East Hampton - Between 1967 and 1991 almost half of the Jewish population of the Soviet Union escaped for freedom. An American woman, Lillian Butler Hoffman (1913-1996), was a pioneer of the Soviet Jewry Movement. A first-ever fascinating look at Hoffman's 50 years of bravery and activism against the U.S.S.R., a struggle which changed the course of Jewish and world history, will be explored at The Jewish Center of the Hamptons (JCOH) on August 1, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The JCOH Summer Institute event will include archival material collected by Sheila Hoffman Bialek, Hoffman's daughter, about her mother's work. There will be a panel that will include Glenn Richter, a founder of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry; Peter M. Sichel, a CIA officer during the Cold War; Gal Beckerman, a journalist at The Forward and author of the book "When They Come For Us, We'll Be Gone," about the rescue of Soviet Jews (Sept. 2010 release), and Yakov Gorodtesky, a "refusenik," helped by Hoffman. SUNY Professor Karl Grossman will serve as moderator.

Will includes Russian and Jewish music performed by violinist Yevgenia Strenger (New York City Opera concert master) together with the classical guitarist Nadav Lev. The event will be filmed.

All are invited. Admission is free. For more information go to www.jcoh.org, or call 631-324-9858. JCOH is located at 44 Woods Lane, East Hampton.