Expenditure of $1,000 a day as the first American appropriation for urgent emergency aid to the Jews of Austria was announced here today by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. I. Edwin Goldwasser, Treasurer, Declared:
“Frightful distress has been growing at an alarming rate among the Jewish and ‘non-Aryan’ population of Austria, most of which is in the city of Vienna.
“An addition 3,000 persons daily are besieging the Jewish community welfare offices in Vienna. At least $1,000 a day is needed to provide the minimal needs of these people and keep them from starvation and from the terrifying feeling of being utterly forsaken and helpless.
“The difficulties in the way of extending aid to the Jewish population in Austria are formidable. For the present the only aid which it is possible to extend is emergency aid. One of the emergency measures which is being supported with the funds sent by the Joint Distribution Committee is a series of 8 soup kitchens, one of which is expected to be conducted in cooperation with the American Society of friends on a non-sectarian basis. Over 9,000 people are flocking daily to the Jewish soup kitchens for feeding.
“It should be clearly understood that beyond this emergency procedure the major program of the Joint Distribution Committee overseas contemplates basic reconstructive measures for hundreds of thousands of Jews overseas. The constructive work, the economic aid, vocational training, basic education, maintenance of health standards and medical institutions are all being continued throughout eastern and central Europe. Constructive work naturally must follow the completion of emergency aid everywhere.
“The emergency in Austria comes as an added burden. As soon as conditions permit, a reconstructive program will be worked out and applied for the benefit of the Jews of Austria. For the present the problems of actually keeping people alive are such as to make it necessary to postpone all other considerations.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
