A total of $75,000,000 has been received up to 1960 for heirless Jewish property in the British, American and French zones of Germany for the benefit of Jewish victims of the Hitler holocaust, it was disclosed tonight at a dinner marking the closing of the 16th annual Joint Distribution Committee Overseas Conference.
The figures were reported by Sir Henryd Avigdor Goldsmid, chairman of the Jewish Trust Corporation, at the dinner at which the tenth anniversary of the Corporation was celebrated. The Jewish Trust Corporation was set up in Britain in 1960 to claim heirless and unclaimed property and property of former Jewish communities and organizations in the British zone of Germany and in the British sector of Berlin.
Sir Henry said the Jewish Trust Corporation received 140,000,000 marks ($35,000,000) for such property in the British sector and that a similar organization in the American zone, the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization, received somewhat more. He said a similar group in the French zone received about $4,500,000 for an overall total of more than $75,000,000 received to date, with more funds still coming.
SIR HENRY REPORTS ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF HEIRLESS PROPERTY FUNDS
He reported that more than two-thirds of the total funds received had been distributed to the joint Distribution Committee, the Jewish Agency, the Central British Fund and the Council of Jews of Germany to be used exclusively for the benefit of Jewish survivors of the Hitler holocaust.
Another feature of the final session was the first public meeting of the newly created International Council on Jewish Social and Welfare Services. The Council is made up of six agencies working internationally over a span of 80 years–the Central British Fund, the United Hias Service, the Standing Conference on European Jewish Community Services, the JDC, World Ort Union and the Jewish Colonization Association.
Oscar Joseph of London, chairman of the Central British Fund, was elected president of the new council. Murray Gurfein of New York, president of United Hias, and Astore Mayor of Milan, chairman of the Standing Conference, were named vice-presidents, and Charles H. Jordan of the JDC was named executive secretary.
Speakers at the tenth anniversary dinner extending greetings to Sir Henry included Ambassador M. Bartur, head of Israel’s Permanent Mission in Geneva, Edward Lawrence, first secretary of the United States Mission in Geneva, Joseph Meyerhoff of Baltimore, general chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, and Moses A. Leavitt, executive vice-chairman of the JDC.
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