An urgent appeal to the Jewries of France, the United States, Canada and Britain to increase substantially their contributions to help North African refugee settlers in France to achieve normal lives was made here last night at the opening assembly of the Central French Jewish Fund by its president, Baron Guy de Rothschild.
The Assembly of the Fund was still dominated by the problems of the heavy immigration from North Africa which almost overnight made French Jewry the largest Jewish community in Europe. Barch Rothschild reported that the Fund had set a budget of 8, 000, 000 francs ($1, 600,000) for North African Jewish resettlement projects. He said that 3, 000, 000 francs ($600, 000) had been raised by French Jewry, and the rest was contributed by the American Joint Distribution Committee.
He reported that the 200, 000 Jewish newcomers had not only made French Jewry the largest community in Europe but that they had also influenced it in the direction of becoming a coherent body. He said: “Now we are becoming a real, unified community. We have the quantitative potential, the adhesion of all members, and the desire of the leaders to become such a unified community.”
He stressed, however, that French Jewry still faced many problems, and appealed to all of its members and to other communities to help. He said the goals of integrating the newcomers and assuring their full participation in Jewish life could be achieved if efforts were concentrated on both the cultural and social fields.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
