The Persian Jewish Research Archive (PJRA) is a collection of historical documents, books and interviews that record the history of Persian Jews in the modern era. Resulting from several multi-year research projects, it aims to make Jewish histories from Iran, Central Asia and Afghanistan accessible to the academic community and the wider public.
The archive is housed at the Institute for Iranian Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna. It has been supported by the following grants:
- “Persian Jews: History, Community, Memory” (European Research Council ERC CoG), 2024-2029, PI Ariane Sadjed, Grant no. 101125017)
- “The Jewish Triangle” (The Austrian Science Fund (FWF), 2023-2027, PI Ariane Sadjed, Grant-DOI 10.55776/I6420)
- “Narratives of Migrating Minorities (FWF, 2020-2022, PI Ariane Sadjed, Grant-DOI 10.55776/TAI220)
- “Narratives of Being Jewish in Iran” (FWF, 2018-2022; PI Ariane Sadjed, Grant-DOI 10.55776/T1004)
THE COLLECTION
The collection is divided into four broad categories: Public archives, family archives, interviews and rare books.
The Public archives section includes copies of documents collected in official archival institutions. The collection counts several thousand documents gathered from the following locations:
- The National Library of Iran (Tehran)
- National Archive of Uzbekistan (Tashkent)
- The National Library of Israel (Jerusalem)
- The Central Zionist Archives (Jerusalem)
- The Ben-Zvi Institute (Jerusalem)
- The Ottoman Archives (Istanbul)
- Oriental Manuscripts Collection, National Library of Russia (Moscow)
The documents address questions of migration, citizenship, legal disputes (for example regarding trade, land ownership, smuggling, heritage), community politics and much more.
The Family archives section includes family documents from Persian Jewish (Iranian, Bukharan and Afghan) families. It includes diaries, photographs, newspapers, letters and books. This section notably contains several Judeo-Persian manuscripts. It also includes smaller collections from synagogues in Uzbekistan (Tashkent and Bukhara) and Tehran (pictures of book covers, legal letters, private photographs)
The Interviews section contains transcripts of interviews with Jews carried out in Iran, Europe (Milan, London, Vienna), Israel, Uzbekistan and the United States. Interviews have been conducted since 2019, and more than 60 individuals have so far shared their experiences. About half of the interviews come from the Oral History project conducted since 2024 with the Bukharan Jewish community in Vienna. This project now also extends to interviews with Bukharans in New York and Israel. The PJRA also contains transcripts and notes from other Oral History archives such as the Center for Iranian Jewish Oral History (Yale University and UCLA) and the Amnon Netzer Archive (NLI Jerusalem).
The Books section brings together rare books on Persianate Jewish history in languages such as Persian, Hebrew, Judeo-Persian and Russian. A full inventory list is available.
ACCESS
The archive contains personal and at times sensitive information. In accordance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), it is therefore not publicly accessible. Researchers with a substantiated research interest may request access, which is limited to on-site consultation (Vienna) for research purposes in accordance with data protection and ethical requirements. A full list of items will be published here as the project nears completion.
Please contact Dr. Ariane Sadjed (ariane.sadjed (at) oeaw.ac.at) for any questions.
Persian Jews 