Dr. Joseph J. Schwartz, European director of the Joint Distribution Committee, was honored tonight by 150 of his colleagues in the field of social work at a dinner for the benefit of the United Jewish Appeal of Greater New York. In a testimonial delivered by City Councilman Stanley M. Isaacs, Dr. Schwartz was cited as “the men responsible for the greatest single social service job in all Jewish history.”
As overseas head of the J.D.C., Dr. Schwartz directed the spending of more than $285,000,000 for the emergency rescue, relief, rehabilitation and emigration activities of Jews in 23 European countries and North Africa during the past decade.
In this capacity he is credited with sparking the reconstruction of some 900 Jewish communities throughout Europe since V-E Day, in May, 1945, when it appeared that the rebuilding of Jewish life in Europe would be impossible as a result of the ravages of Nazism and the war. The present mass migration of Jews from Europe to Israel is being carried out under his direction. Approximately 85 percent of the immigrants who came into Israel during the first year of its independence entered under the aegis of the J.P.C.
Abraham Mazer, who contributed $500,000 to the current U.J.A. drive, was honored at another dinner last night, held at the Jewish Center. Henry Morgenthau Jr., general chairman of the U.J.A., and Israeli Chief Rabbi Dr. Isaac Herzog paid tribute to Mazer for his “extraordinary generosity.” Dr. Herzog presented him with a testimonial scroll.
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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.
