Documentation of Obshchestvo Zdravookhraneniya Evreyev (OZE- Organization for Health Protection of the Jewish Population) in Latvia

Documentation of Obshchestvo Zdravookhraneniya Evreyev (OZE-Organization for Health Protection of the Jewish Population) in Latvia History of the Organization OZE is the Russian acronym for Obshchestvo Zdravookhraneniya Evreyev (Organization for Health Protection of the Jewish Population), an organization that has its origins in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1912. OZE was founded in order to disseminate information pertaining to proper hygiene among the Jews, to further socio-medical topics and to contribute to safeguarding the health of the Jewish population. The Organization for Health Protection of the Jewish Population sought to create services benefitting the health of the Jewish population in the Russian Empire, by making use of existing services, such as charitable organizations (for example, Bikur Cholim, Linot Zedek or Rofei Cholim) and some of the modern medical institutions (for example, the Jewish Hospital in Kiev which had been working since 1862 or the Berson and Bauman Jewish Children's Hospital in Warsaw which opened its doors in 1878), and implementing a broad plan to improve the sanitary conditions of the Jews. As early as 1912-1914, the Organization arranged summer camps for Jewish children from low-income families, offered advice about birth and early childhood, set up sales stalls and health centers, and organized free supplies of medicines to the needy and their children, and Tipat Chalav, which provided milk for babies. After the Bolshevik revolution, the Soviet authorities nationalized most of the Jewish health institutions with the active participation of the Yevsektsiya members, however the organization workers continued to provide medical and social assistance to the Jews within the framework of the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). Shortly after the end of World War I, OZE branches were opened in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, and countries of central and western Europe. In 1922, an international association of these branches was established, with its center in Berlin. In 1933, when the Nazis came to power in Germany, the center moved to Paris. In the OZE collection protocols of the meetings held at the 4th Jewish Physicians' Conference in Paris have been saved, as well as abstracts and summaries of a Physicians' Congress in Riga; protocols of meetings of the Directorate, the Comptroller's Committee and the Honor Court; reports regarding OZE activities; historical data pertaining to the establishment of the Organization; protocols of the meetings of the Conference in Paris and the meeting of the Directors' Council plenum in Latvia; lists of Jewish physicians living in various regions in Latvia; reports of the World Congress for Jewish Physicians in Palestine and correspondence with OZE branches on organizational issues; surveys regarding OZE activities, the financial situation of the Organization and its budget; press clippings; lists of members of the administration and lists of OZE members, arranged according to the Latvian alphabet; correspondence with the administration in Paris and Berlin on general subjects and regarding the receipt of medical instruments; reports concerning the health situation of children registered with the organization; and lists of children in summer camps and reports of their situation.