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The Sotsyalistishe Kinder Farband ('Socialist Children's Union', S.K.I.F.)[1] was founded in Eastern Europe as the youth organisation of the Jewish Labour Bund, a Jewish Socialist political party. S.K.I.F has three core ideological principles: Chavershaft (equality and empathy), Doikayt ("Being here", Jews should live, build their culture and struggle for their rights wherever they dwell, rather than seeking refuge in a Jewish homeland), and Yiddishkeit (Jewish identity through Jewish and Yiddish culture).[2][3] The plural form of a SKIF member is Skifistn.
The S.K.I.F. in Poland is now defunct.[4] Melbourne S.K.I.F established itself in 1950. Melbourne SKIF, is the last remaining SKIF branch, subsequently it is usually regarded as the SKIF organization itself. However, the SKIF in France didn't disappear, it only changed its name in 1963 and became the Club laïque de l’Enfance juive, CLEJ.
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In Interwar Poland and in Occupied Poland, various members of the Jewish Resistance were or had been associated with S.K.I.F. One of the leaders of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Marek Edelman had been a S.K.I.F. member, as were members of the Jewish Fighting Organization. They were Boruch Pelc and Jurek Błones. Other notable Polish Jewish members included the painter Yosl Bergner, the RAF pilot Rubin Lifszyc and the organizer of children's theater for the poor in the Warsaw Ghetto, Pola Lifszyc. Before World War II, S.K.I.F. organized summer camps for children. Marek Edelman, as a member of the organization, raised funds for playrooms for the children of the poor, in Warsaw.
The S.K.I.F. in Melbourne, Australia was established in 1950. The first five children held weekly "Sunday meetings". After the third year of Melbourne SKIF camps, there were enough campers to operate two separate camps.