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The European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS) was founded in 1978 in Grenoble, France. Formerly known as the European Section of the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS), it aimed to create a strong and independent leadership of Jewish students in Europe following WUJS's departure from Europe to Israel. In 1982, EUJS established its office in Brussels, Belgium, from where it operates to this day. During its first few years and up until the mid-eighties, EUJS strove to earn NGO recognition amongst youth platforms and European institutions. It launched a series of international campaigns, including the defence of the rights of Jews in the former Soviet Union and in Syria. EUJS also promoted Ethiopian integration into the State of Israel. As ambassadors to the Jewish people within European youth platforms, EUJS restlessly defended the State of Israel when anti-Zionist stands were put forward. In the mid-eighties, EUJS entered the European Youth Forum, representing the official voice of Jewish students across Europe amongst 88 NGO's. In 1984, the formula of "Summer University" was launched to gather hundreds of young Jews in a different European city every summer. This annual event is the highlight of EUJS' educational calendar to this very day. Towards the late 80's, relationships with European institutions developed, and this enabled EUJS to organise a greater amount of international gatherings amongst Jewish students. The EUJS office grew in staff and through its improved organisational capacities, it expanded its agenda. Clandestine visits to the former Soviet Union were organised in order to enable Soviet students to rediscover their Jewish origins and rituals. First visits to Eastern European communities were equally made possible. In the political sphere, in 1989, a delegation flew to Poland caused a stir by protesting against the Auschwitz convent. With the breaking down of the Berlin wall 1989, great euphoria and optimism for a unified Europe was felt within student bodies, as upon the whole of continent. EUJS' built its agenda around an opening towards the East. It restlessly encouraged an enlargement process and welcomed the candidacies of Eastern European and former Soviet Union student branches. EUJS delegations flew to Eastern Europe and were the first of many NGOs to enable "Western students to discover the East and Eastern students to discover the West". Despite its financial and leadership crisis in the early nineties, EUJS managed to host international programs and became an example to many NGOs in the field of East-West dialogue and co-operation. The mid-90's gave way to the Internet boom and the explosion of methods of communication between students. The Internet revolution accelerated the process of building bridges between the East and West. Since the nineties, EUJS presents a whole new dimension, where Jewish students from across 32 European countries travel the continent to exchange cultures, communicate and build projects together. In the midst of our continent's reconstruction, EUJS' has helped to consolidate new student bodies and to ensure the strength and continuity of national unions. To this very day, EUJS' develops student activism across European cities. It provides information to its member unions and develops its network in order to reach out to many Jews who are not affiliated to community life. Its international events correspond to the youth's needs and desires in the globalised society in which the students evolve in. Representing over 170,000 students, EUJS remains today a vibrant and creative organisation, which is heard throughout the Jewish and the non-Jewish world. It took part in the preparation of the UN Conference against racism in 2001 and protested the resurgence of extreme-right wing parties in Europe. It currently works with Jewish students in the Baltic States, the Balkans, Central and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, the Mediterranean Coasts, Scandinavia and Western Europe. Always sensitive to the European and international context in which it evolves in, EUJS' development throughout the years has remained consistent and coherent. Today, EUJS evolves in a new dimension once again… and presents an unlimited approach to the future. MEMBER UNIONS
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