayyidnā Muḥammad (Youth of Our Lord Muḥammad) was founded in 1939 as a Muslim Brotherhood splinter group after disagreement concerning the support of al-Bannā for a compromise that supported the Egyptian monarchy;
Muṣṭafá Sibāʿī was the founder of Shabāb Sayyidnā Muḥammad; came from Syria but studied Islamic theology at al-Azhar University in Cairo; during this time, attended lectures by al-Bannā and joined the Brotherhood in 1930; after his return to Syria, founded the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood; most of his work was prohibited after the Muslim Brotherhood became a banned organization during the rule of Gamal Abdel Nasser (Jamal ‘Abd al-Nāṣir) and the Baʿath regime in Syria;
Topics such as, Islam, anti-imperialism, colonialism, the struggle for liberation, and social issues are focal points within this collection, as well as important historical events such as the Free Officers Movement that overthrew the monarchy and established a republic, the passing of al-Bannā, and the tensions over the Suez canal.
Collection of periodicals (sometimes bimonthly, weekly, or daily): al-Nadhīr by al-Ikhwān al-Muslimūn (Muslim Brotherhood) 1938–1940, 1946; Shabāb Sayyidnā Muḥammad (Youth of Our Lord Muḥammad), owned by Muḥammad Abū Zayd ʿUthmān [Cairo] 1944–1952; al- Ikhwān al-Muslimūn (Muslim Brotherhood) by al-Ikhwān al-Muslimūn 1933–1935, 1938, 1942, 1945–1946; Ṣawt al-Islām (Voice of Islam), owned by Muḥammad ʿAṭīyah khamīs 1955–1956, 1959; Majalat Al-Mabāḥith (Magazine of the Researchers), owned by Ḥusnī al-Ḥussaynī [Cairo] 1950; Manzil al-Waḥī (House of revelation), owned by Aḥmad Anas al-Ḥijājī( [Cairo] 1951; al-Daʿwah (The Call i.e. proselytizing of Islam), an official publication of the Muslim Brotherhood, owned by Ṣaliḥ ʿAshmāwī) [Cairo] 1951–1954.
Ethiopia:
* Ethio–Djibouti Railway, Dire Dawa Hub – Archives
Period: 1941–2016
Size: 65 GB, 46 317 files
The Ethiopia–Djibouti Railway, leading between the port of Djibouti and Addis Ababa and providing Ethiopia with a crucial transport corridor to shipping lanes, was constructed between 1896 and 1917 and originally trafficked by the Compagnie du Chemin de Fer Franco-Ethiopien (CFE); the CFE was established as a joint venture between various French investors, headquartered in Paris; the Ethiopian government initially held only a minor share; but in 1959 the Ethiopian state procured half of the shares of the enterprise and the corporate headquarters shifted location to Addis Ababa; following the independence of Djibouti, the company was turned into a joint Ethiopian and Djiboutian state-owned enterprise – Compagnie du Chemin de Fer Djibouto-Ethiopien (CDE); soon after, the line began to fall into disrepair; the creation of a new and separate Ethiopian Railway Corporation in 2007 and the construction of a new line operated by this corporation, signalled that the CDE’s decline was final, and that the liquidation of the company was imminent.
The railway company is a very important institution for Ethiopian labour history; workers in the enterprise were the first in Ethiopia to organize, and they staged its first strike in 1919; in 1946, the Syndicat des Cheminots was formed, constituting the first formal trade union in Ethiopia, and in the second half of that decade it staged no less than three strikes; by the time a countrywide labour movement appeared – in the late 1950s and early 1960s – the railway workers were already organized and experienced, and therefore constituted an important player in the establishment of the Confederation of Ethiopian Labor Unions.
Digital copies of personnel files 1941–2016, some files include documents going back to the 1920s and 1930s.
These workers’ files contain information on: employment, work, and life courses of the railway workers and their family members; include personnel decisions, staff and family forms, report sheets with pay information, disciplinary notes and actions, documents on departure and dismissal, medical slips, accident reports, pension papers, and correspondence between workers, management and external institutions pertaining to the workers.
Germany:
Strikes in the West German printing industry – Collection
Period: 1971–1977
Size: 0.05 m.
Finding aid: list
In the seventies, there were many strikes in the West German printing industry; a number of left-wing groups tried to organize and to influence the strikers and the works councils.
Leaflets and newsletters issued by the Industriegewerkschaft (IG) Druck und Papier and highly active small groups, like the Sozialistisches Büro, the Kommunistischer Bund, and the Gruppe Arbeiterpolitik, on strikes in the West German printing industry with a focus on West Berlin, Darmstadt, Hamburg and southern Germany 1971–1977.
N.B. Collection is part of http://hdl.handle.net/10622/ARCH01730.
Events G20 Summit Hamburg 2017 – Collection
Period: 2016–2017
Size: 0.12 m., 227.62 MB, 39 files
On 7–8 July 2017, the twelfth Summit of the Group of Twenty (G20) took place in Hamburg at the Hamburg Messe; many people protested against this summit; various actions were organized to emphasize other interests and points of view; demonstrations and street fights governed the street scene for a few days; in particular, the violent actions of the black block led to heated discussions about this kind of protest.
Ephemera collected during the actions and protests against and around the G20 Summit Hamburg, Germany, 7–8 July 2017.
Digital material: photos made by Bob Scholte, researcher at the IISH, on 7–8 July 2017.
