Harry Z. Cohen Collection on the Workmen's Circle in Rochester, New York

The Workmen’s Circle, (known in Yiddish as the Arbeter Ring) was formed on September 4, 1900 by Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe in New York City. It first began as a mutual aid society, to help members adapt to life in the United States, but soon became more politically focused on Yiddish cultural autonomy and socialist ideals. It also became very influential in the American labor movement and grew to serve more than 84,000 members through hundreds of branches around North America. With the Rochester branch of the Workmen’s Circle being founded in 1903. By the 1930s the group moved away from socialism and towards liberalism. By the 1960s, the group’s membership began to decline as Jewish communities began to move from the cities to the suburbs. In more recent years the Circle has rededicated its mission to education and promoting Jewish community, secular Yiddish culture, and social justice activism.

Harry Z. Cohen was born on April 15, 1883 in Grodno Russia (now Belarus). He emigrated to the United States in 1904. First living in New York City, before moving to Rochester, New York to work as a tailor for Weiner Brothers. He later worked for Bond Clothes, Inc. while he ran a farm on Canadice Hill in Ontario County. Later he worked for Hickey-Freeman Co., Inc. for 30 years before retiring in 1950 where he operated a farm in Webster. He was a longstanding champion of worker’s rights and served as a major organizer for the Workmen’s Circle Branch in Rochester and was active in the Workmen’s Circle School that taught Yiddish as well as Jewish history, ethics, and morals.

Sources:

“Harry Cohen Dies; Helped Start Union”, The Times-Union, 1972 January 20.

“The Workers Circle.” Wikipedia, 14 Apr. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Workers_Circle.