$500,000 Paid to Relatives of Dead Soldiers Through Hias

For the past three years over half a million dollars has been transmitted to parents and other near relatives of Jewish members of the American Expeditionary Forces who died in the War, with the aid of the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society (Hias). Most of these relatives live in East European countries, and due to conditions during and after the War, many of the beneficiaries moved and could not be found.

The Jewish Welfare Board, which is interested in the cases in which dead soldiers left either Government insurance policies or other monies, referred the cases where the relatives could not be found to Hias, and Hias, through its offices abroad, particularly in Harbin (China), Riga, Warsaw, Berlin and Kovno, succeeded in locating the families. The local offices assisted these in preparing the documents required by the United States government, and upon the receipt of the papers by Hias in New York the necessary steps to pay the money out were completed.