Israel:
The Israeli Left Archive – Collection
Period: 1962–1995
Size: 1036 leaflets, 567 articles, 383 periodicals, 45 posters, and 2785 various documents
Finding aid: list
The Israeli Left Archive is mainly devoted to the radical left and the women’s peace movement in Israel during the sixties, seventies, and eighties; it is in this period, immediately preceding the introduction of computer technologies, that the bulk of the collection was gathered by Dafna and Reuven Kaminer; collecting material stopped towards the end of the eighties, mainly due to the spread of computerized documentation throughout society and the left;
The Israeli Left Archive, originally a website, was dedicated to the memory of Yohanan Lorwin (1953–1999); Lorwin was born in the United States and came to Israel in the eighties, where he studied law and was accepted to the Israeli Bar; became a respected and loved figure in the Jerusalem left; died in a tragic accident, along with two other colleagues and friends, during a flash flood in the Judean Desert in 1999.
While still in the United States, Lorwin was drawn to the ideas and activities of the left; as an independent and original thinker, he felt that Marxism neglected the spiritual side of the individual and social life; this was the background for his decision to become a devout Jew and to deepen his study and understanding of Judaism; during the eighties and the nineties, he was active in the left in Jerusalem and a member of a progressive orthodox congregation in Jerusalem; joined during these years the staff of the Alternative Information Center as a writer, editor and translator; became close friends with Reuven Kaminer and his granddaughter Carmel who built the website.
Collection of leaflets, articles, periodicals, posters, and various documents 1962–1995.
N.B. The following rubrics are represented in this collection: The Black Panthers in Israel; campus & radical student and youth movements; Committee for Solidarity with Bir-Zeit University; Dai LaKibush – End the Occupation; electoral initiatives; Committee against the War in Lebanon; Matzpen and related organizations; the Movement for Peace and Security; Reshet – Israel Women’s Peace Net; Shani – Israeli Women Against The Occupation; Shasi – Israeli Socialist Left; Siah – Israeli New Left; Left Zionists; The 21st Year; Women in Black, Yesh Gvul – There is a Limit; English Collection; Poster Collection.
Southern and Eastern Africa:
Pieter Boersma Photo Collection Southern and Eastern Africa – Photo Collection
Period: 1992–2005
Size: 753 photographs
Finding aid: list
Dutch photographer Pieter Boersma, born in Amsterdam 7 March 1945; as a photographer closely involved with various campaigns, events, and conferences in relation to Amsterdam, particularly the Nieuwmarkt neighbourhood, as well as Southern Africa, and the UN Habitat Conference in Vancouver, Canada, in 1976; he also photographed many jazz musicians and performances; participated from 1988 to 2009 as photographer in a large number of Association of West-European Parliamentarians for Action against Apartheid (AWEPAA) conferences, fact finding and election monitoring missions, and other activities throughout Southern, Central, and Eastern Africa; his photographic reports not only cover these specific AWEPA(A) activities, but also many aspects of the social-economic, cultural, and political conditions in these countries.
753 photographs of political events and social-economic conditions in a number of Southern and Eastern African countries made by Pieter Boersma within the context of his work for AWEPA(A) between 1992 and 2005; topics include AWEPA election observation missions in Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Tanzania; AWEPA fact finding missions on living conditions and health, in particular HIV/AIDS victims, for refugees and people in general in these countries as well as Rwanda and Kenya; and economic activities, small business, labour, and working conditions in especially South Africa and Tanzania.
N.B. See also Pieter Boersma’s photographs of AWEPA(A) conferences, missions, etc. in the years 1989–1998 in the archives of the Association of West-European Parliamentarians for Action against Apartheid (AWEPAA) (http://hdl.handle.net/10622/ARCH04320); the IISH holds also a small general collection of correspondence and documents from Pieter Boersma (http://hdl.handle.net/10622/ARCH01892).
Sri Lanka:
Sri Lanka Periodicals – Collection
Period: 1979–2016
Size: 0.87 m.
Finding aid: list
The influence of colonialization was the root cause of the political, socio-economic problems in Sri Lanka since its independence. Sinhala Buddhist dominance in the south, struggle for autonomy of Tamils in the North and East, the self-determination of Muslims, and the social and economic issues of the Upcountry Plantation Workers were prominent issues; these issues deepened in the 1980s and the three decades of civil war, loss of life, migration (national and international) dramatically damaged the lives of many Sri Lankans; violation of freedom of speech, child welfare, and women’s rights got the most attention. Workers’ rights – especially the challenges faced by female workers – and educational controversies came to prominence; peace, political solutions, reconciliation, and resettlement became key issues of discussion.
This collection contains journals and magazines published by Sri Lankans and Lankan expatriates living in Canada, Australia, and Europe; from various trade unions, feminist movements, human rights and media organizations, political parties, academic and cultural institutions, art and literary circles, and other civil action groups have acted in the bedding of these periodicals; most of the collections are in Tamil and include periodicals from 1970 to present, the rest is in Sinhala and English; its varies from almost complete volumes of some periodicals to single issues; these periodicals mainly address the challenges faced by the labour force, women and children, and the effects of intensified ethnic conflict and civil war since the independence of Sri Lanka.
A selection of titles in this collection: Alternatives 2003–2006; Kunrin Kural 1987–2000; Malai Mangai 2002–2009; Munravathu Kann 2002-2007; Pennurimaihal Kannottam 2001–2013; Pravahini 2001–2013; Shakthi 1992–2003; Therithal 2004–2006; Urimai 2002–2008; Vibhasha 2011–2013.
Thailand:
Thailand Printing-on-Demand – Collection
Period: 2010–2014
Size: 0.12 m.
Finding aid: list
Collection of books that used to circulate underground in Thailand and were only available through access in certain circles; the books were printed/copied on demand and were anthologies of magazine articles, critiques of the monarchy, political texts, etc.
