הגעת אוסף שמשון גיאת לספריית מכון בן-צבי

Announcement to the Public

The Collection of Sampson Giat of New York was donated to the library of the Ben-Zvi Institute, Jerusalem in November 2011.

Sampson Giat, scion of a Yemeni Jewish family and a professional musician, has been engaged for many years in activity on behalf of the Jews of Yemen and the soldiers of the IDF. In the course of his efforts for the Jews of Yemen he aided the last Jews remaining in Yemen and even visited there. He has also tried to solve the mystery of the missing Yemeni children from the 1950s.

The collection contains hundreds of documents including correspondence with public representatives and American, Yemeni and Israeli officials, journals of his visits to Yemen etc. In addition the collection includes both video an audio cassettes containing interviews about the small Jewish community of Yemen and their emigration and with members of families whose children disappeared. Giat also collected Israeli and foreign news accounts on this tragic affair.

The collection is currently being catalogued and will be made available to researchers and the general public.

We would like announce that the Center for Research on the Jews of Yemen offers advice regarding the history of the Jews of Yemen and their culture. The Center seeks to collect all archival material (letters, deeds, documents and photographs as well as manuscripts) pertaining to the history of the Jews of Yemen, both originals and photocopies. We invite the public to donate archival material on the history of the Jews of Yemen so that it can be made accessible to the public.

The Ben-Zvi Institute for the Study of Jewish communities in the East and the Association for Society and Culture, maintain the Obadiah Ben-Shalom Center for the Study of Yemeni Jewry, which is engaged in research, publication and instruction on all subjects pertaining to Yemeni Jewry. The Center initiates research, publishes books, organizes courses and colloquia and encourages young scholars.