The Allgemeine Jüdischer Arbeiter-Bund (Bund)/Algemeyne Yidisher Arbeterbund i Lite, Polyn un Rusland (Всеобщий еврейский рабочий союз в Литве, Польше и России, Бунд), a Jewish labour and socialist party, was founded in Vilnius, Lithuania, in 1897; in 1898 it played a part in the formation of the Rossijskaja Social-Demokratičeskaja Rabočaja Partija (RSDRP) (Российская социал-демократическая рабочая партия, РСДРП); by 1921 the activities of the Bund came to an end in Russia because of the Bolsheviks' seizure of power; in Poland, the Bund remained an independent political party during the inter-war years.

The Bund was founded as a Jewish social-democratic party in Vilnius (Vilna) in 1897. Because of the persecution of the tsarist government, the Central Committee of the party and most of its other departments started to operate from Geneva from 1898 onward. There were also departments of the Bund in London, Paris, New York and Buenos Aires and several local departments all over the Jewish diaspora. After the Russian Revolution of 1905, Vilnius (Vilna) became also a centre of official activities of the Bund.

Franz Kursky (1874-1950), whose real name was Samuel Kahan, was an activist of the Bund of the first hour. He brought the archives and the library of the Bund from Geneva to Vilnius (Vilna) in 1919, but removed them to Berlin during the Polish-Russian war in 1920. The archives and library stayed in Berlin until 1933, when the German Nazi-party came into power. Then he fled to Paris. When in Paris, Kursky had great difficulties to house the collection and he, therefore, sold the archives and the library to the founders of IISH, Nehemia de Lieme and Nicolaas Posthumus in November 1934. By that time the IISH was not yet officially opened and the Bund-collection was, on paper, the very first collection the Institute had acquired.

But the delivery of the collection was delayed and after a long correspondence, only a small part of the archives and library arrived in Amsterdam. This collection was not yet described when the German army invaded the Netherlands in May 1940. The Einsatzstab Alfred Rosenberg closed the premises of the IISH in July 1940 and everything was packed and shipped to Germany. After the collapse of the Nazi-regime a greater part of the IISH was retrieved in Germany and brought back to Amsterdam.

The IISH acquired this collection in 1934 from Franz Kursky in Paris, with financial support of the Centrale Arbeiders-Verzekerings- en Deposito-Bank (the Centrale). The collection arrived in Amsterdam in 1936 and was mentioned in the Annual Report of 1938 (p. 57). The contract was signed 14 November 1934 (see archive Centrale, invno. 1582).

As the Bund-archives were not yet described in 1940, it is not possible now to ascertain whether parts of it were lost during the Second World War. The collection which now reposes in the IISH can be roughly divided into five parts:

Outgoing documents of the Central and Foreign Committee of the Bund in Geneva until 1919.

Incoming documents, received by the Foreign Committee of the Bund in Geneva from socialist parties in the whole of the Russian Empire until 1920.

Documents of Jewish and Russian immigrant groups in England, France, Germany and Switzerland until 1920.

Documents of Jewish and Russian immigrant groups in Germany and other Western European countries from 1919 to 1933.

Documents of the Bund as a political party in Poland from 1920 to 1939 and of other Jewish parties in Poland, mainly consisting of propaganda material for general and local elections.

Sometimes the periods, indicated in these five categories, are a little bit arbitrary. This means that sometimes also a few documents outside these periods are included.

There is also a large collection of clippings from newspapers, documenting life and death of socialist leaders and political and social events in Europe from 1908 till 1933. These clippings are included in this inventory.

Apart from the Bund-collection, described in this inventory, there is a Bund-collection of about 180 posters, mostly political propaganda for elections in Poland and announcements of lectures, meetings and other events. These posters can be found in the catalogue of the IISH.

Collection consisting of a book containing leaflets of local committees of the Bund (Бунд) 1899-1907; leaflets of the Central Committee of the Bund (Центральный комитет Бунда); leaflets, circular letters, rules, financial reports and reports of activities of the Committee Abroad and of the Central Bureau of the Bund (Центральное бюро Бунда) 1901-1916; leaflets of the Central Committee of the RSDRP (Центральный комитет РСДРП); leaflets of local committees of the RSDRP (РСДРП) 1897-1912; leaflets of other, mostly Russian, political groups and trade unions; press clippings and other printed material.

Inventory made by Rena Fuks-Mansfeld, edited by Bouwe Hijma, in 2002, accruals 2006, 2015-2016 and 2019 from arrears IISH by Bouwe Hijma. Inventory revised for purposes of digitization by Eva van Oene in 2015.

Complete archive digitized as part of the Centrale Project 2012-2016, except inv.nos 447-451.