American Joint Distribution Committee vice president Henry Toub formally handed a check for $30,000 earmarked for Italian earthquake relief to the Italian Consul General in New York; Alexander Cortes De Basis. The contribution Tuesday was made in behalf of the American Jewish community.
De Bosis told Toub and JDC executive vice president, Ralph Goldman, that he was deeply moved by the American Jewish response and that he recalled very well in 1943 “the appearance of the JDC and its works in the Displaced Persons camps in Rome.” He recalled also that when he had been in charge of a DP camp in Naples “numbers of the Jews there would disappear… leaving illegally” …and he recalled the JDC role then as well. He noted that his own family had hidden five Jews all of whom, “I am pleased to say survived the war.” He called the period “Italy’s finest hour”… and said it was one of the reasons he was so personally moved by the Jewish response to the earthquake. The JDC leader assured him that this first contribution was only a taken of the response anticipated.
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