Camp Kinderland


Camp Kinderland is a summer camp located in Tolland, Massachusetts, for youngsters aged eight through sixteen. The camp's motto is summer camp with a conscience since 1923. The main topics of the curriculum are: equality, peace, community, social justice, activism, civil rights, Yiddishkeit, and friendship. Campers may stay for four weeks in July, three weeks in August, or all seven of the offered weeks. There is also a two-week session available for first-time campers in the youngest group.

Founding and history

Kinderland was founded by members of The Workmen's Circle/Arbeter Ring, a leftist Jewish fraternal organization, in 1923 in Hopewell Junction, New York. As a result of internecine conflicts between organizers of the camp who were closer to the Socialist Party and others who were closer to the Communist Party, there was a serious breach within the Yiddish-speaking Jewish left, one side pro-Communist, one side anti-Communist. As a result, there were starting in 1927, two different camps, Camp Kinderland, in the pro-Communist sector, which was run by a pro-Communist Yiddishist Jewish organization, and Camp Kinder Ring, which continued as the camp of The Workmen's Circle/Arbeter Ring. As of 2025, both camps still exist.

Politics

The camp's left-wing politics led it to be the place many red diaper babies were sent growing up, which caused it to be investigated during the McCarthy era. Attendee and counselor Katie Halper directed and produced Commie Camp, a light-hearted 2013 documentary on the camp.

Notable Kinderland alumni